Week 5 brought a blunt reality check to the ACC, and the league’s picture looks a lot different after Miami’s trip to Clemson, Pitt’s injury blow, and Florida State’s much-needed statement.
Miami has earned the top spot. The No.
4 Hurricanes improved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the ACC with a 41-13 win at Clemson, and the margin told the story. Darian Mensah passed for 227 yards and accounted for two total touchdowns, while Mark Fletcher Jr. returned after missing one game and ran for 77 yards and two scores.
Miami’s defense smothered Clemson, piling up six sacks, holding the Tigers to 55 rushing yards and getting a 39-yard pick-six from freshman JJ Dunnigan. The only real hit for Miami came when Marquise Lightfoot, the Hurricanes’ tackles and sacks leader, left in the second quarter and did not return.
Pitt is still unbeaten at 5-0, but the Panthers took a major hit in Blacksburg. They escaped with a 35-33 win, yet Mason Heintschel went down on the fourth play of the second half after taking a sideline hit from cornerback Cam Chadwick.
An MRI showed a torn ACL, and Pat Narduzzi said Saturday that Heintschel is done for the season. Before the injury, Heintschel had completed 66.2% of his passes for 1,304 yards, 14 touchdowns and one interception.
Fifth-year quarterback Holden Geriner, who has spent time at Auburn and Texas State, stepped in and went 8 of 12 for 78 yards and a 29-yard touchdown to Cataurus Hicks. It was his second career touchdown pass.
Florida State may have bought itself a little more breathing room. The Seminoles scored 38 straight points in a 38-7 win over Virginia, and Ashton Daniels did the heavy lifting on the ground with 17 carries for a career-high 136 yards and five touchdowns, a Florida State quarterback record.
FSU finished with 464 total yards and 10 sacks after recording seven in its first four games. The defense also shut down Virginia’s run game, holding a team that had been averaging 192.8 rushing yards to 37 yards on 40 carries.
With losses only to SMU and Alabama, the Seminoles at least gave people something to reconsider.
Wake Forest keeps making noise, too. The Demon Deacons, whose only loss came against Miami, blasted Stanford 57-3 for the largest margin of victory in an ACC game in school history.
Gio Lopez was efficient and explosive, throwing for 265 yards, running for 88 more and totaling five touchdowns. Wake Forest still missed the Top 25 this week, but another win would almost certainly push it into the rankings.
The rest of the league had its own collection of close calls and useful wins. NC State edged Louisville 31-28 behind a career-high 373 passing yards from CJ Bailey and 493 yards of total offense.
Louisville’s latest loss followed the same script as its others, by three points to Ole Miss, Wake Forest and NC State. SMU beat Boston College 25-16 with five sacks, and that road win at Florida State looks better after what the Seminoles did to Virginia.
Syracuse finally got an FBS win, surviving UConn 42-41 in overtime. California fell 39-31 at UNLV and slipped to 2-3, with its only FBS victory still coming against Syracuse.
North Carolina stayed within striking distance of No. 3 Notre Dame before losing 37-26.
A few clear calls emerged from the week. Miami’s resume keeps getting stronger: three of its five wins have come on the road, all three of its conference wins have come away from home, and the Hurricanes now lead the ACC in scoring offense and scoring defense.
Pitt has enough cushion in the standings to survive the loss, but the offense now has a lot more to prove without Heintschel. Wake Forest has handled business and remains Miami’s toughest test so far.
Florida State’s win should keep Mike Norvell’s group in the conversation for another week, though the league will want more before fully buying in. Clemson, meanwhile, does not look like a College Football Playoff team, and its 2024 playoff appearance already feels like a different era.
And Stanford? That one looks settled. Wake Forest, Duke and Miami have all taken turns pounding the Cardinal, and they still appear at least a year away from being competitive.
Virginia Tech was close to flipping its game with Pitt, too. The Hokies outgained the Panthers by 204 yards, led 14-0, and still came away with a loss after missing a 36-yard field goal and committing four turnovers.
Even so, they were in position to win. As for Penn State, maybe the expectations got a little too high after the 4-0 start, but it remains a very talented group.
In Other News...
Miami Looked Like A Title Contender But One Concern Is Growing
Miamis win over Clemson did a lot more than add another quality result to the rsum. The Hurricanes backed it up with a defense that held Clemson to 13 points and just one touchdown, while the offense found enough explosive plays to keep control of the game. Cooper Barkate delivered the kind of breakout performance that can change the feel of a season, highlighted by a 61-yard touchdown catch, and Darian Mensah added scoring through both the air and on the ground.
The problem for Miami was everything that happened around the win. The Hurricanes were dealing with multiple injuries by the end of the game, including to key offensive linemen and cornerbacks, and while some players were able to return after leaving, the list of in-game issues kept growing. For a team that just looked every bit like a title contender, the concern now is less about whether Miami can beat top competition and more about how long it can keep doing it with so many bodies being asked to hold up. [Read more 🡒]
Miamis Biggest Worry After Clemson Has Nothing To Do With The Score
Miami left Clemson with a convincing 40-13 win in a primetime matchup, and the performance had the feel of a complete road statement even with several key players banged up along the way. The Hurricanes absorbed injuries on both lines and in the secondary, yet the defense still smothered Clemsons rushing attack and finished with six sacks while the ground game produced 192 yards and three touchdowns.
The bigger concern now is less about the scoreboard and more about how Miami comes out of it physically as the calendar turns to Florida State. A rivalry game of that size demands depth and health, and the Hurricanes have already seen how quickly their margin can shrink when the injuries start to pile up. [Read more 🡒]
Miami Just Gave The ACC No Real Case Against No. 1
Miamis win over Clemson did more than add another eye-catching result to the ledger. It gave the Hurricanes a weekend built on both style and substance, the kind of showing that tends to linger in the ACC pecking order. With Miami stacking up as the leagues benchmark in scoring and defense, the argument around the top spot is starting to look less like a debate and more like an acknowledgment of what has already happened on the field.
Around the conference, a few teams flashed enough to keep the race interesting, from Pitt and Duke to SMU and Louisville, while others like Florida State, Virginia Tech and Clemson continue sorting out where they really fit. But Miamis combination of a statement win and season-long consistency leaves the ACC with a familiar problem: if the No. 1 team keeps handling its biggest tests, there may not be much left to argue about. The next stretch will show whether anyone can make that case anyway. [Read more 🡒]