Things to watch in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Week 5:
GAME OF THE WEEK
No. 11 Notre Dame at No. 17 Duke. The Fighting Irish (4-1) haven’t lost a regular-season game to an Atlantic Coast Conference team in six years, winning 29 in a row. Now they’re coming off a narrow loss to Ohio State as they visit the Blue Devils, who have already taken down preseason ACC favorite Clemson and can reach 5-0 for the first time since 1994 behind quarterback Riley Leonard.
There are multiple storylines here of note. There’s Duke’s rise in Year 2 under Mike Elko, which has lured ESPN’s “College GameDay” for its first-ever appearance in Durham for a football game after multiple stops there for basketball. There’s also former Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman returning to the state of North Carolina to face the Blue Devils for a third straight year after splitting the last two meetings.
BEST MATCHUP
Clemson at Syracuse. The Tigers rarely lost to any league teams during its recent run as the ACC’s dominant power. One came in 2017 at Syracuse in the second season of Orange coach Dino Babers.
Six years later, they’re meeting again at Syracuse (4-0), which is playing its first league game and boasts a defense ranked among the Bowl Subdivision leaders by allowing 10.8 points (seventh) and 274.2 yards per game (15th).
Notre Dame running back Gi’Bran Payne reaches over the Ohio State defensive line for a touchdown as his helmet comes during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, in South Bend, Ind. Credit: AP/Michael Caterina
The Tigers (2-2, 0-2 ACC) are coming off a loss to Florida State and were blown out by Duke in their only previous road game.
LONG SHOT
Pittsburgh is a 2 1/2-point favorite at Virginia Tech according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The Hokies (1-3) haven’t won since Week 1, have yet to reach 20 points in a game and haven’t had starting quarterback Grant Wells the past two games due to injury.
But the Hokies are at home while the Panthers…
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