ACC Football: Five Things We Learned From Saturday’s College Football Action
Saturday gave us exactly what college football is supposed to give us. Big games, blown leads, fourth quarter comebacks, ranked teams taking losses and enough chaos to remind us that September games can look very different by the time November arrives. For the ACC, it was a mixed bag. North Carolina showed it can compete with Clemson before letting another winnable game slip away. NC State suffered one of the strangest losses you will ever see. Florida State went toe to toe with Alabama before the Crimson Tide pulled away. Virginia lost its ranking and its undefeated record to West Virginia. And then there was Lane Kiffin, who returned to Oxford and watched his former team send him home with a loss.
UNC Can Compete With Clemson, But Competing Isn't Enough
North Carolina walked into Clemson and looked like the better football team for much of the first half. The Tar Heels jumped out to a 17 to 3 lead and controlled the game with a physical running game and a defense that made life difficult for Clemson quarterback Tait Reynolds. Even after Clemson fought back, UNC still led 17 to 15 with 8:11 remaining and had the ball inside the Clemson 10 yard line when lightning sent the teams into a weather delay that lasted two and a half hours. When the teams finally returned, the momentum had completely changed. Clemson stopped UNC near the goal line, took the lead on a Gideon Davidson touchdown run and eventually pulled away for a 28 to 20 victory.
That is going to be the frustrating part for UNC fans because this was not a game where the Tar Heels were exposed from the opening kickoff. They showed they could play with Clemson, and they put themselves in position to win the game. Benjamin Hall ran for 135 yards and caught a touchdown, while the defense kept Clemson's offense in check for long stretches. But Billy Edwards Jr. finished 13 of 30 for 135 yards, and UNC could not generate enough offensively once Clemson took control.
The lesson is pretty simple. UNC looks different, but different and finished are two very different things. The Tar Heels have now shown they can walk into Death Valley and compete. The next step for Bill Belichick's team is learning how to finish when a game like this is sitting there waiting to be won.
NC State Found the Most Unbelievable Way to Lose a Football Game
NC State appeared to have survived Vanderbilt. The Wolfpack led 31 to 28 with seconds remaining, and Vanderbilt had already turned the ball over deep in NC State territory. All NC State needed to do was protect the football and let the clock run out. Instead, the Wolfpack produced one of the most bizarre endings of the college football season. With six seconds remaining and NC State facing fourth down at its own five yard line, the plan was to run backward and take an intentional safety to end the game. CJ Bailey scrambled in the end zone, Vanderbilt's Miles Capers forced the fumble and Cayden Van Daniels recovered it for a touchdown. Vanderbilt won 35 to 31.
It is difficult to overstate how improbable the ending was. NC State had the lead and possession with the clock essentially gone. According to ESPN statistics cited by AP, teams had been 1,046 and 1 over the previous 20 seasons when holding the lead and possession with 10 seconds remaining. NC State became the second team in that span to lose from that position.
The Wolfpack had also built a 17 to 0 lead and led 24 to 7 before Vanderbilt rallied, so this was not simply one strange play in an otherwise ordinary loss. NC State had multiple opportunities to put the game away and ultimately watched Vanderbilt turn a seemingly impossible situation into a 35 to 31 victory. For the ACC, it was another missed opportunity against an SEC opponent. For NC State, it may be one of those losses that people will still be talking about years from now.
Florida State Showed It Can Play With Alabama
The final score says Alabama 50 and Florida State 36, but that score does not completely tell the story. Florida State jumped out to a 21 to 6 lead in the second quarter and then regained the lead 28 to 26 early in the second half. The Seminoles moved the football against one of the biggest programs in the country and gave themselves a legitimate opportunity to win the game. Alabama eventually took control, but Florida State made the Crimson Tide work for it.
Ashton Daniels was particularly impressive, completing 17 of 29 passes for 377 yards and accounting for four touchdowns. Duce Robinson caught six passes for 135 yards and a touchdown, and Florida State had four players with at least 50 receiving yards. The problem was keeping Alabama from answering. The Crimson Tide scored 23 points in the second quarter and 14 more in the third, eventually creating enough separation to finish with the 50 to 36 victory.
For Florida State, the lesson is that the Seminoles can score against an elite opponent, but they still have to find a way to get stops when the game gets tight. For the ACC, the game provided a complicated result. Florida State lost, but the Seminoles were competitive for much of the night and showed enough offensively to make the game meaningful on a national stage.
Virginia Learned That Being Ranked Does Not Make You Safe
Virginia entered Saturday ranked No. 25 and undefeated. It left Charlotte with a 38 to 27 loss to West Virginia. The Cavaliers actually led 7 to 0 and 14 to 7, and after Virginia tied the game at 21 in the third quarter, West Virginia answered with 17 consecutive points to take control.
West Virginia quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. was a major reason why. Hawkins accounted for all five of the Mountaineers' touchdowns, while running back Cam Cook also rushed for 123 yards. West Virginia improved to 3 and 0 for the first time since 2018, while Virginia fell to 2 and 1.
For Virginia, this is a reminder that rankings do not protect you from the schedule. Every week still has to be played. For the ACC, it was another opportunity that disappeared. A ranked Virginia team beating West Virginia would have given the conference another quality result to point toward when the national conversation turns to conference strength and College Football Playoff résumés. Instead, West Virginia gets the statement win and Virginia has to regroup.
Lane Kiffin Returned to Oxford and Left With a Loss
And then there was the game that gave us the perfect way to finish the night. Lane Kiffin returned to Oxford as the head coach of LSU, nearly a year after leaving Ole Miss for Baton Rouge. The atmosphere was everything college football fans expected, but the game itself turned into an even better story. Ole Miss jumped out to a 24 to 7 halftime lead before LSU fought all the way back to tie the game. Then Trinidad Chambliss engineered a 75 yard touchdown drive, scoring on a 14 yard run, and Ole Miss added a two point conversion to take a 32 to 24 lead with 6:14 remaining. LSU drove deep into Ole Miss territory in the final minutes, but Jaylon Braxton intercepted Sam Leavitt's fourth down pass in the end zone to seal the victory.
So no, Lane Kiffin did not get his win in Oxford. His former team did. Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU, returned to Oxford as the opposing coach and watched the Rebels beat his seventh ranked Tigers 32 to 24. The crowd got its moment, Ole Miss got a top 10 win and Kiffin left with a loss. That is about as good of a college football storyline as you could write without actually making it up.
There is also an interesting ACC connection buried in this game. Louisville already played Ole Miss and lost 41 to 38, while Clemson was beaten 51 to 10 by LSU earlier this season. Ole Miss beating LSU does not automatically make Louisville's résumé better, but it gives that Louisville game another piece of context. At the same time, LSU's loss changes the way people can look at Clemson's loss to the Tigers. That is the strange beauty of college football. Games rarely exist by themselves, and results from September can continue to matter when teams are being compared months later.
And that may be the biggest thing we learned Saturday. Nothing happens in college football in isolation. North Carolina's loss to Clemson, NC State's unbelievable collapse at Vanderbilt, Florida State's battle with Alabama, Virginia's loss to West Virginia and Ole Miss beating LSU all become pieces of a much bigger résumé puzzle.
We are only three weeks into the season, and Saturday reminded us that there is a whole lot more chaos coming.
