What a weekend for Big Four football.

You will have to go way back in the record books and personal memory banks to find a weekend that matches what happened to the generally beleaguered Big Four football programs. Three of them won in distinctly different scenarios and the fourth did not play but garnered almost as much attention as the other three.

Let’s start, of course, with Carolina, which had no business pulling out a 37-36 win over Pitt in the ACC opener for both teams after things went south for the Tar Heels in the first few minutes. Ryan Switzer’s 90-yard punt to the house was called back by a hold that occurred before Switzer ever caught the ball. Then Switz got caught for a safety on UNC’s first play from scrimmage.

Another turnover led the Panthers to a two touchdown lead they held until 6 minutes remained in the game. That’s when Pitt pulled in the reins on its running game that UNC could not stop, giving Carolina enough time to remarkably score 14 points on two Mitch Trubisky TD passes to Bug Howard that won the game. A loss at home would have all but killed Carolina’s chances of defending the ACC Coastal crown, while Pitt went home with its collective bell rung.

Meanwhile, Duke magically transformed itself from one of the worst football teams I have ever seen the week before at Northwestern to looking like a juggernaut at obviously overconfident but actually pretty mediocre Notre Dame in a 38-35 stunner at South Bend. Daniel Jones emerged as perhaps Duke’s next great quarterback and Breon Borders as the Blue Devils’ new Jeremy Cash in the secondary. David Cutcliffe called it the greatest victory in the history of the Duke program; certainly the most amazing win.

At Bloomington, the state of Indiana suffered another harsh embarrassment from the ACC when Wake Forest beat the unbeaten Hoosiers 33-28 to go 4-0 for the first time since the Jim Grobe era. And while N.C. State was idle, it got plenty of publicity on Thursday night when alumnus rookie third-string quarterback Jacoby Brisett led the New England Patriots to a 27-0 win over the favored Houston Texans.

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