Week 5 in the ACC brought the kind of chaos that keeps everyone honest, because just when the league starts to feel mapped out, a result flips the whole board.
Pitt’s 35-33 win at Virginia Tech came with an asterisk-sized problem for the Panthers: Mason Heintschel went down, and that changes the rest of their season. Christopher Helling said Virginia Tech looked like the better team for much of the first half, but self-inflicted mistakes kept Pitt alive.
He also noted that freshman Corey Dailey could get a look later this year, pointing to the snaps he saw from Dailey in the FCS game and saying he was impressed with the arm. Rob Hwang put it bluntly: “Every week we think we know who we’re playing the rest of the season and something changes.”
With Heintschel out, he added, Virginia Tech now comes to Berkeley angry about the result.
Notre Dame’s 37-26 win at North Carolina didn’t do much to calm the national-title talk around the Irish. Helling wasn’t buying a close game with UNC from a team that wants to be taken seriously at the top of the sport.
His read was simple: “I don't think you can consider yourself a national title contender and play a close game with UNC. Miami blows them out in a few weeks.”
That Miami comparison loomed even larger after the Hurricanes rolled past Clemson 41-13. Helling said some Clemson fans had convinced themselves after the Cal game that the season still had life because of the defense, but he thinks this result should put that to bed.
“Clemson is mediocre at best,” he said. Hwang was even more direct about Miami, calling this “the best Mario Cristobal team” and noting that’s saying something for a roster that lost two NFL first-round picks in the offseason.
SMU handled Boston College 25-16, and Helling framed it as a clean result more than a dazzling one. He pointed out that the Mustangs didn’t turn it over, and joked that the weather seemed to be working in BC’s favor again even though this one was in Texas. His line on the Eagles was memorable: “BC is probably down to play in a hurricane at this point.”
Wake Forest’s 57-3 demolition of Stanford had Helling looking ahead with a little regret. He said he wished he’d seen the final score before making his ACC parlay bet in Vegas, and he also used the game to question Stanford’s standing as a real national contender.
His view: a team with those ambitions should beat Stanford by far more than 38 points. Hwang’s takeaway was shorter and sharper: “The Wake Forest game in Berkeley got scarier.”
Syracuse escaped UConn 42-41 in overtime, and the Orange’s grip on respectability got looser in the process. Helling said he wasn’t sure whether Steve Angeli was injured or benched, but he wasn’t stunned by the outcome because he already had a high opinion of Amari Odom.
What did bother him was that the overtime finish messed up his CBS Sports Network stream of the Cal-UNLV game. Hwang’s read was even more skeptical: “The Syracuse win seems less and less impressive.”
NC State’s 31-28 win over Louisville fit a familiar Wilcox-football script in Helling’s eyes. He described the Wolfpack as a kind of spiritual successor to that style: losing games they shouldn’t, beating teams they shouldn’t, and still finding a way toward bowl eligibility. He added that NC State fans seem tired of that formula, too.
Then came the result Helling said he did not see coming at all: Florida State’s 38-7 rout of Virginia. He said Virginia’s lines have been getting praise from him, but this game suggested FSU simply had too much talent up front.
Helling pointed out that Virginia had no run game, while FSU quarterback Ashton Daniels ran for 136 yards and also threw for 183 yards with 0 TD/1 INT. His conclusion was that Florida State just ran the ball down Virginia’s throat and Virginia had no answer.
He ended by saying he may need to rethink how good he thought Virginia was.
Asked for one last thought, Hwang kept it short: “Football is Life.”
In Other News...
Cal Offense Suddenly Has One Big Question Before Virginia Tech
Cals offense looked a lot different in the second half against UNLV, when Tosh Lupoi handed the play-calling duties to Pat McCann and the unit responded with 24 points after halftime. The switch gave Cal a needed spark and, just as important, it introduced a new layer of uncertainty heading into a tougher matchup with Virginia Tech, where the Bears are still searching for the right rhythm and identity on that side of the ball.
Virginia Tech coach James Franklin acknowledged the uncertainty around what Cal might do next, pointing both to the change in who is calling the plays and to the absence of several key players from the Bears roster. For Cal, the question is no longer whether the offense can look more productive than it did early against UNLV. It is whether that second-half burst was a one-game adjustment or the start of something more stable when the Bears take the field again. [Read more 🡒]
Mark Madsen Is Selling Bigger Cal Expectations Despite Major Changes
Mark Madsen is still working his way back after knee surgery, but the Cal coach made time to join ACC media day remotely as the Bears begin shaping a new season around a different-looking roster. Coming off a 22-win campaign, Cal has plenty of reason to talk bigger in year two under Madsen, even with several transfers gone and new recruits arriving to fill out the rotation.
The challenge now is turning that optimism into production, especially with so much of last seasons offense having to be replaced. Madsen has made clear the Bears expect more, and the first chance to see how the pieces fit comes Nov. 2, when Cal opens against Adams State at Haas Pavilion. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Made A Desperate Offensive Change Fans Need To Watch
Cals offense was already searching for answers when the UNLV game hit halftime, and the Bears made a change that spoke volumes about how urgently they wanted a spark. Tosh Lupoi confirmed that playcalling duties moved from offensive coordinator Jordan Somerville to pass game coordinator Pat McCann in the middle of the game, a switch made as the Bears were chasing the scoreboard and trying to steady an attack that had not been meeting expectations.
The timing only added to the sense of pressure around the decision, with Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele exiting after a concussion and athletic director Ron Rivera acknowledging the offense had fallen short of what the program wanted. McCanns adjustment did help Cal briefly wrest control back, even if the finish still went UNLVs way, and it leaves the Bears with an obvious question hanging over the next stretch: whether this was a one-game rescue or the start of something more permanent. [Read more 🡒]