ACC Football Review: Clemson, Pitt, Kyle McCord Get It Done

We pick the most impressive and most disappointing performances by ACC teams and players from this weekend

Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord / Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

We hand out superlatives after another wild weekend of ACC football:

Most Impressive Performance: Team

Clemson

Clemson’s offense and quarterback Cade Klubnik were hit with an avalanche of criticism after their 34-3 loss to Georgia in the opener, but Clemson and Klubnik bounced back in a big way by scoring 56 first-half points in a 66-20 demolition of Appalachian State.

Granted, Appalachian State is not a national powerhouse, but it is an FBS school picked to win the Sun Belt Conference. And Clemson pounded the Mountaineers, rolling up 712 yards of offense, including 525 yards in the first half, the most yards in a half by an FBS team against an FBS opponent since Utah State recorded 557 yards in a half against New Mexico in 2018.

Klubnik played one half and was nearly perfect, completing 24-of-26 passes for 378 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions.

.

Most Impressive Performance: Offensive Player

Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord

Klubnik, Miami quarterback Cam Ward, Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos and Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza were all outstandings, but the pick is McCord because he did it in an ACC game against a ranked opponent – No. 23 Georgia Tech.

McCord threw for 381 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in Syracuse’s 31-28 victory over the Yellow Jackets. He is only the second Syracuse quarterback in history to pass for more than 350 yards in consecutive games.

McCord was not named to the first-, second, third- or fourth-team preseason all-ACC teams at quarterback at any relevant site, and was a relative afterthought in the hype regarding the quarterback talent in the ACC this season.

Perhaps people forgot that McCord threw 24 touchdown passes with six interceptions for Ohio State last year, while leading the Buckeyes to an 11-1 record and No. 7 national ranking at the end of the regular season.  The only defeat was a seven-point loss to eventual national champion Michigan. The fact that McCord entered the transfer portal before the Cotton Bowl probably did not endear him to Buckeye fans.

.

Most Impressive Performance: Defensive Player

Cal linebacker Teddye Buchanan

Buchanan played for an FCS school (UC Davis) last season, but he played a major role in Cal’s 21-14 upset of Auburn at sold-out Jordan-Hare Stadium.

He had 11 tackles (nine solo stops), two sacks, three tackles for loss and forced fumble that led to Cal’s final touchdown. Buchanan simply ripped the ball out of Jarquez Hunter’s arms and Cal recovered at the Auburn 36-yard line.  Also, Buchanan applied the pressure that led to the Bears’ third quarterback sack.

.

Most Impressive Comeback

Pittsburgh

Virginia’s rally from a 30-17 deficit entering the fourth quarter to a 31-30 road victory over Wake Forest received consideration, but the dramatic turnaround Pittsburgh made to beat Cincinnati on the road was more impressive.

Cincinnati held what seemed like a comfortable 27-6 lead at home with 4:50 left in the third quarter, especially since the Pitt offense in general and quarterback Eli Holstein specifically had shown no signs of life.

Holstein had looked like the redshirt freshman he is to that point, completing just 8 of 21 passes for 94 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. Then he suddenly turned into the second coming of Tom Brady, completing 12-of-14 passes for 208 yards and three touchdowns with no picks the rest of the way, leading the Panthers to a game-winning field goal with 17 seconds left that gave them a 28-27 win on the road. 

Pitt even overcome the inexplicable coaching decision to go for two points after scoring a touchdown that cut the Cincinnati lead to eight points (27-19) with 10:41 left in the game.

Not since 1971 has Pitt overcome a bigger deficit to win a game. That was five years before Pitt’s Tony Dorsett won the Heisman Trophy.

.

Most Impressive Flip-the-Switch Performance in Overtime

Duke QB Maalik Murphy

Murphy slogged through four quarters, completing 21-of-36 passes for 192 yards, one touchdown and one interception, while leading the Blue Devils to just one touchdown in regulation time.

Then, in overtime, he suddenly became a star.  Duke ran just three offensive plays in the two overtime periods, and Murphy threw completions on all three – a 25-yard touchdown pass, a 22-yard completion and 3-yard touchdown pass.  Bing, bang, pow, and Murphy was 3-for-3 for 50 yards and two touchdown, all on perfectly thrown balls, in the Blue Devils’ 26-20 road win over Northwestern.

.

Most Impressive Performance that Is Difficult to Evaluate

Louisville

With its 49-14 victory over Jacksonville State, Louisville has outscored its first two opponents by a combined margin of 111-14. Quarterback Tyler Shough was again impressive, throwing for 349 yards and two touchdowns without a pick.

But what have the Cardinals proven with the wins over two overmatched foes? Lousiville has a bye this coming weekend, but we will get a sense of whether the Cardinals are any good when they face Georgia Tech on September 21 and Notre Dame the following week.

.

Most Disappointing Performance

North Carolina State

Certainly there is no disgrace in losing to Tennessee, which moved into the top 10 in the rankings on Sunday.

But 51-10? At home? When your team is nationally ranked?

Tennessee had 460 yards of offense to the Wolf Pack’s 143, and the Volunteers had 22 first downs compared with 10 for North Carolina State.

North Carolina State’s only touchdown was scored by the defense when Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava was hit while passing, sending the ball almost straight up in the air, allowing Aydan White to intercept it and return it 87 yards for a touchdown.  That made the score 37-10.

It was not pretty, and it was on national network television.

.

Best Demonstration of the Difference Between Power Four conferences and Group of Five conferences

SMU

The Mustangs were 10.5-point favorites a home, but lost 18-15 to BYU, picked to finish 13th in the Big 12.  Maybe the result should not be so surprising, even though the Mustangs went 11-3 last year and picked to finish in the top half of the ACC standing in the preseason poll this year.

Since the start of the 2023 season, SMU is 11-0 against teams from the Group of Five conferences with an average margin of victory 24.8 points.  In that same span, the Mustangs are 0-4 against teams from Power Four (or Power Five) conferences with an average margin of defeat of 11.5 points.

In fact, SMU has not won a home game against a power conference school since 2010.

And the Mustangs have a quarterback issue. Quarterback Preston Stone was SMU’s presumed star, but Kevin Jennings was clearly more productive than Stone against BYU and played all of the second half for the Mustangs. Jennings was not great either (15-for-32, 0 TDs, 1 interception), so what does Rhett Lashlee do?.

.

ACC Player of the Year Standings

(Only players from unbeaten teams considered at this point)

--1. Quarterback Cam Ward, Miami – His 199.5 passer rating is ninth in the country.

--2. Quarterback Kyle McCord, Syracuse – 8 TD passes, 1 interception.

--3. Running back Desmond Reid, Pittsburgh – 146.5 rushing yards per game, 8.9 yards per carry.

--4. Quarterback Tyler Shough, Louisville – 6 TD passes, 0 interceptions, albeit against lesser competition.

--5. Wide receiver Malachi Fields, Virginia – 124.0 receiving yards per game, and you have to be impressed when you see him play.

.

Top Five ACC Teams

(We rank based on which teams have had the best results, not which teams we believe are the best teams)

--1. Miami (2-0) – Hurricanes move up to No. 10 in AP poll

--2. Syracuse (2-0) – Great start for new head coach Fran Brown

--3. North Carolina (2-0) – Tar Heels keep rolling despite loss of quarterback Max Johnson

--4. Louisville (2-0) – Blowing out overmatched foes.

--5. Boston College (2-0) – Still trying to determine the significance of that win over Florida State.

Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport