ACC storylines Virginia should watch post-week one

Week one is almost over, and Virginia vs. Norfolk State game week is arriving. Around the ACC, nearly every team has played at least one game — to mixed results. There may not be a team in the conference with a better win than the Cavaliers’ over NC State (in terms of a blowout relative to level of competition).

What happens to the supposed “ACC contenders” who played terribly?

Cal, Clemson and NC State were all projected to finish somewhere hovering around the tier of being a top-five team in the conference. Instead, each team started their season looking like a high school team, especially on defense.

In the case of the Tigers and Wolfpack, at least they can say they played at No. 11 LSU and Virginia. It was expected that they would put up more of a fight, but their competition was simply better. The Golden Bears, however, lost by three touchdowns at home to an unproven UCLA team. And the problems came on both sides of the ball.

Star quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele tossed two interceptions, and new Coach Tosh Lupoi’s defense got routinely mauled at the line of scrimmage. Cal has some major rebounding to do over the next few weeks if it is to be an ACC contender and not a below average unit.

How do the “free win” teams actually look against Power Four opponents?

A few ACC teams opted to host mid-major or even FCS opponents. They promptly eviscerated them. That list includes Syracuse, Pitt, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech. It is difficult (or rather impossible) to create any meaningful analysis when an ACC team plays a team with no three-star recruits.

Some of those ACC teams took their free wins but were very unimpressive either offensively or defensively. Against a middling Akron team, Wake Forest allowed 16 points. Florida State was tied with New Mexico State in the third quarter. Duke's offense only scored 17 against Tulane.

The Demon Deacons, Seminoles and Blue Devils have a few holes to patch before conference play. The same could be true about the teams who dominated vastly inferior opponents — but at least the Orange and Hokies played as expected. Now, what happens when they play a quality team?

Virginia's schedule looks increasingly manageable

There was a time when NC State, Cal and Florida State looked like three of the four most difficult opponents on Virginia's schedule. That time has passed. The Cavaliers crushed the Wolfpack, and the other two teams in that trio look average at best as of right now. There is a genuine chance Virginia goes 11-1 this year.

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