Scattershooting: Jerry’s Thoughts Heading Into Big ACC Weekend

By Jerry Ratcliffe

ATLANTA – Scattershooting around the ACC, while noting there will be some scoreboard watching going on around high noon Saturday …

By the time Virginia takes the field for its game against Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium (3:30 p.m.), the Cavaliers will know whether they’re still alive for the Coastal Division title. All Pittsburgh needs to do is beat Wake Forest in Winston-Salem (noon kickoff) to lock up the Coastal.

Stranger things have happened, particularly in his usually up-for-grabs division, and Wake is coming off an impressive road upset of N.C. State last week. Pitt is playing its best football and if the Panthers win, they close the door on the Cavaliers.

Will Bronco Mendenhall and his guys be watching the scoreboard?

“You know, probably not any more than what we normally do as coaches,” Mendenhall said. “I think the most difficult thing to manage is the time from you wake up until the time you play, and so most of us occupy ourselves with either reading or watching TV or following football.”

Most teams, as do sportswriters, show up at stadiums about two hours before the game. Mendenhall said that many coaches are on their phones and following scores, or if there’s a TV available, they’ll watch a game.

“Yes, we’ll be following [Pitt-Wake], but that’s kind of what we always do,” he said.

If Pitt wins and has the division iced before UVa leaves its locker room, that shouldn’t have any bearing on how the Cavaliers play. Virginia is still playing for an eight- or nine-win regular season, still wants to beat Virginia Tech next week, and wants to improve its chances for a better bowl game.

Hokies Bowl Streak

Obviously, Virginia Tech’s 25-year bowl streak is on the line over the next few weeks. The Hokies are 4-5, and host Miami and Virginia back-to-back to close the regular season.

Miami, by the way, isn’t bowl eligible yet either and needs to beat the Hokies to do so. The Hurricanes close the regular season next week by hosting Pitt.

East Carolina helped put Tech behind the eight-ball by refusing to play the week of the hurricane back in September. Since then, ECU has scheduled a 12th game with N.C. State. The Hokies have looked around and has reportedly put out feelers to Marshall, which also had a game canceled, and possibly Southern Miss, which has indicated it isn’t interested.

If Tech can’t find a 12th opponent, then it has to win its two games against Miami and UVa to keep the streak alive.

Tech has lost three consecutive home games for the first time since the early ‘90s.

Short yardage …

• When Pitt plays at Wake on Saturday it will be the first meeting between the two schools since the Panthers joined the ACC in 2013.
• It’s hard to believe that Pitt was 2-3 at the end of September, but is now on a roll and 6-4 overall, 5-1 in the ACC. The running game has come alive. Darrin Hall tore up UVa two weeks ago with more than 200 yards rushing, and Qadree Ollison did the same thing to Virginia Tech last weekend with 235 yards rushing as Pitt put up 654 yards on the Hokies (492 on the ground), the second-most ever against Tech all-time.
• Georgia Tech is on a three-game win streak and has won five of its last six games. The Yellow Jackets’ offensive line is once again healthy and QB Taquan Marshall seems to have gotten a grip on the job. Tech, which leads the nation in rushing with around 360 yards per game, only had 231 against Miami’s defense last week. If UVa can make the Jackets put the ball in the air like last season when they attempted a staggering 22 passes (completed only six), then the Wahoos have a real chance.
• Why did Notre Dame shift its home game vs. Syracuse to Yankee Stadium, part of its “Shamrock Series?”  Simple. Recruiting.
• If Louisville can lure its main coaching target _ Purdue’s Jeff Brohm _ back home (he still maintains a home in Louisville and is a former QB there), it will have to pay a $4.4 million to Purdue (a number that drops to $3.3 after Dec. 6). If Brohm goes back to Louisville, then he’ll likely take former UVa All-American Anthony Poindexter (the Boilermakers’ defensive coordinator) with him.
• Rumor is that Bobby Petrino, fired by Louisville after last week’s loss to Syracuse, may pursue a coaching future somewhere out west. He’ll get $14 million in buyout from Louisville, split up into payments over the next three years.
• Will Carolina fire Larry Fedora? Well, he hasn’t “lost the team,” like Petrino did, and that could be a factor. So could be a $12.2 million buyout on a contract that goes to 2023. The Tar Heels have lost 20 of their last 25 games and are 4-17 over the last two seasons. The wins: Pitt (twice…explain that one), ODU, and Western Carolina. UNC plays Western again this week.
• Clemson’s senior class has won 50 games, and is 19-1 on the road. The TIgers defense has held BC’s heralded running back A.J. Dillon to less than 100 yards rushing collectively in the last two meetings (he had 39 yards on 16 attempts last week).
• Miami has lost four straight games and didn’t help its own cause last week when the Hurricanes lost three fumbles in a close loss to Georgia Tech. Mark Richt, who continues to play musical chairs at QB, is going with the younger N’Kosi Perry this week over Malik Rosier. Perry will start against Virginia Tech, but will likely be on a short leash. Observers note that Perry has started taking preparation more seriously, and he better because former Clemson starting QB Kelly Bryant will be visiting Miami next week.
• Duke threw rival UNC a curve last week when David Cutcliffe’s offense featured 47 empty sets, helping Daniel Jones account for a program record 547 yards of offense and four TDs. Jones three for 361. Prior to that game, the most empty sets Cutcliffe had called this season was 17. Jones, by the way, remains as the No. 1 QB atop Mel Kiper’s “big board” for the NFL Draft.

Injury Report

• Boston College running back A.J. Dillon is probable for Florida State, while QB Anthony Brown is questionable.
• Duke lost another player last week as starting safety Dylan Singelton suffered a broken ankle.
• Notre Dame QB Ian Book, who missed last week with a rib injury, is probably for Syracuse.
• Virginia center Dillon Reinkensmeyer’s concussion protocol has been cleared and will start against Georgia Tech. Meanwhile, safety Joey Blount hasn’t been completely ruled out, but Mendenhall said it didn’t look like Wednesday that one of UVa’s best tacklers would play.

ACC Quote of the Week

Louisville interim head coach Lorenzo Ward, a former assistant at Virginia Tech, has been in “here” before. Several times.

“You know, this is the fourth time I’ve been in this situation where the head coach has been let go or the head coach retired, as in the [Steve] Spurrier case. And being at Fresno a few years ago, six games left in the season, the head coach gets fired,” Ward said. “Hopefully that information that I’ve gained in that period of time will help these young men through these last two games.”

The Cardinals host N.C. State and Kentucky to end the season.

ACC Stat of the Week

Virginia’s Bronco Mendenhall ranks No. 23 on the active Career Winning Percentage list nationally with a .644 percentage (114-63-0 record).

Bronco is 19th on the active Career Victories List with 114, just ahead of Clemson’s Dabo Swinney (111) and Duke’s David Cutcliffe (110).