This week of ACC games might not seem so great on the surface. There are a lot of seemingly overmatched opponents, whether it be in a conference game or in a pseudo-conference game like Syracuse against Notre Dame. But listen, there's always danger lurking.
Well, that's not always true. In some cases, though, the overmatched ACC teams hitting the road this week might be about to experience some unimaginable horrors. What's more exciting than that?
When Syracuse and Notre Dame meet in MetLife Stadium on Saturday, it will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between the ACC and the Fighting Irish. Ever-independent and commitment-phobic, Notre Dame will come as close to joining an actual league in football as it ever has with its five-game out-of-conference commitment to the ACC. I mean, surely, teams and conferences can just be friends, right?
Get your popcorn: When Harry Met Sally. It's sure to get complicated at some point, but for now, it's not complicated at all. And in the meantime, it will be fun for all involved. And everyone will convince themselves that this platonic relationship with no real commitment is completely realistic. (Oh, and yes, Notre Dame is Meg Ryan and the ACC is Billy Crystal in this scenario.)
After starting out 6-0 against NC State in the 1990s (3-0 on the road), Florida State lost its fourth trip to Carter-Finley Stadium as a member of the ACC in 1998 and since and including that game, the Seminoles are 3-5 against NC State in Raleigh (2-5 as a ranked team). FSU went 20 ACC games without a defeat after losing to Virginia in 1994 for its first ACC loss before dropping that game in 1998 as the No. 2 team in the country. The Seminoles would not lose again that season until the national title game. NC State would finish 7-5.
And so it goes in this rivalry.
It has never seemed to matter how good NC State is, although in at least two of the victories since '98 -- 2002 and 2010 -- NC State was as good or better, record-wise. In 2006, a 3-9 NC State team knocked off an FSU team that finished 7-6. In 2012, the most inexplicable, FSU (which finished 11-2) lost 17-16 in Raleigh to an NC State team that finished 7-6. This year's Seminoles called that a program-changer. Well, they're 24-1 since, so maybe they're onto something. But there's something about that Carter-Finley turf that doesn't seem to agree with the Seminoles.
It didn't seem like history would repeat itself this year. And yet here we are, with NC State looking confident and Florida State looking a bit vulnerable. Will history repeat itself, or can FSU break the cycle?
Get your popcorn: The Triangle. It's a very good movie, if you haven't seen it, and basically -- not to spoil it -- it's about being stuck in a time loop. The protagonist is trying to make sure that the past doesn't keep repeating itself so that she can change the future.
As Duke travels to Miami to take on Duke Johnson and the reeling Hurricanes, the Blue Devils are eager to prove themselves. But Miami is on the brink here, and the Hurricanes desperately need something to save their season.
There is absolutely no telling what is going to happen in this game, but the one thing that can be guaranteed? It will be pretty crazy, and it won't often make much sense. Kind of like last year's game when the Blue Devils, normally a pass-happy team, ran roughshod all over Miami. This year, Duke Johnson is back in the lineup for the Hurricanes (he missed last year's game) and is sure to want revenge. The Blue Devils' defense hasn't been great against the run to date, either. No matter what, this game will almost certainly be a lot of fun as two potentially explosive offenses meet up.
Get your popcorn: The Specialist. This movie was filmed in Miami and takes place there too, as it turns out. This movie also makes no sense. But it has a lot of explosions. And so will this game.
You know, maybe it would have somehow been better for North Carolina, coming out of a 70-41 thrashing at the hands of ECU, if Clemson had finished that game against Florida State. Now Clemson is back at home, in Death Valley, at night, with a brand-new (and more dynamic) starting quarterback in Deshaun Watson, replete with weapons that made ridiculous plays last week against the Seminoles and feeling more confident, yet also a bit angry.
UNC has worked on tackling this week, which is good news. But they'll have to catch the Tigers to do that, or get run over slowly in Death Valley. The latter seems more likely. Or quickly, whichever way you like, but run over nonetheless.
Get your popcorn: Maneater. Do I think Clemson will terrorize North Carolina as much as ECU did last weekend? Probably not. But do I think that the trip to Death Valley will not be a pleasant one for UNC? Yes. And also, any time you can use a movie that aired on SyFy and stars Gary Busey as the lead man (playing it pretty straight, while not intentionally being funny), you have to do it.
In two road games so far, Wake Forest freshman quarterback John Wolford has been sacked 12 times. Wake's offense in those games? Twenty-one first downs, negative-28 rushing yards, 326 total yards, 6 of 29 on third down and 123 total plays. Those road games were at Louisiana-Monroe and Utah State, both losses.
Now, they'll be visiting the Louisville Cardinals, a team that features the No. 7 defense in the country and has yet to allow an opponent to pass the 300-yard mark. This just doesn't seem like it will end pleasantly for anyone on the Wake Forest sideline at all.
Get your popcorn: The Birds, of course. Wake Forest is about to get ... well, whatever it is that happens to everyone in that Alford Hitchcock classic.
