Basketball season starts Monday.

That’s about the best thing the ACC has going for it after the events that took place on the football field this week.

Things started out well enough with Clemson earning a surprise spot at No. 4 in the first College Football Playoff rankings. As it turned out, though, the Tigers proved to be as overrated as their many detractors claimed by getting manhandled by Notre Dame.

While the convincing 35-14 loss all but knocked Clemson – and the ACC by default – out of realistic Playoff contention, not all the news was bad.

Duke, Florida State and Louisville all earned their 6th wins of the season to become bowl eligible while North Carolina moved within a game of joining Clemson in Charlotte for the ACC Championship Game. And some freshmen quarterbacks gave us a hopeful glimpse into the future.

That’s a lot to digest. So before heading inside to the hardwoods, let’s take a look back at Week 10 and see what we learned.

Boston College

The Eagles lost their 4th straight and were officially eliminated from postseason consideration. In doing so, however, they may just have found their quarterback of the future.

Making his first career start in place of injured Phil Jurkovec, Emmett Morehead led BC to 31 points, its 2nd-most this season against an FBS opponent. The redshirt freshman completed 27-of-45 passes for 330 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions.

As much as Jurkovec has accomplished in his career, Morehead’s performance on Thursday should convince coach Jeff Hafley to give the ball to his youngster and let him gain experience for next year. Because at 2-7 (1-5 ACC), there isn’t much that can be done to salvage what’s left of this season.

Clemson

It didn’t take long for the Tigers to prove their detractors right. Playing for the first time since their widely criticized selection at No. 4 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, they were dominated in virtually every phase of the game by a Notre Dame team that lost earlier in the season to Marshall.

Clemson wasn’t just outplayed by the Irish. It was manhandled physically.

While quarterback DJ Uiagalelei was yanked for the 2nd straight game, his performance wasn’t as much of an issue as it was 2 weeks earlier against Syracuse. The Tigers simply couldn’t block anybody on a blustery night in South Bend. That became evident early when Notre Dame blocked a punt for a touchdown on Clemson’s opening possession.

And things only got worse from there. The Irish ran the ball for 263 yards while the Tigers managed only 281 overall. And 140 of those came on their final 2 possessions, long after the game had been decided.

While the 35-14 loss effectively ended Clemson’s national championship hopes, it at least earned some consolation on Saturday. Thanks to Syracuse’s loss at Pittsburgh earlier in the day, the Tigers clinched the ACC Atlantic title and will make its 7th conference championship game appearance in the past 8 years on Dec. 3 in Charlotte.

Duke

The biggest takeaway from the Blue Devils’ win at Boston College, other than the fact that they earned bowl eligibility for the first time since 2018, is that coach Mike Elko’s team can beat you in several different ways.

They can beat you through the air on the strength of Riley Leonard’s arm. They can beat you on defense, as they did by forcing 8 turnovers against Miami. Thursday, they notched their 6th win of the season by running over the Eagles with a relentless ground attack.

Leonard ran for 96 yards, 60 of which came on a 1st-quarter touchdown run, while running backs Jacquez Moore and Jordan Waters both averaged better than 4.6 yards per carry, as Duke ruled up 232 rushing yards. It was the 6th time this year the Blue Devils have run for more than 200 yards in a game. They came into the game ranked 2nd in the ACC and 21st nationally at 205.1 yards per game.

Florida State

The Seminoles continue to prove that they’re fully recovered from the midseason slump that saw them lose 3 straight to Atlantic Division rivals Wake Forest, NC State and Clemson. Their 45-3 rout of in-state rival was their 2nd straight win and by far their most impressive effort of the season. It also got them to the 6-win mark that ensures them of their first bowl appearance since 2019.

FSU took care of business early and effectively by rolling to a 31-3 lead. Quarterback Jordan Travis completed 10-of-12 passes for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns – including 1 to linebacker DJ Lundy. Trey Benson ran for 128 yards and 2 scores before coach Mike Norvell pulled his starters and began emptying his bench midway through the 2nd half.

