Louisville, Miami, SMU Post big wins

Only three ACC games played Saturday were of significance.

Yes, North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton had a big game with 265 yards from scrimmage (172 rushing, 93 receiving) in the Tar Heels’ 35-11 win over Florida State, whose 1-8 record continues to shock the nation.

And admittedly, North Carolina State freshman quarterback CJ Bailey was just short of spectacular, completing 18 of 20 passes for 234 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in a 59-28 victory over Stanford, which has lost in its last six games by a combined margin of 146 points.

And it’s true that Syracuse’s rally from a 21-3 deficit midway through the third quarter to a 38-31 victory over Virginia Tech was impressive.

But we’ll focus on the three ACC games that had an impact on the college football landscape:

Louisville 33, Clemson 21

(Louisville is 6-3, 4-2 ACC; Clemson is 6-2, 5-1 ACC)

—This result allayed a major concern going into the weekend that three teams could finish with undefeated ACC records, leaving one 8-0 team – possibly Miami – out of the ACC championship game. Clemson, Miami and SMU will not play each other this season, making it possible for all three to finish the regular season with undefeated conference points before this weekend, leaving it to a complicated tiebreaker scenario to decide the two ACC title game teams to be determined.

But Clemson’s loss means only two teams — SMU and Miami — can finish with undefeated conference records.

That said, Clemson is still in College Football Playoff contention, as it seems likely that at least one two-loss team will make the 12-team field, perhaps even a three-loss team.

—Clemson looked almost unbeatable at home, especially on the night, and not only did the Tigers lose, but Louisville made them look soft in a dominant 33-21 win that wasn’t as close as the score suggests.

“We looked like a really poorly coached team tonight,” Clemson coach Damo Swinney said.

Clemson was 69-3 at home in the College Football Playoff era and had not lost a night game at home in eleven years.

The last time Clemson lost a home game to an unranked team was in 2001, when North Carolina defeated the Tigers 38-3.

—Louisville freshman running back Isaac Brown is one of the surprises of the ACC season. He had his fourth 100-yard game of the season against Clemson, rushing for a career-high 151 yards while averaging 7.6 yards per carry.

“Their running back was the difference in the game,” Swinney said.

For the season, Brown is averaging 7.55 yards per carry, which is fourth-best in the country and easily the best among freshmen. His 800 rushing yards rank second in the nation for freshmen, just 11 yards behind Louisiana-Monroe freshman Ahmad Hardy.

Brown is second on the team in receptions with 26.

Coming out of high school in Homestead, Florida, the 6-foot-2 Brown was rated as a three-star recruit by 247 Sports Composite as the 524th best prospect in the class of 2024.

Miami 53, Duke 31

(Miami is 9-0, 5-0 ACC; Duke is 6-3, 2-3 ACC)

—Miami is ranked No. 4 in the AP rankings released Sunday and is one of five undefeated FBS teams. Miami leads the nation in scoring at 47.4 points per game, but it will be interesting to see where the College Football Playoff committee ranks the Hurricanes when the first CFP rankings are released Tuesday.

—For the third time this season, Miami won a game in which it trailed by double digits in the second half.

Miami trailed Cal 35-10 with eight minutes left in the third quarter and outscored the Bears 29-3 the rest of the way to win by one.

The Hurricanes trailed Virginia Tech by 10 points with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter and won it one by four (after a controversial decision on the final play).

Miami trailed Duke by 11 points with 10 minutes left in the third quarter, then outscored the Blue Devils 27-3 the rest of the way, making the outcome look like a rout.

—Miami quarterback Cam Ward threw five touchdown passes, giving him 29 for the season, three more than anyone in the country. Ward is tied for the school record for TD passes in a season. His plus-23 touchdown to interception margin (29 TD passes, 6 interceptions) is five better than anyone in the country.

—Miami receiver Xavier Restrepo set a school record for career receiving yards, starting the day four yards ahead of Michael Irvin, then passing Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss on Saturday.

But if you can guess which player tied Restrepo for the most career catches in Miami history, consider yourself a sports trivia genius. I’ll give you some options:

One-time Pro Bowl pick and Super Bowl champion Santana Moss?

Six-time pro bowler Reggie Wayne?

Hall of Famer Michael Irvin?

