ACC Rooting Guide: Week 4

Oh, hello. Welcome back to the ACC Rooting Guide. It’s great to have you here. My name is Mike Schiffman and I will be your guide through Week 4 of the non-Miami college football slate in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Please be sure to take the below as serious as possible as it is an extremely scientific method that has taken hundreds of hours to perfect.

Week 4 bye teams: Boston College, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest

Let’s do some rooting.

Syracuse @ Clemson – 9/20 at 12:00 PM EST, TV – ESPN

The Tigers are in it now. They have to win out in conference play to have a chance at the title game and a CFP bid. It will be interesting to see how Dabo Swinney and his team respond. Clemson has not played to their potential so far this season. How much potential they have might be the better question. Quarterback Kade Klubnik continues to struggle, while their defense hasn’t been the lights out unit they were supposed to be. I usually root for Clemson, but I want to see them finished off. Let’s go Syracuse.

Wofford @ Virginia Tech – 9/20 at 12:00 PM EST, TV – ACCN Extra

The battle of the winless in Blacksburg! Two 0-3 teams, something’s gotta give! Two teams enter with zero wins, one leaves with one! Okay, I’ll stop. It’s such a waste to use my incredibly awesome football comedy writing skills on this game. What a depressing matchup. Let’s go Wofford.

SMU @ TCU – 9/20 at 12:00 PM EST, TV – ESPN2

TCU is coming in undefeated, beating Abilene Christian after their season-opening blowout win at UNC. Their offense looks really good, which is bad news for the Mustangs of SMU. Rhett Lashlee’s 2025 squad is not the same as last year’s. A more serious question is: how many horned frogs would it take to bring down a mustang? I don’t care a ton who wins this matchup. Let’s go TCU.

Bowling Green @ Louisville – 9/20 at 12:00 PM EST, TV – ACCN

An in-state battle! Yeah! I have to be honest, I don’t think I ever knew Bowling Green’s team name was the Falcons. They just don’t seem like a “Falcons” team, but I digress. Louisville would like to have a dominant showing against a Group of 5 school before playing at Pitt and vs Virginia to begin conference play. The Cardinals are almost four touchdown favorites. That is a lot of points. Let’s go Louisville.

Kent State @ #7 FSU – 9/20 at 3:30 PM EST, TV – ACCN

I’m rooting for Kent State because I’m a Miami fan and I have to. Would it be cool if the Hurricanes and Seminoles are both undefeated in two weeks for their matchup? Yes, yes it would be. Speaking of that scenario, College Gameday has to go to Tallahassee, right? The only other ranked matchup in Week 6 as of today is Vanderbilt at Alabama. That game is not in the same universe as one between Miami and FSU when they’re both ranked in the top ten. Let’s go Kent State.

UNC @ UCF – 9/20 at 3:30 PM EST, TV – FOX

Bill Belichick is going to Disney World! I lived in New York City in my late 20s, and whenever I told people I was from Orlando, they would ask how often I went to Disney. It was incredibly lame and unoriginal. The Knights of UCF (call them the Golden Knights if you want to annoy a UCF fan) are 2-0 after beating Jacksonville State and North Carolina A&T. The Golden Knights, I mean Knights, are coming off a bye too. Extra time to prep for the Belichick defense should help. As a Miami fan from Orlando, I never rooted for the UCF Golden Knights, damnit, I mean Knights. Let’s to UNC.

Matchup of the week

NC State @ Duke – 9/20 at 4:00 PM EST, TV – ESPN2

I am hesitant to say this will be the worst “Matchup of the week” this season with how mediocre and worst most of the ACC looks so far this season. Still, it is a big game for both teams. Duke is reeling with two straight losses, albeit to good teams in Illinois and Tulane. Manny Diaz’s squad needs a win in the worst way possible. Meanwhile, the Wolfpack can move to 2-0 in conference play with a win. Their next two games are against Virginia Tech and Campbell, both at home. NC State should be 6-0 when they travel to Notre Dame in mid-October. I’d like to see that. Let’s go NC State.

Temple @ #18 Georgia Tech – 9/20 at 4:30 PM EST, TV – CW

The Temple Owls beat UMass and Howard to start the season by a combined score of 97-17. They then traveled to Norman to play Oklahoma and lost, 42-3. Yikes. It seems the slight jump in competition made quite the difference. With this game being played in Bobby Dodd Stadium, I think we’ll get a similar result. The Yellow Jackets are going to crush Temple. And no, that’s not a reverse jinx. I wouldn’t waste a reverse jinx on Temple. Let’s go Temple.

Stanford @ Virginia – 9/20 at 7:30 PM EST, TV -ACCN

This game is actually slightly interesting! The Cardinal are coming off a home upset of Boston College. Stanford’s running game looked great and they put up 30 points. On the other side, the Cavaliers barely lost to NC State in a non-conference game two weeks ago. They then rebounded nicely and put up 700 yards of offense against William & Mary. Whatever team hosts this game is the one I am taking to win. Let’s go Virginia.

Cal @ San Diego State – 9/20 at 10:30 PM EST, TV – CBSS

The Golden Bears are climbing up the ACC Power Rankings. If Cal can take care of the Aztecs, they have a very manageable conference schedule that avoids Miami, FSU, Georgia Tech, Clemson, and NC State. Geez. Lucky them. San Diego State suffered a 23-point road loss to Washington State in Week 2 and is coming off a bye against an in-state rival. Anything could happen. Probably not, but I’m rooting for it. Let’s go San Diego State.

See you next week!

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