ACC Week in Review – Week Two

Another week down, and another mixed bag for the ACC. The active teams went 7-3, including one tight in-conference affair.

Bryn Renner once again completed nearly all of his passes for the North Carolina Tar Heels against Rutgers. Last week, he was 22/23 (his one incompletion was an interception), while this week he was 20/26 – with three picks. Mark that down – in two weeks, only three Bryn Renner passes have hit the ground. The Tar Heels took an early lead on a 66-yard touchdown pass from Renner to Dwight Jones, and were able to just slightly hold off the Scarlet Knights for the rest of the affair, winning 24-22 thanks to two Giovani Bernard touchdown runs.

The Duke Blue Devils faced off against the No. 6 Stanford Cardinal, and the closest they were to being in the game was when Lee Butler returned an Andrew Luck interception 76 yards for a score, making the score 10-7 Stanford. Four Luck touchdowns and another poor performance from Sean Renfree later, and Duke fell 44-14.

Frank Beamer got his 200th win of his illustrious career, as the 11th ranked Virginia Tech Hokies needed a fourth quarter touchdown run from Josh Oglesby to get a 17-10 victory over East Carolina. The defense was great, holding the Pirates to 112 yards of offense, but Logan Thomas was unable to get anything going on offense, leaving it up to Oglesby and David Wilson.

In the only conference game of the week, Wake Forest surprised just about everyone by beating NC State, 34-27. Michael Campanero threw a touchdown pass, caught another, Josh Harris ran for 96 yards and a score, and Danny Dembry scored two touchdowns in the upset win. Mike Glennon had his moments for NC State, throwing for 315 yards and three scores, but only completed 24 of 41 passes. Wake was actually leading 27-6 at halftime, but the Wolfpack’s second half comeback attempt fell short.

Clemson had a scare of their own. Trailing in-state “rival” Wofford 24-21 in the third quarter, two late Tajh Boyd scores gave the Tigers the 35-27 lead. The offense was not a problem for Clemson – they had nearly 500 yards of total offense, Boyd was efficient (18/29 for 261 yards and four total touchdowns), and Andre Ellington was great (22 carries for 165 yards and one touchdown) – they just had trouble containing quarterback Mitch Allen in the first quarter. Allen ran for a 27-yard score and threw for a 66-yarder, but the Tigers were eventually able to make the comeback.

The only other ACC school to play an FCS opponent, Florida State, did their job – they blew out Charleston Southern 62-10, and it wasn’t even that close. E.J. Manuel threw four touchdowns passes, and the Seminoles outgained the Buccaneers 647-82.

In perhaps the ACC game of the week, Virginia faced off against Indiana, and was able to pull out a 34-31 victory. The Cavaliers held a 16-3 lead at halftime and were up 23-3 in the third quarter, but the Hoosiers scored four straight touchdowns and took a late 31-23 lead. With about a minute and a half left, Perry Jones scored a three yard touchdown and Michael Rocco completed the two-point conversion to Paul Freedman to tie the game. Cam Johnson sacked Edward Wright-Baker on 3rd and 5 on Indiana’s next drive, forcing a fumble, and giving the Cavaliers great field position. Robert Randolph kicked a 23-yard field goal as time expired to win the game for the Hoos.

Georgia Tech got out to a quick lead in Murfressboro against the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders, leading 28-0 in the second quarter and securing a 49-21 win. The Yellow Jackets once again got their passing game working, completing six of ten passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns, but the ground attack stole the show. Nine different players ran 65 times for 382 yards and five touchdowns, putting the Blue Raiders away easily.

The only team with a more disappointing showing than Clemson has to be Boston College, who lost 30-3 to the UCF Knights. The Knights are a good team, but the Eagles just looked flat awful. UCF outgained BC 422-141, including 235-57 on the ground. Chase Rettig threw for 70 yards on 23 attempts and was as bad as we’ve ever seen him. We’ll see if the Eagles can rebound.