It was a bad week for the ACC.

It was an even worse week for Clemson. And the Tigers didn’t even play.

Their most compelling defense against the tired “ACC is an inferior league” narrative has been that their 3 wins against ranked opponents so far this season were more than anyone in the country.

But that argument fell apart Saturday when No. 10 Wake Forest played giveaway in a 42-24 thrashing at the hands of unranked Louisville and 16th-ranked Syracuse laid an egg against Notre Dame by an almost identical score.

If that wasn’t enough ammunition for the Joel Klatts and Heather Dinichs of the sports media world, then the debacle that took place in Charlottesville between Miami and Virginia – a 4-overtime game in which neither team scored a touchdown – provided even more.

We’ll have to wait until Tuesday night when the first College Football Playoff rankings come out to find out how much the Week 9 results will affect Clemson’s chances of getting into the final 4.

Until then, let’s take a peek at the Halloween week horror show to see what we learned about every ACC team. Some of which is actually positive.

Boston College

We’ve known for a while that the Eagles are a mess. Saturday at UConn, we learned just how bad they are.

Coach Jeff Hafley’s dumpster fire of a team turned the ball over 5 times, allowed 4 sacks, managed only 29 yards on the ground and didn’t score a touchdown in a 13-3 loss to the lowly Huskies. It was BC’s first loss in 15 meetings with their New England neighbor.

If the offensive woes and the loss that dropped BC to 2-6 weren’t bad enough, the Eagles also lost quarterback Phil Jurkovec in the game. Jurkovec went 12-of-19 for 155 yards and 2 picks before leaving with a knee injury in the 3rd quarter. His replacement Emmett Morehead went 7-of-16 for 75 yards.

Florida State

While the Seminoles still aren’t ready to contend for an ACC championship, we learned that they’ve at least progressed to the point that they can easily take care of business against the teams they’re supposed to beat.

They made it look easy in Saturday’s 41-16 rout of Georgia Tech that ended a 3-game losing streak – all to Atlantic Division front-runners Wake Forest, NC State and Clemson. Quarterback Travis Jordan threw for a career-high 396 and FSU’s trio of talented backs rolled up 200-plus yards on the ground for the 3rd straight game in beating the Yellow Jackets for the first time since the 2014 ACC Championship Game.

Georgia Tech

The bump the Yellow Jackets got after their coaching change on Sept. 26 has clearly run its course. Maybe things might have been a little closer had starting quarterback Jeff Sims been healthy enough to play. It wouldn’t have made that big a difference. 

We did learn that interim coach Brent Key isn’t afraid to take chances. His onside kick to start the second half caught the Seminoles by surprise and led to a touchdown. We also learned that when it comes to backup quarterbacks, freshman Zach Pryon (18-of-28, 198 yards, TD) is the better of the two Zachs. Sophomore Zach Gibson started the game, went 2-of-3 for 0 yards and didn’t return.

Louisville

Remember all that speculation about coach Scott Satterfield’s job being in jeopardy? 

Well, you can stop speculating.

The Cardinals have taken Satterfield off the hot seat by turning their 3-game losing streak to start the ACC schedule into a 3-game winning streak. And they’ve done it in style. Louisville didn’t just beat No. 10 Wake Forest. It dominated the Deacons, scoring 35 points in the 3rd quarter on the way to a dominant 48-21 victory.

While quarterback Malik Cunningham gets most of the attention, we learned that the Cardinals can also play a little defense. Make that a lot of defense. Louisville forced 8 turnovers, got pick-6s from Kei’trel Clark and Quincy Riley, and sacked Wake quarterbacks 8 times to move back to .500 in the league and within a game of bowl eligibility.

Miami

About the best thing that can be said about the Hurricanes’ performance at Virginia on Saturday is that they won. It took 4 overtimes to do it. And the only time they got into the end zone was when backup quarterback Jake Garcia barely got to the pylon for the winning 2-point score on the 4th extra possession. 

That was good enough to win and keep Miami’s realistic bowl hopes alive thanks to a defense that also kept the Cavaliers from scoring any touchdowns. It was a solid performance, for sure. But it should also be taken in context. Everyone this season has had success against a UVA offense that ranks next-to-last in the ACC in scoring at just 17.6 points per game.

North Carolina

We keep learning more about the Tar Heels as they continue to grow. The biggest takeaway from their 42-24 win against Pittsburgh is that their much-maligned defense has finally started showing signs of competence. Especially in key spots.

