ACC Football Review: Louisville, Miami, SMU Post Big Wins

Clemson seldom loses at home, but the Tigers looked lost against Louisville

Louisville freshman Isaac Brown flexes for the Clemson mascot after scoring a touchdown / Ken Ruinard-Imagn Images

Only three ACC games played Saturday mattered.

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 victory over Florida State, whose 1-8 record continues to shock the nation.

And, granted, 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 win over Stanford, which has lost in 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 post 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 erased a major concern coming into the weekend that three teams could finish with unbeaten ACC records, leaving one 8-0 team – possibly Miami – out of the ACC championship game. Clemson, Miami and SMU don’t play each other this season, making it possible before this weekend for all three to finish the regular season with unbeaten conference marks, leaving it up to a complicated tiebreaker scenario to determine the two ACC title-game teams. 

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

Having said that, 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 seemed almost unbeatable at home, especially at night, and not only did the Tigers lose, but Louisville made them look meek in a dominating 33-21 victory that was not as close as the score suggests.

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

Clemson was 69-3 at home in the College Football Playoff era and had not lost a night game at home in 11 years.

The last time Clemson lost a home game to an unranked team was 2001, when North Carolina beat 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 5-foot-9 Brown was rated a three-star recruit who was ranked as the 524th-best prospect in the class of 2024 by 247 Sports Composite.

Miami 53, Duke 31

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

---Miami is up to No. 4 in the AP rankings released Sunday and is one of five unbeaten 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 on Tuesday.

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

Miami was behind 35-10 against Cal with eight minutes remaining 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 that one by four (on a disputed call on the final play).

Miami faced an 11-point deficit against Duke with 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter, then outscored the Blue Devils 27-3 the rest of the way to make the outcome look like a rout.

---Miami quarterback Cam Ward threw five touchdown passes, giving him 29 for the season, three more than anyone else 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 else in the country.

---Miami receiver Xavier Restrepo set a school record for career receiving yards, starting the day 4 yards ahead of Michael Irvin, then passing Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss on Saturday. 

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

One-time Pro Bowl pick and Super Bowl champ 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 none of those.  Restrepo is tied with some guy named Mike Harley, who played at Miami just three years ago.  But Harley went undrafted in the 2022 NFL draft and has never played in an NFL game.

SMU 48, Pittsburgh 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 consecutive 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 SMU’s star.

---The degree to which SMU dominated previously unbeaten Pitt was shocking.  Pitt had allowed opponents an average of just 2.52 yards per rushing attempt, third best in the country, before SMU sliced up that defense for 135 rushing yards and 5.9 yards per carry in the first half, which ended with SMU holding 31-3 lead.

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

---It’s been a long, hard struggle for SMU since it received the Death Penalty in 1987, preventing the school from playing football for two seasons because of repeated recruiting violations and forcing the program to start from scratch.  Since then SMU had never been ranked higher than 15th until now, and not once since it received the Death Penalty has SMU finished a season ranked in the top 20.

The two members of SMU’s famed Pony Express running back tandem of Eric Dickerson and Craig James attended 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 virtually dismissed from ACC championship talk after the first three games this season. In the opener, the Mustangs had to rally from an 11-point deficit entering the fourth quarter to beat a mediocre Nevada squad, which was picked to finish last in the 12-team Mountain West and is now 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 on and was replaced by Kevin Jennings as the starter. The Mustangs seemed to be headed nowhere.

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

ACC Player of the Year Standings

--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 at plus-17 (20 TDs, 3 picks) for a team ranked in the top 20.

--3. Running back Omarion Hampton, North Carolina – Yes, I know North Carolina is just 5-4, but the guy was outstandings 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’s the main reason SMU is where it is.

--5. Quarterback Eli Holstein, Pitt – He barely edges out Miami receiver Xavier Restrepo for the final spot.

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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 (9-0, 5-0 ACC) – Hurricanes have won three one-score games but they are still unbeaten.

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

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

--4. Pitt (7-1, 3-1) – There’s a fear Pitt may drop out of sight after the humbling 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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