Seven-time Pro Bowl selection Andre Johnson?

Four-time Pro Bowl pick Kellen Winslow?

Three-time Pro Bowler Greg Olsen?

Four-time Pro Bowl pick Jeremy Shockey?

Well, it was neither. Restrepo is connected to a guy named Mike Harley, who played in Miami just three years ago. But Harley went undrafted in the 2022 NFL draft and has never played in an NFL game.

SMU 48, Pittsburg 25

(SMU is 8-1, 5-0 ACC; Pitt is 7-1, 3-1 ACC)

—SMU is now 5-0 in conference play for the second straight season, and the last time the Mustangs started 5-0 in conference play in two straight seasons was 1947 and 1948, when Doak Walker was the star of SMU was.

—The extent to which SMU dominated previously undefeated Pitt was shocking. Pitt had allowed opponents an average of just 2.52 yards per rushing attempt, third best in the country, before SMU split that defense for 135 rushing yards and 5.9 yards per carry in the first half, which ended with SMU leading by 31 -3.

—SMU moved up seven spots in the AP Poll this week to No. 13, the Mustangs’ highest ranking since 1985. But will the College Football Playoff committee be as kind to the Mustangs as Tuesday’s first CFP rankings are released? The loss of Clemson puts the ACC in danger of having just one team in the 12-team CFP, and SMU could be the conference’s best chance for a second representative.

—It’s been a long, hard battle for SMU since it was given the death penalty in 1987, which left the school unable to play football for two seasons due to repeated recruiting violations and forced the program to start all over again. Since then, SMU has never been ranked higher than 15th until now, and not once since it was given the death penalty has SMU finished a season in the top 20.

The two members of SMU’s famed Pony Express running back tandem of Eric Dickerson and Craig James were present for SMU’s win over Pitt. Dickerson and James helped the Mustangs finish the 1982 season with an 11-0-1 record and a No. 2 national ranking. Coincidentally, SMU beat Pitt 7-3 in the Cotton Bowl that season.

—SMU was all but eliminated from the ACC championship conversation after the first three games of this season. In the opener, the Mustangs had to rally from an 11-point deficit entering the fourth quarter to defeat a mediocre Nevada squad, who were picked to finish last in the 12-team Mountain West and now is 0-4 in conference play. Then in game three, SMU lost at home to BYU, which was picked to finish 13th in the 16-team Big 12.

Much-hyped SMU quarterback Preston Stone struggled early and was replaced by Kevin Jennings as the starter. The Mustangs didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Since then, SMU has won six straight games, including two games against then-ranked teams, Louisville and Pitt. Meanwhile, BYU is still undefeated and ranked No. 9 in the country. The Mustangs’ three remaining games are against Boston College, Virginia and Cal, all of which have losing conference records and a combined 3-10 ACC mark.

ACC Player of the Year rankings

–1. Quarterback Cam Ward, Miami – 29 TD passes, 6 interceptions for the No. 4 team.

–2. Quarterback Cade Klubnik, Clemson – Poor performance on Saturday, but he still has an impressive TD to interception margin of plus-17 (20 TDs, 3 picks) for a top-20 team.

–3. Running back Omarion Hampton, North Carolina – Yes, I know North Carolina is only 5-4, but the guy was outstanding against Florida State with 265 yards from scrimmage, and he’s fourth in the country in rushing with 1,178 yards.

–4. Quarterback Kevin Jennings – He is the main reason why SMU is where it is.

–5. Quarterback Eli Holstein, Pitt – He narrowly beats out Miami receiver Xavier Restrepo for the final spot.

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Top five ACC teams

(We rank based on which teams achieved the best results, not which teams we think are the best teams)

–1. Miami (9-0, 5-0 ACC) – Hurricanes have won three games by one score but are still undefeated.

–2. SMU (8-1, 5-0) – The way the Mustangs handled Pitt was impressive.

–3. Clemson (6-2, 5-1) – The Tigers looked weak on Saturday, but they are still in the running for an ACC title.

–4. Pitt (7-1, 3-1) – There are fears that Pitt may disappear from view after the humiliating loss to SMU.

–5. Louisville (6-3, 4-2) – All three of the Cardinals’ losses were by seven points, and all were to teams ranked among the top 13 in this week’s AP poll.

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