Darian Mensah still sits atop the ACC quarterback board, even after Miami came up short against Notre Dame in a game that turned into a grind down the stretch. Mensah’s Hurricanes fell 31-24, but he did enough to stay in the conversation at No. 1 as Week 11 arrives.
The Notre Dame-Miami matchup had the kind of back-and-forth tension that makes quarterback play matter on every snap. CJ Carr and the Fighting Irish built a 21-point lead early in the third quarter, only for Mensah and Miami to claw all the way back to within a touchdown. The Hurricanes even had a potential game-tying touchdown pass ruled incomplete late in the fourth quarter.
Mensah’s numbers were still strong despite the loss. He threw for 269 yards and three touchdowns, hit Elija Lofton and Cooper Barkate, and helped give Miami life late even while throwing a season-high 19 incompletions. The first weekend without Malachi Toney ended in defeat, but Mensah’s performance kept him in the top spot.
The other big quarterback performance from Week 10 came in SMU’s 51-28 win over Virginia Tech, where Kevin Jennings took over after halftime. The Mustangs led 23-14 at the break, then scored touchdowns on each of their first three second-half possessions to blow the game open.
Jennings finished 24 of 32 for 350 yards and four touchdowns, with Yamir Knight catching six passes for 103 yards and three of those scores. His lone blemish was an interception on a tipped pass at the line of scrimmage.
Virginia Tech needed Ethan Grunkemeyer to keep pace, and he did plenty in the first half. He threw for 291 yards and a touchdown and added a rushing score before halftime, but the Hokies couldn’t sustain it. A late fumble and a forced throw into a tight window that turned into an interception helped swing things fully toward SMU.
That result sets up one of the best quarterback matchups of Week 11, with Wake Forest heading to SMU in the early window. Gio Lopez and Jennings are both running offenses that have scored at least 20 points in every game this season, and the stakes are real for both teams’ ACC Championship hopes.
Lopez sat out Wake Forest’s 77-0 win over Merrimack for precautionary reasons, but his season has been excellent. In eight games, he has thrown for 2,176 yards, 18 touchdowns and only one interception, while also rushing for 317 yards and six scores. The Demon Deacons’ defense has also tightened up, not allowing more than 14 points in a game since the end of September.
Another ranked quarterback gets a week off in Stanford’s Davis Warren, whose Cardinal were idle because of their Week 0 game against Hawaii. Through nine games, Warren has thrown for 2,203 yards, 14 touchdowns and three interceptions. Stanford now heads to Virginia Tech, where the Hokies are coming off a game in which SMU piled up 569 yards and 51 points.
Grunkemeyer’s own spot in the rankings is tied to that same shootout. Against SMU, he was productive but not quite enough, and Virginia Tech’s defense has now been exposed in back-to-back ways by a high-powered offense. Stanford’s defense offers a different kind of challenge, but not one that inspires much confidence after allowing 545 total yards in a 52-24 loss at Louisville two weeks ago.
Speaking of Louisville, Teddy Kienholz also earned his place in the Week 11 rankings after the Cardinals’ 44-17 win over Georgia Tech. Louisville leaned on the run game, but Kienholz still went 17 of 25 for 182 yards and two touchdowns. He also led the team on the ground with 81 of its 251 rushing yards, including a second touchdown pass threaded into a tight window to TreyShun Hurry.
North Carolina’s Gio Edwards Jr. joins the list after a sharp showing in the Tar Heels’ 38-21 win at Connecticut. He finished with 255 yards and three touchdowns, bounced back from an early interception, and managed the game cleanly. One of his best throws was a 23-yard screen completion to Demon June.
Duke’s Darian Eget also cracks the rankings for the first time this season after guiding the Blue Devils to a 41-3 win at NC State. Duke leaned on Nate Sheppard and the ground game, but Eget still provided steady help through the air, finishing with 208 yards and repeatedly finding receivers near the sideline when the offense needed a spark.
The Blue Devils now travel to Miami, where the Hurricanes’ defense has NFL talent but has looked weaker than expected over the last month.
North Carolina’s next test comes at home against Louisville, with the Tar Heels returning to Kenan Stadium for their penultimate home game. Louisville’s defense has been inconsistent through ACC play, though it did come off one of its better outings in the rout of Georgia Tech.
SMU’s home finale against Wake Forest looms as one of the week’s biggest games, and Miami gets Duke at Hard Rock Stadium in another matchup that could shape the rankings again before long.
In Other News...
Miami Still Has An ACC Title Game Path But It Just Got Tougher
Miamis path to Charlotte is still alive, but the margin for error is shrinking fast after the loss to Notre Dame. Sitting at No. 7 in the College Football Playoff rankings, the Hurricanes now have to take care of business against Duke and then watch the rest of the ACC scoreboard closely, because their fate is no longer entirely in their own hands.
The leagues key swing games are scattered across the weekend, with Louisville facing UNC, Clemson taking on Georgia Tech and SMU meeting Wake Forest. For Miami, the stakes are bigger than a conference race, since the ACC Championship game will be the final one before the College Football Playoffs move to a 24-team bracket, making every remaining result feel even more consequential. [Read more 🡒]
Miami's Playoff Path Suddenly Looks More Manageable Than Fans Expected
Miamis playoff picture got a little clearer after a weekend of rankings movement that reshuffled the national conversation. A close loss without a key player sent one team sliding, and with only two ACC teams sitting in the top 25, the conferences path to the playoff suddenly looks less crowded than many fans might have expected. The latest bracket projections also reopened the debate over how the selection committee views different leagues, especially when comparing the ACC to the deeper, more heavily scrutinized conferences.
For Miami, the bigger takeaway is not just where the Hurricanes stand now, but how much future results could swing the entire field around them. The current playoff math leaves room for a few different scenarios, and the matchups that would follow could depend as much on committee perception as on what happens on the field. A couple more wins could make Miamis route look even cleaner, while one bad result could bring the old uncertainty right back. [Read more 🡒]
Miamis CFP Push Just Got Personal Against Duke
Miamis College Football Playoff push takes on a little extra edge this week with Duke coming to town, and the matchup comes loaded with familiar faces on both sidelines and in the lineup. Darian Mensah, who transferred from Duke to Miami after a legal dispute with his former school, is part of the storyline, while receiver Cooper Barkate is poised for a bigger role after another Miami pass catcher was injured.
There is also the matter of Manny Diaz returning to face the program he once led, this time as Dukes coach, which adds another layer to a game already carrying real stakes for the Hurricanes. With Miamis playoff hopes still in play, this is the kind of November meeting that can feel bigger than the standings, especially when the opponent arrives with so many personal connections. [Read more 🡒]