College Football Week 5: Predicting the Outcomes of Every ACC Game

Florida State at SMU (-5.5) - Saturday at 8:00

The SMU Mustangs welcome the ACC to Dallas as they host Florida State. Yes, the Seminoles are 1-3 but this game is a big deal for SMU and I expect them to play like it. Florida State beat Cal but they were still outgained substantially and the Golden Bears do not have the offensive firepower SMU does. The Mustangs hammered TCU and are riding high after winning that rivalry game. Florida State’s offensive woes will continue and SMU wins comfortably.

Prediction: SMU 27 - FSU 14

Northern Illinois at North Carolina State (-6.5) - Saturday at Noon

The North Carolina State Wolfpack host the Northern Illinois Huskies on Saturday in Raleigh. Freshman quarterback CJ Bailey showed promising flashes in a loss at Clemson but the Wolfpack have bigger problems than quarterback. North Carolina State has a major weakness on the offensive and defensive lines. Dave Doeren’s teams are usually very solid in the trenches but this version is weak upfront and it is sinking every other part of the attack. Northern Illinois lost to Buffalo but they have shown they are capable of winning on the road against power conference teams. I think the Wolfpack squeak by but no one should feel good about placing money on this NC State team right now.

Prediction: North Carolina State 27 - Northern Illinois 24

Western Kentucky at Boston College (-12.5) - Saturday at Noon

The Boston College Eagles survived last Saturday night thanks to a game-winning touchdown drive led by Thomas Castellanos that moved BC to a surprising 3-1 record. The Eagles lost a competitive game to Missouri the week prior before beating Michigan State and they now welcome the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers to Chestnut Hill. WKU is 3-1 after a nice win over Toledo but they are weak against the run. Opponents are averaging 4.65 yards per car against the Hilltoppers and the Eagles excel at running the ball. Boston College should be able to rush for more than 200 yards and grind out a comfortable victory.

Prediction: Boston College 31 - Western Kentucky 14

Holy Cross at Syracuse (No Line) - Saturday at Noon

Syracuse played poorly and fell to Stanford in a stunner last weekend. The Orange now host an overmatched Holy Cross Crusaders squad. Holy Cross is 1-3 with losses to Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Yale. Yikes. This should be a get-right game for the Orange and I would expect big numbers from the offense before backups play in the second half.

Prediction: Syracuse 45 - Holy Cross 10

Louisville at Notre Dame (-6.5) - Saturday at 3:30

What are we to make of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish? They have a couple of dominant wins and a shocking loss to Northern Illinois (who lost to Buffalo this past weekend) and have struggled mightily in the passing game with Riley Leonard at quarterback. The Louisville Cardinals just played a strong rushing attack and a mobile quarterback as they hosted Haynes King and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Leonard and King are quite similar and Louisville limited the Yellow Jackets on the ground (2.6 yards per carry in 37 rushing attempts) very effectively. The Cardinals can be had through the air but Notre Dame does not look capable of exploiting that potential weakness. Louisville won this matchup last season 33-20 and they are now getting nearly a full seven points against the Irish. A loss for Notre Dame would probably eliminate them from playoff contention and I think Jeff Brohm's crew gets it done

Prediction: Louisville 24 - Notre Dame 21

Louisiana at Wake Forest (-3.5) - Saturday at 3:30

Wake Forest has only played three games and two of those were games that we can’t really learn much from. The Demon Deacons blasted North Carolina A&T and were beat handily by Ole Miss. The only real piece of useful evidence we have for Wake Forest is a one-point loss to Virginia. There were encouraging things from that game though as the Demon Deacons outgained the Cavaliers 544 to 430 yards and averaged 6.6 yards per play. Louisiana had a surprisingly close gawith Tulane last weekend but I think Wake Forest has an offense the Ragin’ Cajuns will not be able to keep up with.

Prediction: Wake Forest 38 - Louisiana 27

North Carolina at Duke (-2.5) - Saturday at 4:00

Look at you Duke. The Blue Devils are 4-0 after beating Middle Tennessee State 45-17 to add to wins over Elon, Northwestern and Connecticut. Duke struggles to run the ball but Maalik Murphy has played pretty well and they have a pair of playmaking receivers. North Carolina is coming off of an embarrassing defeat to James Madison in which they surrendered 70 points. Now, three of those touchdowns came from non-offensive scores but that is still a shocking performance from a team with North Carolina’s base level of talent. After a week of hearing about how bad they are, how do the Tar Heels respond? I would stay far away from this game but I am predicting a bounce back effort for North Carolina.

Prediction: North Carolina 34 - Duke 28

Stanford at Clemson (-21.5) - Saturday at 7:00

How does Stanford handle back-to-back weeks of cross-country travel? One week after going from Palo Alto to Syracuse, New York, the Cardinal are playing in Clemson, South Carolina. That’s a whole lot of travel and I expect a bit of a backslide from the Cardinal. Clemson has steamrolled two straight opponents and they have led 28-0 after the first quarter in back-to-back games. The offense looks much more explosive and the Tigers are getting really good play from quarterback Cade Klubnik. I love the over in this game (57.5) and I think Clemson handles business and rolls Stanford as they continue to build confidence.

Prediction: Clemson 45 - Stanford 20

Florida State at SMU (-5.5) - Saturday at 8:00

The SMU Mustangs welcome the ACC to Dallas as they host Florida State. Yes, the Seminoles are 1-3 but this game is a big deal for SMU and I expect them to play like it. Florida State beat Cal but they were still outgained substantially and the Golden Bears do not have the offensive firepower SMU does. The Mustangs hammered TCU and are riding high after winning that rivalry game. Florida State’s offensive woes will continue and SMU wins comfortably.

Prediction: SMU 27 - FSU 14