THB Staff Predictions: ACC Week 5

I’m not sure I remember a weirder weekend, encompassing both college football and the NFL, in recent history than this past one. This worked out nicely for UNC, as the previously (and probably still) floundering squad picked up a win. Elsewhere, red-hot Boston College got washed by Purdue, the Buffalo Bills manhandled the Minnesota Vikings (I’m still not sure that actually happened), and, most hilariously, Virginia Tech gave up 49 points and lost to Old Dominion. And while that made for an entertaining weekend, it was a bloodbath to our predictions. Nobody missed on fewer than 3 games. And with ACC play getting into full gear, that’s probably going to be closer to the norm than an outlier going forward. Not this week, however, as we have, on paper, a bunch of pretty lopsided matchups. Maybe the chaos from last week continues, though, and then after that, we’ll probably start seeing a bit less uniformity in our picks.

Also, UNC is #1 in the Coastal. Savor it.

Here are our picks for the week alongside our records so far. All picks are straight-up.

Three out of the 5 ACC games look pretty tough to figure out, including the other two matchups involving Triangle teams. FSU-Louisville looks like a game where the two sides fight to see who can suck the least, UVA-NCSU is a battle between two teams who have been inconsistent, and Duke-VT should be a legitimately good game (grr...). UNC and Syracuse, though, face the daunting task of going on the road to play a ranked team. UNC gets the easier battle, but UNC is also worse. There’s a hint of optimism (thanks, Al) around it, but the fact is that Miami are 3-score favorites.

Enjoy your week, and go Heels!