Georgia Tech

First and foremost, we learned that interim coach Brent Key is making a strong bid to stay on the job permanently. We also learned that Boston College isn’t the only ACC bottom feeder to learn that has hope for the future at the quarterback position.

True freshman Zach Pyron threw for 253 yards and ran for 66 more in his first career start to lead the Yellow Jackets to their 3rd win in 5 games since the firing of Geoff Collins. More important than the raw numbers is the poise Pyron showed by bouncing back from a pick-6 to rally his team from a 12–point 4th quarter deficit on the road at Virginia Tech.

He threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Nate McCollum, then ran for the winning score on a head-first dive with 3:30 remaining. Tech’s defense, which came into the game ranked 2nd in the ACC with a turnover margin of plus-12 then salted the game away with their 4th takeaway of the game.

Louisville

The Cardinals are rapidly proving themselves to be a 2nd-half team. Just as they did a week ago in beating Wake Forest, they broke open a close game with a dominant performance after halftime to secure their 4th straight win – their longest streak under coach Scott Satterfield.

Against the Deacons, they forced 8 turnovers and scored 35 points in the 3rd quarter alone while turning a 14-13 halftime deficit into a lopsided victory. This time, they scored the game’s final 24 points after playing James Madison to a 10-all draw over the opening 30 minutes. They outgained their opponent 302-49 over the final two periods.

In the process, they qualified for the postseason for the 3rd time in their 4 seasons under Satterfield.

Miami

As bad as things have gone for the Hurricanes in Year 1 under Mario Cristobal, they proved Saturday that the situation can always get worse. Everything that could have gone wrong for Miami did after it took a 3-0 lead with a field goal on its opening possession.

Its 45-3 loss to in-state rival Florida State was the Hurricanes’ 4th straight home loss, its longest streak since 1973. It was also its most lopsided home loss since a 58-0 at the hands of Clemson in 2015, a game that cost then-coach Al Golden his job the next day.

Miami, which won at Virginia last week without the benefit of a touchdown has now gone 9 quarters without getting into the end zone. And to make matters worse, quarterback Tyler Van Dyke left the game after reaggravating a shoulder injury that forced him to miss that game in Charlottesville.

At 4-5, the preseason ACC favorites must win 2 of their final 3 games just to sneak into bowl eligibility. With 1 of those games on the road at Clemson, the odds aren’t in their favor.

North Carolina

Mack Brown showed us that he really can win a game at Scott Stadium. The Hall of Fame coach was 0-6 all-time in Charlottesville over his 2 tenures at UNC before Saturday. But with Drake Maye throwing for 2 touchdowns and running for 1, he was finally able to get off the career schneid. It was also the Tar Heels’ first win at UVA since 2016 and their 5th on the road this season – their most since 1997.

In addition to Brown’s ability to win in Charlottesville, we also learned that UNC isn’t just a 1-dimensional offensive team.

One week after giving up on trying to run the ball during the 2nd half of last week’s win against Pittsburgh, the Tar Heels unleashed a ground attack that amassed 162 yards against the Cavaliers. Running back Elijah Green accounted for 91 of those yards and a touchdown. He also turned a short swing pass into a 22-yard touchdown that turned out to be the winning score.

The victory was UNC’s 5th win by a touchdown or less and 7th in 8 games overall. The Tar Heels can clinch the Coastal Division title with one more win or losses by Duke and Miami.

NC State

MJ Morris proved that his game-winning performance against Virginia Tech last week was no fluke. The true freshman quarterback completed 18-of-28 passes for 210 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions while leading the Wolfpack to a 30-21 win against Wake Forest.

And he wasn’t the only young talent to make an impact on the victory. With running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye still slowed by an injury, coach Dave Doeren unleashed another true freshman on the Deacons and Michael Allen responded by running for 36 yards on 5 carries.

