Wake Forest Opponent Recap: Week 3

Vanderbilt 37—UNLV 40

Not a great look for an SEC team to lose to a Mountain West team that has won 7 games in the past 3 seasons. AJ Swann had a solid game, going for 296 yards and 3 touchdowns, but the Commodores couldn’t overcome turning the ball over 4 times.

Georgia Tech 23—Ole Miss 48

The Yellow Jackets got down 24-3 in the third quarter but rallied and pulled within 1 score on a Haynes King touchdown pass in the 4th quarter, 24-17. At that point, Ole Miss kind of woke up and outscored GT 24-6 in the final 10 minutes of the game to make it look worse than it was. I was very wrong about Haynes King, who had another great showing with 307 yards and 2 TDs on 28-41 passing.

Clemson 48—FAU 14

Pretty expected result here simply due to the talent disparity. Clemson’s offense only gained 367 yards, but with the help of 4 turnovers, the Tigers put up 48 points and blew out the Owls.

Virginia Tech 16—Rutgers 35

I’m starting to think VT simply can’t stop the run, because Rutgers’ QB Gavin Wimsatt threw for 46 whole yards in this game and the Scarlet Knights still won by 19 points. The Hokies somehow outgained Rutgers 319-302 in this game, but the Scarlet Knights ran for 256 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground for the comfortable win.

Pittsburgh 6—West Virgina 17

After going 10-32 and getting booed by his own fans last week in a loss to Cincinatti, Pitt QB Phil Jurkovec somehow had an even worse week. The BC transfer finished the game 8-20 for just 81 yards and 3 interceptions. Credit the Panthers’ defense for keeping this one close despite Pitt having no offense. I think there is a very good chance the Panthers will have a different man under center when they visit Winston-Salem this season.

#3 Florida State 31—Boston College 29

Boston College, who lost to NIU and beat Holy Cross by 3 points earlier this season, took the 3rd rank team in the nation to the wire and would have had a shot to pull off the upset at the end if not for an untimely facemask penalty. BC QB Thomas Castellanos is a one man highlight reel and almost singlehandedly took down the Noles by himself—he finished with 400 of BC’s 457 yards and 2 of their 3 touchdowns. If not for their 18 penalties for 131 yards, BC definitely would have won this game.

Duke 38—Northwestern 14

Duke ran all over NU, going for 268 yards and 5 touchdowns on the ground. The Blue Devils have simply become one of the most consistently good teams in the ACC under Mike Elko, which is not something I thought I’d ever see.

NC State 45—VMI 7

As expected.

Notre Dame 41—Central Michigan 17

The Irish continue to steamroll through their schedule with ease. Sam Hartman threw for 330 yards and 3 touchdowns and star RB Audric Estime added 176 yards and a touchdown on the ground—that duo is simply one of the best in college football this season. Notre Dame has their first real test this week against Ohio State in what should be a huge game.

Syracuse 35—Purdue 20

Syracuse, so far, has been the team that has surprised me the most this season. After losing their OC and All-American running back Sean Tucker, the Orange are 3-0 and averaging 49 points per game. The ACC is full of elite QB’s this season, and Garrett Shrader certainly has a case for being among the top guys so far—the senior accounted for 379 of Cuse’s 455 yards and 4 of their 5 touchdowns. He is currently 16th in the nation in total yards.