ACC Football Week Review: Louisville's Delay, Duke's Rally, Miami's Controversy

Penalty helps Notre Dame top Louisville. More hardship for North Carolina and Florida State

Quarterback Maalik Murphy of 5-0 Duke / Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images

ACC games this weekend brought more questions than answers.

How can one play that didn’t happen affect an outcome?

Trailing Notre Dame by seven points with 59 seconds left, Louisville faced a fourth-and-a-foot situation just outside the Irish 45-yard line. 

A simple quarterback sneak should get the first down and continue the drive, but for no apparent reason Louisville, which had no timeouts left, did not get the play off in time resulting in a 5-yard, delay-of-game penalty and a fourth-and-6.

Quarterback Tyle Shough threw an incompletion on the next play and the game was over, with folks wondering how the Cardinals could get a delay-of-game penalty on such a straightforward play.

The Cards shoot themselves in the foot with a costly DELAY OF GAME! Then Shough forces a questionable pass into double coverage, but no PI is called.

No. 16 Notre Dame takes down No. 15 Louisville, 31-24. pic.twitter.com/cOKBJSlTfE

— 35KYSports (@35KYSportsMedia) September 28, 2024

Coach Jeff Brohm tried to explain it.

“We did switch the personnel. It got loud. [Shough] couldn’t hear the call in from me. He finally got it, got up there and unfortunately the clock is winding down and he didn’t see it.”

Brohm blamed himself.

Here’s how Shough explained it.

“I was trying to snap it, I don’t think [the center] heard me. . . . Costly mistake, I got to be louder.”

Yes, folks, crowd noise is a factor, helping the Irish win 24-17.

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Which is more embarrassing, giving up 70 points while losing to a Group of Five team at home or blowing a 20-point, third-quarter lead in a loss to your archrival?

North Carolina suffered an embarrassing 70-50, home loss to James Madison last week, which was bad enough. But the Tar Heels may have topped that on the disappointment meter on Saturday, when they blew a 20-0 lead with 8:23 left in the third quarter and lost to archrival Duke 21-20.

UNC coach Mack Brown had a streak of 13 consecutive wins against Duke halted, losing to the Blue Devils for the first time since 1989, when North Carolina finished 1-10 in its second season under Brown.

“Unlike last week, I thought [our players] gave everything they had,” Brown said afterward.

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How can a game be over but we don’t know who won?

Virginia Tech thought it had pulled off a major upset when officials ruled its Hail Mary pass on the game’s final play had been caught by Da’Quan Felton for a touchdown that apparently gave the Hokies a 40-38 victory over No. 7 Miami Friday night on the Hurricanes’ home field.

Miami’s top-10 ranking would no doubt be gone and its chances for a berth in the College Football Playoff would be reduced, although not lost.

Then the play was reviewed, and the anxiety levels of both teams’ players and coaches rose as the review continued for what seemed an eternity – actually six minutes – before a decision was reached.  The call on the field was overturned, the pass ruled incomplete, Miami won 36-34, stayed unbeaten and its path to a College Football Playoff remained unobstructed.

“Normally, when you look at something that long it doesn’t get overturned,” Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry said afterward. “I didn’t think there was enough evidence to overturn it.”

The ACC released a statement explaining the ruling:

"During the review process of the last play of the Virginia Tech at Miami game, it was determined that the loose ball was touched by a Miami player while he was out of bounds which makes it an incomplete pass and immediately ends the play.”

The New York Times posted an article the next day devoted to the controversial play and whether the correct call was made.

You decide:

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Is Duke Lucky or Good?

Duke is 5-0 for the first time since 1994, which was Fred Goldsmith’s first year as the Blue Devils’ coach.

But Duke has not exactly been mowing down opponents, beating Northwestern in overtime, getting past Connecticut 26-21 after trailing 21-17 entering the fourth quarter, and slipping past North Carolina by a point after trailing by 20 points in the third quarter.