The youth movement on offense, combined with 3 interceptions by a veteran defense, has rekindled State’s hope of reaching double-digit victories for only the 2nd time in school history. They still need 3 more wins with 4 games remaining, including a bowl. But their chances suddenly appear much more realistic than they did after preseason ACC Player of the Year Devin Leary went down with a season-ending injury a few weeks ago.

Pittsburgh

The Panthers got to show off the depth of their talented stable of running backs in Saturday’s win against Syracuse. Even without the ACC’s leading rusher, Israel Abanikanda, Pitt still pounded out 161 yards on the ground while building a 13-minute advantage in time of possession.

Rodney Hammond Jr., the star of Pitt’s season-opening win against West Virginia, led the way with 124 yards and a touchdown. Seldom-used Notre Dame transfer C’Bo Flemister added 42 yards and a score in helping the defending ACC champions snap a 2-game losing streak and move within a win of bowl eligibility.

Syracuse

The Orange are learning that it’s never a good idea to celebrate an accomplishment while there are still games left to play. They’re 0-3 since a field-storming celebration following a win against NC State that clinched bowl eligibility and likely saved coach Dino Babers’ job.

Saturday’s 16-9 loss to Pittsburgh continues to reinforce the notion that Syracuse’s 6-0 start was merely the product of a soft early schedule. With quarterback Garrett Shrader sidelined with an injury, the Orange were only able to muster 145 total yards against the Panthers. Star running back Sean Tucker continued to struggle, finishing with only 19 rushing yards on 10 carries.

With the loss, Syracuse will almost certainly drop out of the national rankings after topping out at No. 14.

Virginia

The Cavaliers showed us that they didn’t need a GPS to find the end zone. They got there 3 times against UNC on Saturday after going 4 quarters of regulation and 4 overtimes without crossing the goal line a week ago against Miami.

The 2nd-worst offense in the ACC took advantage of the league’s worst defense to erupt for 28 points, UVA’s most since a 34-17 win against Richmond in Week 1. And it did so with its top 3 receivers sidelined with injuries.

The absence of Keytaon Thompson, Dontayvion Wicks and Laval Davis Jr. helped us learn some new names. Junior tight end Sackett Wood, freshman wide receiver Sean Wilson and junior wide receiver Derrick Starling had combined for 7 catches all season before Saturday. Against the Tar Heels, the trio combined for 12 receptions and 195 yards.

Virginia Tech

There’s not much left to learn about the Hokies. They are what they are. And what they are is a bad, self-destructive football team that hasn’t figured out how to hold onto 4th quarter leads. Their 28-27 loss to Georgia Tech marked the 2nd straight game in which they gave up at least an 11-point lead in the final period to a team with a true freshman quarterback.

Last week at NC State, coach Brent Pry’s team hurt itself with penalties. Saturday, it brought about its own demise with turnovers. Four of them, to be exact, including an interception on the Georgia Tech 10-yard line early in the 4th quarter and a fumble by quarterback Grant Wells late as his team was getting into range for a potential winning field goal attempt.

While the Hokies scored touchdowns on offense, defense and a 90-yard punt return by Tucker Holloway, it wasn’t enough to prevent their 2nd consecutive 1-point loss and 6th straight overall since September 17.

Wake Forest

The Deacons’ trademark under Dave Clawson has been their ability to avoid mistakes and not beat themselves. But that hasn’t been the case over the past two games. After giving the ball away 8 times in a loss at Louisville last week, they committed 3 more turnovers Saturday against NC State. They were also flagged for 9 penalties and missed a field goal in a 31-20 loss that ended any hope of earning a New Year’s 6 bowl bid.

No one on the team has been more afflicted by the turnover bug than quarterback Sam Hartman. The usually reliable veteran, who had been intercepted only 3 times over his 1st 6 games this season, has been picked off 6 times in his past 2 games. Three of them came against the Wolfpack, offsetting a performance that saw him throw for 397 yards and 2 touchdowns.