ACC Football Recap, Week 11: Coastal Division Chaos

We're all fans of one ACC team: Syracuse. But (surprise!), there's also 13 other teams in the football conference. Every Monday, we'll try and recap what happened all around the league, and where possible, relate it all back to the Orange.

Scores

Syracuse 20, Maryland 3

Florida State 59, Wake Forest 3

North Carolina 45, Virginia 14

Boston College 48, New Mexico State 34

Duke 38, NC State 20

Virginia Tech 42, Miami 24

Pittsburgh 28, Notre Dame 21

Takeaways/Lessons

The Coastal Division continued its string of chaos this weekend, as Duke pulled off yet another victory (giving them seven on the season) and Virginia Tech beat former front-runner Miami. Now, with just three games to go, there are four teams with two losses in the conference: Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami and Virginia Tech. The Blue Devils are 1-1 against that group so far, as is Miami. Georgia Tech is 1-2 and Virginia Tech is 2-1. If Duke pulls off a victory against Miami next weekend (not implausible), that could put them in the driver's seat at 4-2 in the conference and 2-1 against those other teams. It would also mean eliminating the 'Canes from a tiebreaker situation altogether. For those who'd like to see the ACC implode upon itself, you want the Blue Devils playing for a conference championship against national title contender Florida State.

Should you flip to the obituaries section, you'll likely see the box score from the Florida State win over Wake Forest; a 59-3 shellacking that would be oh so much funnier if we weren't headed down to Tallahassee this coming weekend. Yes, we removed the Deacons' top offensive weapon, but it's not as if we've really been able to score points of late either. They'll be more on that game as this week progresses.

In news on teams we hate (Boston College) and just generally dislike (Pittsburgh), both schools managed wins this weekend to join us in the 5-4 club. That could potentially set up a nuclear scenario in weeks 13 and/or 14 in which the winner goes bowling and the loser is headed home incredibly disappointed. Besides Syracuse, Pitt closes with Miami and North Carolina (neither a sure bet), while BC gets a much more manageable NC State and Maryland. What we don't want to happen: Syracuse and the Eagles each losing the next two, creating a postseason play-in vibe on top of the #OrangeEagle hatred we've all already got going. Putting Pitt out of its misery in week 13 would also be ideal for us, just to help prevent them from being sent to Birmingham again.

Speaking of the Orange, that was a whole hell of a lot of fun, wasn't it? Despite the offense's questionable decisions at times (throwing late in the fourth), the day was won with a power running game and some stellar play on defense for the second consecutive week. For those in attendance down in College Park, it was thoroughly enjoyable giving the pretentious Terps this sort of send-off from the ACC. Perhaps if they stopped shooting off so many fireworks and paying for clips of Iron Man in their pregame video presentation, they'd be able to afford their conference exit fee. Also, this, taken with a decent amount of time still left in the fourth:

Where'd you go, Maryland fans? pic.twitter.com/VuF33ofUF3

— John Cassillo (@JohnCassillo) November 9, 2013

***

ACC Standings, Post-Week 11