Around the ACC: Week 10 (Football)

Story posted November 5, 2020 in CommRadio, Sports by Logan Bourandas

The biggest game of the year has finally arrived for the ACC.

A battle of two undefeated and top four teams in the country go head to head as Clemson and Notre Dame battle in a potential preview of the ACC Conference Championship game. Both teams come into this game undefeated although Clemson will be without star quarterback Trevor Lawrence due to a positive COVID-19 test.

Without Lawrence under center, Clemson noticeably struggled to start its game last week against Boston College. The Eagles jumped out to a 28-13 halftime lead but the Clemson defense stepped up allowing zero second half points as new quarterback D.J Uiagalelei scored two big touchdowns. Uiagalelei was able to throw for 342 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers in his first career start as Clemson won 34-28.

Notre Dame meanwhile has been on a roll the past two games. After only beating Louisville by five points two weeks ago, the Fighting Irish have now won their last two games by double digits.

In their recent game against Georgia Tech, the Irish put up 426 total yards with half of that total being rushing yards. This game against Clemson will be by far the biggest test of the year for the Irish as this will be their only ranked matchup of the year with North Carolina recently losing.

Speaking of North Carolina, the Tar Heels are pretty much out of both ACC conference championship contention and the AP Top 25. After starting out the season 3-0, the Tar Heels have now lost two of their last three games with each loss being by a field goal.

In North Carolina’s latest loss to Virginia, it was the defense that struggled as the Cavaliers put up 44 points. Sam Howell played well, throwing for well over 400 yards and four touchdowns with over half of those yards going to Dyami Brown.

The Tar Heels still have an outside chance of making it to the conference championship game as they will face Notre Dame and Miami back to back towards the end of the season.

The Miami Hurricanes were given the week off last week as they still sit as the next highest ranked team in the ACC behind previously mentioned Clemson and Notre Dame. The Hurricanes face an interesting test this week as they take on previously ranked NC State.

The Wolfpack got smoked last week by in state rival North Carolina as the Tar Heels won that game by 27 points. Miami is currently favored by just over 10 points in the game as they still have a clear shot at making the conference championship game as they have no ranked opponents on their remaining schedule.

 

Logan Bourandas is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him email lxb5412@psu.edu.

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