This Week in the ACC: Cal Plays 1st Road Game, 1st ACC Game

Cal’s visit to Syracuse on Saturday is the only ACC matchup among 14 games this week involving two conference teams. A win over the Orange would elevate the Bears into an early share of the top spot in the ACC standings, alongside top-25 entries Miami, SMU and Virginia, all winners last week.

Only two other conference schools will play on the road this week — Wake Forest (at Purdue) and Duke (at Illinois). Neither of those trips is anywhere close to the 2,430 miles the Bears will travel to face the Orange.

Cal coach Tosh Lupoi talks in the video above about Cal’s plan to travel on Thursday, but to otherwise try to stay in their normal routine.

THIS WEEK IN THE ACC

Point spreads by DraftKings

Thursday

Florida A&M (no line) at No. 7 Miami, 5 p.m., ACC Network

The Rattlers (1-1) took a shot at Miami two years ago and lost 56-9. Now they have to deal with sophomore wide receiver Malachi Toney, who had 12 catches for 234 yards and three touchdowns in Miami’s 45-6 win at Stanford.

Friday

Villanova (no line) at No. 24 Louisville, 4 p.m., ACC Network

The Cardinals scored enough brownie points in a 41-38 road loss to No. 9 Ole Miss that they held their No. 24 spot in the AP Top-25.

Norfolk State (no line) at No. 25 Virginia, 4 pm., ACCX Network

The defending ACC champs didn’t look like they’d lost a step in a 34-8 season-opening win over NC State, which managed just 168 total yards.

Richmond (no line) at NC State, 4 p.m., ESPNU

The Spiders are 2-0, but they were overmatched a year ago in a 41-6 loss at North Carolina, their sixth straight loss to an ACC team since beating Virginia 37-20 in 2016.

Rutgers (plus-3) at Boston College, 4:30 p.m., ESPN2

No one was surprised by BC’s 34-15 loss at Cincinnati, but was embarrassed at home, losing 37-21 to a UMass team that had lost 16 consecutive games and hadn’t beaten an FBS school since 2023.

Saturday

East Tennessee State (no line) at North Carolina, 9 a.m., ACC Network

ETSU (1-1) cruised to a 48-14 win over Division II Tusculum University — the oldest college in the state of Tennessee — in preparation to face the Tar Heels (1-0).

Old Dominion (plus-19.5) at Virginia Tech, 9 a.m., CW Network

The Hokies are big favorites in this duel of 1-0 teams, but the game figures to be closer than VA Tech’s opener, a 73-3 waltz past VMI, which had 43 rushing attempts for minus-4 yards.

Wake Forest (minus-3) at Purdue, 9 a.m., FS1

Gio Lopez passed for 350 yards — 134 more than he ever totaled last season at North Carolina — and three touchdowns in Wake’s 38-16 win over Akron. With a victory, Purdue can match its 2-0 start last season, when they then proceeded to lost their final 10 games.

UCF (plus-7) at Pitt, 12:30 p.m., ESPN2

Mason Heintschel threw seven touchdown passes in Pitt’s 59-14 win over Miami-Ohio last week while six different players combined to run seven TDs in UCF's 73-6 rout of Bethune-Cookman.

Cal (plus-3.5) at Syracuse, 12:30 p.m., ACC Network

The Bears, playing their conference opener after losing 45-24 to UCLA last Saturday night, are 3-4 in ACC road games outside California over the past two seasons. Cal hasn’t won a game in the state of New York since a 51-6 trouncing of Army in 1973.

Duke (plus-6) at Illinois, 12:30 p.m., FS1

Sophomore Nate Sheppard, who rushed for 1,132 yards as a freshman last season, piled up a career-best 227 in Duke’s 17-3 win over Tulane. The Illini handled the Blue Devils 45-19 last season at Durham.

UC Davis (plus-24.5) at No. 17 SMU, 1 p.m., ACCX Network

The Aggies are 2-0 this season but lost 70-10 to Washington a year ago in their lone matchup vs. a Power Four school.

No. 18 Tennessee (minus-12.5) at Georgia Tech, 4 p.m., ESPN

Alberto Mendoza, Fernando’s little brother, passed for 237 yards in his Georgia Tech debut but the Colorado scored the go-ahead touchdown with 42 seconds left before blocking a field goal to clinch a 14-13 win over the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Southern (plus-20.5) at Clemson, 4:30 p.m., ACC Network

Most of Clemson’s stats in a 51-10 loss at LSU were gruesome, perhaps none worse than managing just a single first down in the first half while falling behind 31-3. Does Georgia Southern (1-0) actually have a chance here? The Eagles’ only victory ever vs. a current member of the ACC was a 19-16 conquest of Miami in 1931.

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