The ACC avoided the pitfalls that befell the Big 12 in the season’s first (second?) week. Its only losses came from intraconference play, including Notre Dame topping Duke. Yes, one more reminder, that counted as an ACC game.
That does not mean no ACC teams were embarrassed. Preconceptions about Georgia Tech — only in year 2 of a complete offensive rebuild into a modern approach from the triple-option — made Florida State’s loss a sign of another long season in Tallahassee, and somehow Syracuse may have looked worse than anticipated, even as the Orange played North Carolina competitively for three quarters.