What a weird week of college football it was, especially for the ACC.

The eight days from Saturday to Saturday did not do much for the reputation of ACC football, or whatever is left of it.

With two bowl games to go on January 2 and 3, the dear old ACC is a putrid 2-9 — the  wins coming from 10-3 Syracuse putting a 52-35 whipping on Washington State, which finished second in the two-team Pac-12 and 9-4 Louisville beating 6-7 Washington 35-34 with a last minute TD in Sun Bowl.

The Orange were picked to finish No. 12 in the ACC preseason poll, which of course had Florida State to repeat as conference champion. The Seminoles finished 17th and dead last with 1-7 and 2-10 records. And head coach Mike Norvell kept his job, which is equally stunning.

Louisville edged Washington defensive coordinator Steve Belichick with the late score. Belichick now moves on to UNC as the new DC under his father Bill.

In the Art of Sport Bowl in L.A., 14th place Cal lost to UNLV. The 6-7 Bears trailed by a point at halftime before losing to the 11-3 Rebels, whose coach Barry Odom took over at Big Ten doormat Purdue and was succeeded at Vegas by Dan Mullen, who pulled a Mack Brown and left ESPN to get back into coaching.

The ACC regular season winner SMU showed it didn’t deserve to reach the first round of the College Football Playoff by getting smoked at Penn State, 38-10. Later that day, ACC champion Clemson lost at Texas in a game that wasn’t as close as the 38-24 final score.

The following Thursday, Pitt lost to Toledo in the Game Above Sports Bowl 48-46 in six overtimes — a marathon that wasn’t supposed to happen anymore after the rules change. That had to be six-times embarrassing for Pat Narduzzi’s Panthers, who lost to a team that finished tied for sixth in the Mid-American Conference.

The next day, Georgia Tech lost to Vanderbilt, 35-27, in the Birmingham Bowl, which was the Commodores first post-season win since 1982 and only its sixth bowl game overall. The Yellow Jackets, who began the season with what was then a huge upset of Florida State in Dublin, finished in a four-way tie for fourth place in the ACC and wound up 7-6.

Then came the forgettable Wasabi Fenway Bowl, which was so forgettable that Bill Belichick decided to stay home and watch it on TV. Good move, especially after UNC QB Jacolby Criswell was knocked out of the game by UConn in the first quarter. The Tar Heels did pretty well from there with a patchwork two deep, losing 27-14 after scoring touchdowns on a kickoff return by sophomore Chris Culliver (his second of the season) and a perfect pass to John Copenhaver from running back Caleb Hood, who entered the transfer portal and then left it before playing in the bowl game. He was the Wildcat QB following Criswell and freshman Mike Merdinger — who himself was in the portal, but still played in the game and looked good with his first college snaps. Merdinger completed 9 of 12 passes for 86 yards, while Hood might have caught Belichick’s attention with his 11 runs for 78 yards, which was a 7.1 average.

Three more bizarre ACC-involved games followed the 11 a.m. kick-off from a historic baseball stadium, where the yellow foul pole in right field blocked the TV view of plays in the red zone on that side of the field.

Boston College, with former peripatetic NFL coach Bill O’Brien, lost to an average Nebraska team coached by Matt Rhule, who was fired by the Carolina Panthers after a short stay and hasn’t done much better back in college. The Eagles trailed 20-2 in the second half before mounting a rally that failed. Both teams finished 7-6 — and afterward the boastful Rhule said he had signed a “top 10 portal class” for next season.

The day got even stranger in the Pop Tart Bowl, when Miami lost to Iowa State (its third defeat in the last four games after starting the season 9-0). Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal refused to explain why his senior star quarterback Cam Ward sat out the second half after throwing for 270 yards and three TDs. Apparently, it was a pre-game decision, which could make Cristobal’s seat warmer by the already-angry bossy Miami brass.

And in the grand finale of Dec. 28 for the ACC: N.C. State matched Carolina’s 6-7 record by losing to East Carolina in the Military Bowl, which was Mack Brown’s only postseason win in his second UNC tenure back in 2019.

The Pirates were playing under interim coach Blake Harrell, who was given the job permanently after they won their last four regular season games. They led until State scored 14 straight points in the fourth quarter to go ahead 21-20. Then the Wolfpack appeared to have fumbled that was scooped up by the Pirates and run into the end zone; the officials got together and ruled the play had been called dead before the fumble.

The ECU fans were incensed as their team got the ball back in good field position and was maneuvering for the winning field goal attempt when senior Rahjai Harris broke off an 86-yard run for the winning touchdown that was followed by a brawl similar to what occurred at Kenan Stadium after Brown’s last game. Harris had 220 yards on 17 carries in his last college game. Without him, the bitter rivals open the 2025 season in Raleigh.

The ACC plays its last two bowl games this week as Duke meets 14th-ranked Ole Miss (both 9-3) in the Gator Bowl on Thursday and unranked Virginia Tech (6-6) plays Minnesota (7-5) Friday in the Mayo Bowl — as the conference tries to avoid going 2-11 and its worst bowl record ever.

What a poor postseason.

 

Featured photo via AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker.

Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.

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