Week One Pass/Fail Reports: ACC

ACC Overall Record: 11-3

Pass: Wake Forest, Duke, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Virginia Tech

Wake Forest had a bigger challenge than people realized as they headed to New Orleans to take on Tulane, as historically, Tulane has always played them tough. Wake Forest got away with an all important opening win, and avoided the upset in the process, getting 378 yards passing from new QB Sam Hartman.

Duke had a solid challenge as well, and after Amry squandered a hot start, the Blue Devils got going and pulled away in the second half in a 34-14 win. Daniel Jones looked amazing, completing 13/17 for 197 yards and a beautiful scoring pass.

Clemson did not actually blow anyone aay in a 48-7 win over FCS Furman, and Trevor Lawrence was erratic at QB for the Tigers, but they still cruised in a mostly uninspiring blowout win over an outmatched opponent.

Georgia Tech has a holdover issue from 2017 in that they are slow to get going. Once they hit on all cylinders, the Yellow Jackets never looked back in a 41-0 win over lowly Alcorn State. This was not an inspiring win for the most part, but it will do heading into a tilt with USF.

Anthony Brown outplayed U Mass QB Andrew Ford by passing for 4 TDs in a blowout win over an improving U Mass club. The Eagles needed a fast start to show that they are able to make the next step in 2018, and they got exactly what they needed, even if AJ Dillon failed to hit 100 yards this week rushing.

Pitt jumped to a 33-7 lead at the half over Albany, and then emptied the benches in the second half, and the halftime score held. Still, the Panthers have to find a handle on their secondary, as they allowed Albany QB Vincent Testaverde to torch them for 263 yards on the day.

Virginia found themselves down early to Richmond, and then they hit the jets and outscored the Spiders 42-6 the rest of the way in an easy home win to open the season. They picked off Richmond QB Kevin Johnson 2 times in the win.

Virginia Tech answered a lot of questions on defense in a 24-3 win over Florida State to open the season in ACC play. The secondary, which was a huuge question, picked off Deondre Francois 3 times in the win, and the offense did just enough to win the game.



Fail: Syracuse, Louisville, NC State, North Carolina, Miami, Florida State

Syracuse scored 55 points and Eric Dungy broke an ACC record by rushing for 200 yards as a QB, but that defense was abysmal, and allowed Jon Wassink of Western Michigan to shred their secondary for 378 yards and 3 scores. The Orange needed evry point they scored, because their defense could not stop WMU all night. That will become a major problem later in the season.

Louisville found their new QB in Juwon Pass, but overall, the Cardinals could not get anything going in a blowout loss to Alabama that ended up being worse than what most people thought it would be. The Cardinals are in real trouble moving forward.

NC State got pushed around more than they should have against the defending FCS champs from James Madison, and an 11 point win here is concerning. They need someone other than Ryan Finley on offense to make a difference.

I am not sure how long UNC can go before they realize that Larry Fedora is not going to get it done. They are now 2-11 since the beginning of 2017, and they have to beat East Carolina this week, or else risk being and underdog in every other game moving forward.

Miami was a team that had been looked at as a potential player for a playoff birth this season, but came out and fell flat on their faces in a lopsided loss to an average LSU team in Dallas. LSU averaged just 4.55 yards per offensive play, and still won by more than 2 scores. Not a great start for Mark Richt and the Canes.

Florida State is in trouble, as it is painfully obvious that Jimbo Fisher and his staff had gone completely stale when recruiting the offensive line. Turnovers killed the Seminoles, and they made critical mistakes all night long in the loss to Virginia Tech.