This Week in the ACC: How the Schedule Points Miami to the ACC Title

We’re not even to the halfway point of the season and it feels like No. 4 Miami is on the doorstep of separation in the ACC race. They can’t come close to clinching anything this weekend, but they can make the climb every other contender faces very steep.

Let me explain what I’m thinking.

The Hurricanes, 2-0 in conference play, travel to face Clemson this week. The Tigers were good enough to beat Cal on the road, but Miami is a two-touchdown favorite for a reason.

And get this: If the ‘Canes win Saturday, they will be 3-0 on the road in the ACC. Of their six remaining conference matchups, five will come at home, where they have outscored two (admittedly overmatched) opponents by the video game margin of 129 to 10.

They have a bye next week before home games against Florida State and Pittsburgh, where they will be double-digit favorites in both. Then their final ACC road game, at North Carolina, on Halloween.

Miami detours out of the conference schedule to visit No. 3 Notre Dame on Nov. 7 (when Cal and its fans have a bye) in must-viewing on NBC. The rest of November features home games vs. Duke, Virginia Tech and Boston College on consecutive Saturdays.

Whaddya think?

*** Cal coach Tosh Lupoi hints in the video at the top of this story about changes may be coming to the Bears this week.

THIS WEEK IN THE ACC

Point spreads by DraftKings

Friday

Pittsburgh (plus-3) at Virginia Tech, 4 p.m., ESPN

The Panthers improved to 4-0 and are outscoring their opponents by a margin of 157 to 34 after Mason Heintschel threw six TD passes against Bucknell. Virginia Tech, 4-0 for the first time since 2017, already has two Power Four victories and visits Cal a week from now. Both clubs are 1-0 in ACC play and the winner could climb into the Top-25.

Saturday

No. 3 Notre Dame (minus-21) at North Carolina, 9 a.m., ESPN

CJ Carr is completing 70 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns for the Irish (4-0). The Tar Heels (2-1) have beaten Notre Dame just twice in 23 meetings, winning most recently in 2008, a 29-24 victory that later was vacated due to NCAA violations. Can Bill Belichick add a victory over the Fighting Irish to his resume of six Super Bowl titles?

Boston College (plus-21) at No. 21 SMU, 9 a.m., CW Network

The Eagles (2-2, 0-1) beat Rutgers and hung with Virginia Tech before losing 21-14 last week, but they have won just one of their past 10 road games. Kevin Jennings, who passed for 464 yards as SMU (3-1, 1-1) beat Missouri State last week, now owns the school’s career records for completions, passing yards and touchdowns responsible for (combined passing/rushing).

Stanford (plus-12.5) at Wake Forest, 9 a.m., ACC Network

The Cardinal (2-2, 1-2) hopes to snap a 12-game road losing streak when it visits the Demon Deacons (3-1, 1-1), who are fresh off a 30-27 upset win at Louisville. Stanford quarterback Davis Warren, the Michigan transfer, enjoyed his best career game last week, passing 396 yards and three TDs in Stanford’s 34-27 win over Georgia Tech.

Syracuse (minus-6.5) at UConn, 9 a.m., CBS Sports Net

The Orange (1-2) step outside ACC play to face UConn (2-2). Syracuse won 27-20 in overtime at home when the teams met last year, sparked by Steve Angeli’s career-high 416 passing yards. Angeli threw for just 161 yards with two picks last week in a 27-13 loss at Pitt.

Cal (plus-2.5) at UNLV, 12:30 p.m., CBS Sports Net

The Bears (2-2) need a victory against the Rebels (2-2) to avoid their first losing record in non-conference play since 2021. Cal still is trying to establish a ground game with a depleted running backs corps, which hasn’t helped Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who is rated just 50th among FBS quarterbacks by ESPN this week after averaging 5.7, 4.9 and 3.5 yards per dropback in games against Power Four opponents.

Louisville (minus-3.5) at NC State, 12:30 p.m., ACC Network

The Cardinals (2-2, 1-1) own a 41-31 win over then-16th-ranked SMU and must be thinking they could be unbeaten except for three-point losses to Ole Miss and Wake Forest. NC State (2-2, 0-1) still awaits its first victory over a Power Four opponent two weeks after its last-second brain freeze at Vanderbilt.

Virginia (minus-2.5) at Florida State, 12:30 p.m., ESPN2

The Seminoles (2-2, 0-1) have surrendered 77 points in their two defeats to Power Four opponents. Virginia (3-1, 1-0) has allowed just 52 points altogether in four outings.

No. 4 Miami (minus-16.5) at Clemson, 4:30 p.m.

Darian Mensah still has more touchdown passes (14) then incompletions (12) while completing 88.7 percent of his passes for the Hurricanes (4-0, 2-0) through four games. In a duel of the only two teams so far with a 2-0 ACC record, will the Tigers (3-1, 2-0) be able to throw off Mensah’s timing? They couldn't do it last year when Mensah, playing for Duke, passed for 361 yards and four touchdowns.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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