THB Staff ACC Picks: Week 7

... Don’t talk to me about Florida State-NC State. The ‘Noles were all set to prove me right, with a quarterback injury on the other side to boot, and instead proceeded to play the worst half of football possible to make me look dumb and push me down the leaderboard. That wasn’t the only game that went against the grain, though, as Al’s best-case scenario came through and Georgia Tech beat Duke to get to 2-0 since firing Geoff Collins. That’s vaulted him into sole possession of second place, and with a week where nearly half the conference is off, he’s guaranteed to hold that spot for at least one more week. Here’s what the action looks like this weekend:

As you can see, we’ve got a limited and extremely chalky week, at least according to our staff. UNC and Miami are favored by a touchdown apiece, and based on how each has played UNC in the last two weeks, it’s hard to imagine Miami having a lot more trouble with them than the Heels did. Stranger things have happened, but it’s probably not wise to bet on them. As for for the fight for the Victory Bell, Duke looks much less scary than they did a couple of weeks ago after losing to Georgia Tech, while the UNC defense has shown it isn’t completely porous, so what looked like a trap game earlier in the season now feels more comfortable. Mike Elko’s got a very well-coached squad, especially for a first-year head coach, but it seems like that might not be enough this year to consistently win against more talented and experienced teams.

Clemson-Florida State only favors the visitors by 3 points, according to Vegas, but after FSU’s failure to finish last week’s game and Clemson only looking more and more capable by the week, I’m not surprised nobody’s picking the ‘Noles. We do have a couple of people picking State, even without Devin Leary, to stifle the high-flying Syracuse offense the same way they did Florida State’s and just have to do enough to tread water. It’s conceivable, but ‘Cuse has been very good this season, and it’s hard to see them folding the same way, especially at home.

What do y’all think of this week? Which games are you watching? Disagree with our picks? Sound off below!