ACC Football Review: Georgia Tech, Pitt, Louisville, Syracuse Win Close Ones

Good teams find ways to win one-score games; mediocre teams find ways to lose them

Georgia Tech running back Jamal Haynes is hoisted after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Clemson blew out Wake Forest and Stanford got blasted by Notre Dame, but the other four ACC games on Saturday were decided by seven points or fewer.  Winning or losing those one-score games can make a season or ruin a season. Let’s take a look at the deciding moments in those four close games.

Georgia Tech 41, North Carolina 34

The Tar Heels trailed by 13 points in the third quarter and by 10 with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, but they had a chance to take the lead after getting a first down at the Georgia Tech 9-yard line with 1:45 remaining in the fourth quarter. Three straight Jacolby Criswell incompletions forced North Carolina to kick a short field goal to tie the game 34-34 with 44 seconds remaining. Overtime seemed imminent, and the Tar Heels had both momentum and the home crowd on their side.

Georgia Tech seemed content to go to overtime when it called for a run up the middle from its own 32-yard line with the clock running and counting down to under 27 seconds left.  But Jamal Haynes was not touched at the line or beyond during a 68-yard touchdown run that ended with 16 seconds left and gave the Yellow Jackets the victory.

bluuuuuurrrrrrr @Jamalhaynes16
TO THE 'PARTMENT 🙌
JACKETS ON TOP!#StingEm 🐝 pic.twitter.com/hycJ7z76G2

— Georgia Tech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) October 12, 2024

North Carolina is 0-3 in the ACC, and two of the losses have been devastating one-score defeats. The Tar Heels had a 20-0 lead over Duke midway through the third quarter but lost 21-20 as UNC’s final chance ended with a Criswell interception after the Tar Heels had reached the Duke 40-yard line with 16 seconds to go.

Pitt 17, Cal 15

Each team scored two touchdowns and one field goal, but Cal’s decision to go for two points after its first score early in the first quarter, which failed, and a missed two-point attempt after Cal’s second touchdown in the fourth quarter were the difference. Cal had a chance to go ahead with 1:50 left in the fourth quarter, but kicker Ryan Coe missed a 40-yard field goal attempt, his fifth miss this season on attempts of 40 yards or less.

Pitt survived to go to 6-0 for the first time since 1982 despite Eli Holstein’s worst game of the season. He went 14-for-28 for 133 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions, and he ran for just 1 yard on eight carries.

It wasn’t that Pitt found a way to win as much as Cal found a way to lose. The Bears are 0-3 in the ACC, with those three defeats coming by a combined margin of eight points.  The Bears outplayed Florida State, but lost because it scored no touchdowns on its five forays inside the FSU 15-yard line.  Cal let a 35-10 lead in the third quarter against Miami dissolve into a 39-38 loss. Against Pitt, Cal had 58 more yards of offense than Pitt, nine more first downs than Pitt, 17 more minutes of possession than Pitt and forced two more turnovers than Pitt did. And lost.

Cal is 6-17 in one-score games since the start of the 2020 season.

Louisville 24, Virginia 20

A clutch touchdown drive when it was needed most enabled Louisville to avoid a three-game losing streak.

Louisville trailed by three points with 6:33 left when it put together a clock-eating, 11-play, 67-yard touchdown drive that ended with Tyler Shough’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Jamari Johnson that put the Cardinals ahead 24-20 with 1:55 to go.

Virginia was unable to match Louisville’s efficiency when it mattered most. The Cavaliers managed to get a first down at the Louisville 39 with 1:03 remaining, but four straight incompletions by Anthony Colandrea ended Virginia’s hopes.

Louisville had been on the losing end of one-score games in their previous two weeks, knocking the Cardinals out of the top-25. This one-score win kept the Cardinals in the hunt for an ACC title with a home game against No. 6 Miami next Saturday.

Syracuse 24, North Carolina State 17

Syracuse did not have a game-winning drive, but instead used a time-consuming drive that did not yield points to squeeze the life out of the Wolfpack.

After North Carolina State scored a touchdown to get within 24-14 with 9:31 left in the fourth quarter, Syracuse went on the kind of drive coaches dream of when trying to preserve a lead late in the game.  The Orange went on a 12-play drive that ate up more than six minutes, and even though it ended at the Wolfpack 7-yard line with 3:31 left, it preserved Syracuse’s 10-point lead, leaving North Carolina State no chance to come back.

The Orange is 3-1 in one-score games and 5-1 overall, making first-year coach Fran Brown an instant celebrity. The only loss was the inexplicable 26-24, home loss to Stanford, which converted a fourth-and-9 play with 20 seconds left to set up a game-winning field goal on the final play.

Next week, Syracuse, which was picked to finish 12th in the ACC in the preseason poll, travels to Pittsburgh, which was picked to finish 13th.

ACC in the Rankings

Two ACC teams are ranked in the top 10 in this week’s AP poll – No. 6 Miami and No. 10 Clemson – and two others are in the top 25 – No. 20 Pitt and No. 21 SMU.

The first College Football Playoff standings will be revealed November 5, and it will be interesting to see where Miami and Clemson stand.

It’s unfortunate that Miami and Clemson are not scheduled to play each other this season, but it doesn’t really matter, because they would meet in the ACC championship game if they both go through conference play unbeaten. The chance of both teams finishing regular-season ACC play with 8-0 conference records seems remote, though.

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ACC Player of the Year Standings

--1. Quarterback Cam Ward, Miami – A week off but still tied for the national lead in TD passes with 20.

--2. Quarterback Cade Klubnik, Clemson – Tied for the best TD-to-interception margin in the country at plus-15 (17 TDs, 2 picks).

--3. Quarterback Eli Holstein, Pitt – A mediocre game on Saturday, but his 15 TD passes still rank 10th in the country for a top-20 team.

--4. Quarterback Kyle McCord, Syracuse – His 19 TD passes are one off the national lead, and he has led the Orange to a surprising 5-1 start.

 --5. Running back Desmond Reid, Pitt – Second nationally in all-purpose yards at 182.6

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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 (6-0) – Hurricanes will be tested next week at Louisville.

--2. Pittsburgh (6-0) – Unimpressive on Saturday against Cal but still unbeaten.

--3. Clemson (5-1) – The Tigers are probably the ACC’s best team right now, but we can’t put them ahead of unbeaten teams.

--4. SMU (5-1) – That one loss, to BYU by three points, doesn’t look so bad now that BYU is 6-0 and ranked 13th.

--5. Syracuse (5-1) – The fifth spot is up for grabs, so we’ll throw the Orange in there for now.

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