It is going to be an interesting weekend....
Pittsburgh (7-0, 3-0) at SMU (7-1, 4-0) - Both QB's (Eli Holstein & Kevin Jennings) are listed as game time decisions due to injury. Both are QB's that can run, and there is a drop-off to QB2. Jennings was as bad as it gets last weekend at Duke...does he rebound, or does he let last weekend affect him mentally? Does the Pitt offense wake up from a fall off last weekend where it was not required to do anything? UPDATE: Both QBs cleared per Dr. Pete Thamel
Duke (6-2, 2-2) at Miami (8-0, 4-0) - Duke got exactly what they wanted to have a shot at a road upset....a 12:00pm Noon kick in a pro stadium 30+ minutes from campus on a beautiful fall day where there are a ton of things better to do than wake up early to get to the Hard Rock Stadium. Miami will have to manufacture their own energy....no question the more talented team by far. Everyone keeps waiting for the annual Miami slip up....but does Cam Ward continue to be Cristobal's eraser? With all of the talent at Cristobal's disposal on defense, they gave up a lot of points to VaTech, California, and Louisville. Duke does not have the offense of any of those teams.
ACC Bowl Eligibility - Clemson, Miami, Pittsburgh, SMU, and Duke are already bowl eligible. On Saturday, the winner of the Virginia Tech (5-3, 3-1) at Syracuse (5-2, 2-2) game becomes ACC team #6 to be bowl eligible, while Louisville goes for win #6 at Clemson. In 8 match-ups, all since 2014, Louisville has never beaten Clemson.
C.J. Bailey progression for NCState - The 4-star true freshman QB was thrown into the fire with Grayson McCall's career ending injury, and has started to progress. Now with 7 game appearances and 4 starts under his belt, the game is slowing a bit for him. The past two weeks he has thrown for over 300 yards against California and Syracuse...combining to go 42-60 for 4 TD's and 1 INT. Something for GT fans to keep an eye on as our home game with them Thursday, November 21 looms large. Another thought...NCState needs 2 more wins for bowl eligibility with Stanford this weekend and Duke after that. Perhaps it would be good for them to become bowl eligible before their game with us to give them one less thing to care about in our game.
Can UNC get 2 more win's to be bowl eligible? - If it is going to happen, their game at the quitters of FSU should be win #5. After that, they host Wake Forest, go to Boston College, and then host NCState.
Saturday, November 2
Pittsburgh (7-0, 3-0) at SMU (7-1, 4-0) - Both QB's (Eli Holstein & Kevin Jennings) are listed as game time decisions due to injury. Both are QB's that can run, and there is a drop-off to QB2. Jennings was as bad as it gets last weekend at Duke...does he rebound, or does he let last weekend affect him mentally? Does the Pitt offense wake up from a fall off last weekend where it was not required to do anything? UPDATE: Both QBs cleared per Dr. Pete Thamel
Duke (6-2, 2-2) at Miami (8-0, 4-0) - Duke got exactly what they wanted to have a shot at a road upset....a 12:00pm Noon kick in a pro stadium 30+ minutes from campus on a beautiful fall day where there are a ton of things better to do than wake up early to get to the Hard Rock Stadium. Miami will have to manufacture their own energy....no question the more talented team by far. Everyone keeps waiting for the annual Miami slip up....but does Cam Ward continue to be Cristobal's eraser? With all of the talent at Cristobal's disposal on defense, they gave up a lot of points to VaTech, California, and Louisville. Duke does not have the offense of any of those teams.
ACC Bowl Eligibility - Clemson, Miami, Pittsburgh, SMU, and Duke are already bowl eligible. On Saturday, the winner of the Virginia Tech (5-3, 3-1) at Syracuse (5-2, 2-2) game becomes ACC team #6 to be bowl eligible, while Louisville goes for win #6 at Clemson. In 8 match-ups, all since 2014, Louisville has never beaten Clemson.
C.J. Bailey progression for NCState - The 4-star true freshman QB was thrown into the fire with Grayson McCall's career ending injury, and has started to progress. Now with 7 game appearances and 4 starts under his belt, the game is slowing a bit for him. The past two weeks he has thrown for over 300 yards against California and Syracuse...combining to go 42-60 for 4 TD's and 1 INT. Something for GT fans to keep an eye on as our home game with them Thursday, November 21 looms large. Another thought...NCState needs 2 more wins for bowl eligibility with Stanford this weekend and Duke after that. Perhaps it would be good for them to become bowl eligible before their game with us to give them one less thing to care about in our game.
Can UNC get 2 more win's to be bowl eligible? - If it is going to happen, their game at the quitters of FSU should be win #5. After that, they host Wake Forest, go to Boston College, and then host NCState.
Saturday, November 2
- Duke at Miami – Noon ET on ABC
- Stanford at NC State – Noon ET on ACC Network
- Virginia Tech at Syracuse – Noon ET on The CW
- North Carolina at Florida State – 3:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network
- Louisville at Clemson – 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
- Pitt at SMU – 8 p.m. ET on ACC Network
