THB Staff ACC Predictions: Week 5
If last week was our intro to the ACC Slate, this is the week it’s in full swing, with every ACC team except Syracuse facing a conference foe. For the purposes of our little game, this is where catching up is going to start to get tougher, as the number of games we need to win on the early ones has practically halved. In the coming weeks, this difficulty could be offset by closer conference games than non-conference games, which are literally scheduled by the majority of Power 5 schools to add wins to the schedule – but this last game has not ‘ That’s definitely been true this year (hello, Virginia Tech and Miami) and the first part, at least if you look at our predictions, doesn’t seem to be taking shape:
The conference’s two ranked matchups are also the only ones to intrigue our staff. First, Wake Forest will travel to Tallahassee to take on a resurgent Seminoles program that seems to have rid itself of almost all of the demons that plagued it during the 2010s and is playing some very good football. On the other hand, Wake Forest just took on Clemson to double overtime and made their vaunted defense absolutely stupid, in Sam Hartman’s second game after a blood clot-induced inaction. Both teams are exciting and their showdown figures are barn burner, and while we have more believers in Wake than Florida State (probably because Wake was also good last year), it’s a game as polarizing as we are.
The other point of contention on the schedule is the prime-time top-10 game between Clemson and NC State. Clemson, as mentioned, needed double overtime to beat Wake Forest, but DJ Uiagaleilei looked better than ever, especially late, and if he can take back the promise that made Clemson fans believe they might not even see a downfall after Trevor Lawrence, this Clemson team becomes a legitimate contender. State will see its first real competition after battling ECU and then facing off against three hapless opponents – their defense is extremely legit, but a high-profile offense has left much to be desired so far. Most of us buy Clemson more than we buy State, but Brandon and Matt, maybe to add insult to injury to this UNC team or maybe just because they trust State to take over the offensive magic of last year more than they trust DJU to be a good quarterback two weeks in a row, Wolfpack thinks.
Everything else seems simple enough. Georgia Tech has already fired its coach and likely won’t be competitive the rest of the season, and Boston College and UVA are the worst non-GT teams in the ACC facing two teams that have looked pretty good. Syracuse is facing an FCS opponent, and it seems the staff, even after last week’s snakebite, don’t think UNC’s defense is bad enough for Virginia Tech to be more than what it is. offensive can surpass. Fingers crossed that Hurricane Ian cooperates…
Do you agree with our consensus choices? To disagree? Do you have any ideas about the most interesting matches? Let us know!
