By Dave Holcomb
SouthernPigskin.com

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Dave Holcomb recaps week three in the ACC.

Its hard to overstate how much the Clemson Tigers have dominated the ACC since 2015.

The Tigers have won six straight conference championships. No other ACC school has more than four total ACC championship game titles. In fact, Clemson has more wins in the conference championship than any other program has appearances.

But maybe for the first time since 2015, the ACC championship is not a foregone conclusion. With the way Clemson is playing to open this season and some of the other top-tiered programs in the conference also struggling, the ACC could be a wild ride this year.

Clemson failed to generate much offense again in its second game against Power 5 competition. This week, it wasnt against one of the best defenses of the last three years in Georgia, but against the rebuilding Georgia Tech program. It also wasnt at a neutral site for the Tigers, but at home in Clemson.

The Yellow Jackets held Clemson to just 284 offensive yards, including only 126 through the air. The Tigers have averaged 232 total yards and 152 passing yards in two games against Power 5 teams this season. Last year, Clemson averaged 511 yards and 358 passing yards per game versus the Power 5.

Clemson absolutely embarrassed Georgia Tech in Atlanta last year, beating the Yellow Jackets by 66. It was Clemsons biggest margin of victory in the series with Georgia Tech since 1903.

But Saturday, the Tigers needed a goal-line stand to win at home, 14-8.

Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei looks far from the 5-star recruit he arrived on campus as, which is quite puzzling since he played very well last year against semifinalist Notre Dame. But in addition to former signal caller Trevor Lawrence, the Tigers miss running back Travis Etienne. Clemson averaged 3.9 yards per rush against Georgia Tech.

Two weeks ago, Northern Illinois matched that 3.9 average versus the Georgia Tech defense. By the way, the Yellow Jackets lost that game.

Maybe Georgia Tech is ahead of schedule in its rebuild. Maybe Clemson will get its offense figured out. Perhaps both of those statements will become true by the end of November.

But right now, the entire ACC looks like the Coastal division does every year — wide open.

Biggest Wins
North Carolina 59, Virginia 39
The Cavaliers stormed back from an early deficit to take the lead at halftime, but quarterback Sam Howell steadied the Tar Heels early in the third quarter. North Carolinas offense continued humming in the second half and set a new school record for points against Virginia. Howell accounted for 419 yards and five touchdowns.

Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong broke the school record for passing yards in a single game by the end of the third quarter. He finished with 554 yards and four touchdowns.

Wake Forest 35, Florida State 14
Florida State falling to 0-3 for the first time since 1976 will be the casual fans biggest takeaway, but lets not overlook Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons have scored 35 points in each of their first three games and just beat the Seminoles by the biggest margin in school history.

Well have a better idea of how good Wake Forest can be following its next week visit to Virginia. But in a season where the underdog may reign, dont sleep on the Demon Deacons.

Duke 30, Northwestern 23
The Blue Devils held off a furious second-half stampede from the Wildcats to earn a much-needed victory for the ACC against the Power 5. Duke quarterback Gunnar Holmberg threw for 314 yards and ran for 46 in the win.

Duke lost in Week 1 against Charlotte, though, so dont count David Cutcliffes team as a serious contender for the conference title.

Biggest Disappointments
Michigan State 38, Miami 17
The Hurricanes can still pretty much accomplish all of their 2021 goals. They havent lost a conference game yet, and most of the other preseason ranked ACC programs have as much work to do as Miami does.

But boy, the Hurricanes were embarrassed again — this time at home. They made a plethora of mistakes in the first half, and despite great toughness from DEriq King, Miami lost by three touchdowns.

West Virginia 27, Virginia Tech 21
Mountaineers running back Leddie Brown ran all over the Hokies defense, especially in the first half. Virginia Tech trailed by 17 at halftime.

But the Hokies crawled back into the game and had a chance to at least tie the score after intercepting a pass deep in West Virginia territory with just a few minutes left in regulation. On four plays from inside the Mountaineers 5-yard line, though, the Hokies gained negative-1 yards.

With the goal-line stand, West Virginia held on to beat Virginia Tech for the first time since 2003.

Western Michigan 44, Pitt 41
So much for Pitt starting 4-0. That seemed to be a foregone conclusion when the Panthers beat Tennessee for a huge road victory last Saturday. Instead, the inconsistent Panthers resurfaced, and they suffered another bad loss for the ACC.

In the past, quarterback led to the inconsistencies for Pitt. Not in this one — Kenny Pickett threw for 382 yards and six touchdowns while also leading the Panthers with 49 rushing yards. The Pitt defense allowed 517 yards.

Western Michigan controlled the ball for more than 40 minutes and won despite 11 penalties and 117 penalty yards.

Other ACC Scores
Louisville 42, UCF 35
Boston College 28, Temple 3
Syracuse 62, Albany 24
NC State 45, Furman 7