The ACC's high-profile QB corps has been high-variance
Recapping Week 2's up-and-down QB play
In one of the ACC’s preseason posts, the conference touted itself as “the Conference of Quarterbacks,” bolstered by a class of returning starters (Cade Klubnik, Kyron Drones, Haynes King, Thomas Castellanos, Preston Stone) and notable transfers (Cam Ward, DJ Uiagalelei, Grayson McCall, Kyle McCord). So far, the conference’s self-proclamation only rings true if you insert “inconsistent” into the moniker.
Monte vs Mo
The Vibes
Last week’s Monte vs Mo1 showed that the top of the ACC is looking soft. Add uneven QB play to the list of the ACC’s woes.
Syracuse: 🔼🔼 McCord (381 passing yards, 4 TDs) outdueled King (333 total yards, 3 total TDs) in an entertaining game. McCord leads the national in pass TDs (8) and is getting fringe Heisman hype
SMU: 🔽 Preston Stone was benched after 4 pass attempts, and the Mustangs only mustered 15 points on 5 FGs in the loss. SMU announced this week that Kevin Jennings will take over as starter
UNC: 🔼 UNC is also on its backup QB because of the Max Johnson injury. Conner Harrell overcame a slow start to throw 2 long TD passes in the win
Clemson: 🔼 Klubnik threw 5 TDs as Clemson dismantled App State to bounce back from the no-show against Georgia
NC State: 🔽🔽 State was thoroughly dominated 51-10 by Tennessee. McCall had only 103 yards passing and 3 turnovers, including a pick-6. States’s only touchdown came on defense with a pick-6 of their own
Pitt: 🔼 Eli Holstein caught fire in the fourth quarter (10-11, 2 TDs) to overcome a 21-point deficit
Cal: 🔼 The ACC is 2-1 against the SEC on the road this season, but I did not have Cal over Auburn on my bingo card for the second win2
UVA: 🔼 The Hoos trailed by 13 entering the fourth, but Anthony Colandrea (357 yards, 3 TDs) led two scoring drives for the comeback win against Wake
[Bonus] Notre Dame: 🔽 ND is not in the ACC for football, but it’s always fun to watch them inexplicably lose to someone like Northern Illinois. You can take the QB out of the ACC, but you can’t take the ACC out of the QB, as Duke transfer Riley Leonard has 0 TD passes so far this season
Not only has the ACC QB play been up and down writ large, but individual QBs have had roller coasters within a single game. Duke’s Maalik Murphy was completing about half of his passes in the first half, then completed about 80% of his passes down the stretch to lead Duke to an OT win.
Miami’s Cam Ward is earning his preseason POY accolades, and DJ U is largely responsible for FSU’s head-scratching start.
The Model
While it can be hard to make heads or tails of the ACC’s QB play, Monte shows that not much changed in the ACC race last week with only 2 conference games.
There are no conference games this week, but conference play starts picking up in week 4.
For new folks, Monte refers to my ACC model projecting who’ll win the conference, while Mo is the vibes-based “Uncle Mo” Momentum
Miami over UF was the other. Overall, the ACC is 2-3 against the SEC, including two blowout losses (Clemson v UGA, NC Stats v Tenn)