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ACC reporters Andrea Adelson, Matt Fortuna, David Hale and Jared Shanker preview the conference's matchups and offer predictions for Week 3's games. Adelson: As great as the Virginia defense has looked, the offense remains a major question mark. Despite its recent failures when using a two-quarterback system, the Hoos have once again decided to go that route with Greyson Lambert and Matt Johns. No matter who has played, Virginia remains near the bottom of the ACC in total offense and scoring offense. Meanwhile, the Cards have been effective with quarterback Will Gardner leading the way. Despite losing receiver DeVante Parker for the start of the season, Louisville has gotten other playmakers involved. Dominique Brown is fifth in the ACC in rushing, and tight end Gerald Christian has been as effective as expected, with nine catches for 91 yards and two scores. Louisville ranks No. 6 in the nation in rush defense, and the Hoos have had a hard time getting Kevin Parks going. If Louisville shuts down the run, Virginia will not be able to rely on its passers to keep up with the Cards. Louisville 23, Virginia 17 Shanker: I lacked the moxie to pick Virginia over UCLA in the opener, and, while the Bruins ultimately won, it feels like a loss as far as picking an upset special. But with a second game against a ranked opponent within the season’s first three weeks, I'm calling for Virginia to hand the Cardinals their first ACC loss. I start with the Virginia front seven against the Louisville offensive line. While Miami has an improved defensive front, the Hurricanes are not a team that is going to rack up four sacks often, but that's what they did against Louisville. Twice Gardner put the ball on the ground. Virginia is seventh in the country with eight sacks. Gardner is making only his third career start, so the Cavs will likely dial up some exotic blitzes, and Virginia's top two sack artists are linebackers. Virginia could eliminate the Cardinals' arguable top receiving threat in tight end Gerald Christian, too, as there might not be an ACC team with a better safety combo than Quin Blanding and Anthony Harris. To recap, it's the Virginia defense that registers this win if the offense can just avoid turnovers -- Louisville has 62 points off them -- and put together just a few drives. Virginia 17, Louisville 14 Fortuna: Jacoby Brissett has been as good as advertised so far, completing better than 71 percent of his passes and running a very balanced offense. Despite deficits in both of its games, NC State hasn't gotten in its own way, avoiding the mental miscues that could so easily derail a team coming off a three-win season. And the Wolfpack have played complete games, something that dogged them last season after so many close losses late. South Florida's defense put forth quite the effort last week against Maryland, forcing six turnovers, but it still wasn't enough. Expect things to even out Saturday in Tampa, Florida, with NC State's offense ultimately making enough plays to come away with the win.
NC State 27, USF 17 Hale: Sophomore quarterback Mike White is better than he’s shown so far, and freshman tailback Marlon Mack is off to a strong start. Maybe this is the week things come together for USF -- though it's still tough to feel overly confident. Still, the Bulls played Maryland tight last week, and NC State hasn't won a road game by more than a field goal since October 2011. USF's defense was actually 21st in the country last season, and, while the offense has issues, NC State hasn't shown an ability to tackle anyone so far. Expect it to be close, and perhaps USF uses the home-field advantage to sneak out a win. USF 21, NC State 20 Adelson: Arkansas State has had its share of success in the Sun Belt over the past several seasons and threw a scare into Tennessee last week. Its first-year coach, Blake Anderson, served as a North Carolina assistant under Larry Fedora, so he has familiarity with the Miami schemes and personnel. And while Miami's defense has improved, the offense has not really shown an ability to step on the throttle and put opponents away. So far, Duke Johnson has a quiet 187 total yards, the offensive line has been shaky and Brad Kaaya has been given a conservative game plan to manage. Miami will win but struggle to cover as its offense continues to try its footing. Miami 24, Arkansas State 14 Hale: Week 1 was throwing freshman quarterback Kaaya into the fire. Week 2 was a chance for him to get comfortable. This week, he’s got enough snaps under his belt that Al Golden should be able to open up the playbook a bit more and see what he can do. Arkansas State isn't a pushover, but it's surrendered an average of 35 points in its past five games against Power 5 conference teams, including a 34-19 loss last week to a Tennessee team with far less experience than Miami. Miami 31, Arkansas State 13 More unanimous predictions Syracuse at Central Michigan: The Orange were idle last week, so we're guessing some of the early mistakes have been corrected. Now, if Terrel Hunt can only avoid taking a swing at anyone … Syracuse 20, Central Michigan 17 East Carolina at Virginia Tech: The Hokies are coming off a huge win, so this could set up as a trap game, but ECU couldn't solve the Tech defense last season on its home turf … Virginia Tech 27, ECU 14 Georgia Southern at Georgia Tech: Georgia Southern has shown a knack for hanging with the big boys, but Tech has too much firepower in what figures to be a physical game … Georgia Tech 33, Georgia Southern 20 Pittsburgh at Florida International: James Conner might crack 1,000 rushing yards by October, and FIU finished 100th nationally in rushing defense a season ago … Pitt 42, FIU 7 Kansas at Duke: It's hard to knock the duo of Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, but we like how Jabari Parker matches up -- oh wait. Football. Right. The Blue Devils cruise … Duke 45, Kansas 21 Wake Forest at Utah State: The Demon Deacons couldn't muster 100 yards of offense against Louisiana-Monroe, and Utah State is much better than the Warhawks … Utah State 24, Wake Forest 10 USC at Boston College: Maybe it's a trap game for the Trojans, who have to fly cross country, but it's still hard to envision a serious upset scenario … USC 35, Boston College 13
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