The biggest surprise is running back Star Thomas.  The New Mexico State transfer rushed for just 23 yards on 13 carries in the opener against FCS member Elon and ran for a modest 58 yards against Northwestern in the second game.

However, he has rushed for more than 100 yards in each the last three games, including 166 yards against North Carolina. He also had 45 receiving yards on three catches and scored two touchdowns.

SPEED AROUND THE EDGE! 😈 pic.twitter.com/qxZEj4NWNF

— Duke Football (@DukeFOOTBALL) September 28, 2024

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Has Florida State hit rock bottom or can it slip further?

Florida State is 1-4 and probably should be 0-5 since the Seminoles got outplayed by Cal in their one win. But the Seminoles had been in every game this season until Saturday’s 42-16 loss to unranked SMU.

And it could get worse with Clemson coming to FSU’s Doak Campbell Stadium next Saturday.

How low can FSU go after being ranked No. 10 in the preseason AP poll?  Florida went 4-8 after being ranked 10th in the 2013 preseason poll, and the Seminoles may do worse than that if they don’t fix their quarterback issues.

DJ Uiagalelei was 12-for-30 and threw three interceptions against SMU and had an Adjust Quarterback Rating of 13.2. He has four touchdown passes and six interceptions for the season.

Coach Mike Norvell did not rule out making a change at quarterback, saying after the game, “If one of those young guys shows they are the best option . . . “

Well, Brock Glenn, the No. 2 quarterback, got playing time at the end of the game and was 0-for-4, which are the only four passes he has thrown this season.

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Is Clemson the best team in the ACC?

Since its 34-3 loss to Georgia in the opener, Clemson has plowed through three opponents, winning by an average margin of 32 points.

The Tigers are back in the hunt for a College Football Playoff berth, Cade Klubnik is proving to be a solid quarterback, and the next two games against Florida State and Wake Forest shape up as two more blowout wins for Clemson.

Fan Duel lists Clemson as a 14.5-point favorite over Florida State on the Seminoles home field.  Who would have imagined that before the season began?

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Did Rhett Lashlee’s bold, early-season decision to switch quarterbacks change SMU’s season?

SMU’s Preston Stone came into the 2024 season on the watch list for the Maxwell Award, the Davey O’Brien Award, the Unitas Award and the Manning Award.  He figured to be one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC.

But early in the loss to BYU in the third game, Kevin Jennings replaced Stone and has been the Mustangs quarterback ever since.  SMU won its past two games 66-42 over TCU and 42-16 over Florida State.

Jennings has completed 71.4 percent of his passes (30-for-42) with five touchdowns and no interceptions in those two games.

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Does the fact that Cal is hosting ESPN College GameDay next week against Miami mean that Golden Bears football has arrived?

Uh, no. This will be the first time ever that Cal has hosted GameDay. It's still little shy of the 23 times Ohio State has hosted that Saturday morning show. And it will start at 6 a.m. Pacific time.

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ACC Player of the Year Standings

--1. Quarterback Cam Ward, Miami – His 18 TD passes are two more than any other player in the nation.

--2. Quarterback Eli Holstein, Pittsburgh – 12 TD passes for a 4-0 team.

--3. Quarterback Cade Klubnik, Clemson – 12 TD passes, 2 interceptions, for No. 15-ranked squad.

--4. Quarterback Tyler Shough, Louisville – 11 TD passes, 1 interception for top-25 team.

--5. Running back Star Thomas, Duke – More than 200 all-purpose yards against North Carolina and third straight 100-yard rushing game for 5-0 Blue Devils.

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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 (5-0) – Hurricanes lucky to be unbeaten and dropped one spot in the AP rankings to No. 8.

--2. Pittsburgh (4-0) – Picked to finish 13th in the ACC, the Panthers have yet to play a conference game.

--3. Duke (5-0) – Blue Devils are still unranked but they are undefeated.

--4. Clemson (3-1) – Tigers may be the best ACC team, but unbeaten teams must be ranked ahead of them.

---5 SMU (4-1) – Mustangs’ only loss was a three-point defeat against BYU, which is ranked 17th.

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