Although it gave up some big plays in the passing game and 127 yards on the ground to Israel Abanikanda, the ACC’s leading rusher, UNC only allowed 48 yards on 19 4th-quarter plays while shutting the Panthers out over the final 25 minutes. That allowed Drake Maye and the offense to score 28 unanswered points to rally from behind and pull away for the victory that solidified the Tar Heels’ Coastal Division lead.

Speaking of that offense, we learned that Josh Downs isn’t the only game-breaking weapon star Maye has at his disposal. Senior Antoine Greene, who missed the first 3 games recovering from a shoulder injury, burst into the spotlight 3 weeks ago by catching the winning touchdown in the final seconds against Duke. Saturday, he posted career highs of 10 catches, 185 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a spectacular 1-handed grab in the 1st half.

NC State

First and foremost, the Wolfpack’s come-from-behind win against Virginia Tech showed us that State possesses a real talent in true freshman QB MJ Morris. But beyond that, we learned no matter who plays quarterback – for any team – he’s only going to be as good as the plays that are called for him.

That was glaringly evident Thursday. It’s one thing to try to dink and dunk down the field with screen passes and quarterback draws with Jack Chambers and his limited skill set running the offense. But offensive coordinator Tim Beck stuck with the same game plan even after Morris came into the game.

It wasn’t until the Wolfpack fell behind 20-3 late in the 3rd quarter that Beck was finally forced to turn the strong-armed youngster loose. And when he did, Morris delivered. The kid went 16-for-24 for 213 yards and 3 touchdowns in the second half to lead State to a 22-21 win that earned it bowl eligibility and provided some badly needed hope for the future.

Pittsburgh

The Panthers pride themselves on being a physical, smash-mouth kind of team. But as we learned Saturday in Chapel Hill, they’re either not as tough as they think they are or their opponent UNC is a lot tougher than they thought. It’s a revelation born from a comment made earlier in the week by senior linebacker Tylar Wiltz.

“We are going to hit Drake Maye hard,” he said. “If he doesn’t get up, that’s not our problem.”

Pitt’s defense did follow through on the first half of Wiltz’s prediction. They hit Maye hard several times in the opening half. One of them led to the ejection of star tackle Calijah Kancey for targeting. But despite the attempts at intimidation, Maye kept getting up. And without Kancey around to provide pressure, Maye had a lot more time in the 2nd half to find his receivers and pick the Panthers apart.

As mentioned earlier, UNC scored the game’s final 28 points to turn a 10-point Pitt lead into a 42-24 win that all but eliminated the Panthers from the Coastal Division race.

Syracuse

The Orange had a chance to make a statement for themselves and the ACC over the past 2 weeks. Instead, they showed us that the naysayers were right. While they’re vastly improved, their 6-0 start was just a mirage aided by a light early schedule.

Coach Dino Babers’ team was at least competitive in a close loss at Clemson last week. But Saturday, with a supportive home crowd behind it, Syracuse was manhandled by Notre Dame. And not just on the scoreboard.

They gave up a pick-6 on the first play from scrimmage, had a punt blocked, gave up 4 sacks and allowed the Irish to grind out 246 yards on the ground in a sound 41-24 defeat. If there was anything positive to come out of the game, it was the play of backup quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson. The Florida transfer completed 11-of-22 for 190 yards, a touchdown and an interception after starter Garrett Shrader left with an ankle injury.

Virginia

The Cavaliers reminded us just how hard it is to win games when you can’t score touchdowns. And they didn’t Saturday against Miami, despite having plenty of chances.

Three times during the 3rd quarter, coach Tony Elliott’s team drove inside the Hurricanes’ 5-yard line, twice with a 1st-and-goal. But it yielded only 2 chip-shot field goals by kicker Will Bettridge. The other threat ended with a 4th-down incompletion in the end zone.

Bettridge kicked 2 more field goals in overtime, the second banking in off the upright. But Brennan Armstrong couldn’t convert either of the 2-point plays on the 3rd and 4th extra possessions to leave the door open for the Hurricanes.

The offensive woes are right on brand for UVA in Elliott’s rookie season. Despite having a quarterback who led the ACC in passing last year, the Cavaliers rank 13th in the league in scoring and 12th in total offense. Although the defense also held Miami without a touchdown, their performance – as has been the case on several other occasions this season – was just good enough to lose.

Virginia Tech

The biggest thing we learned about the Hokies on Thursday is that even after 8 games under coach Brent Pry, the Hokies still haven’t learned how to get out of their own way.

Penalties have been a problem since an opening-week loss at Old Dominion and things still have yet to improve. Tech is averaging 8.75 infractions per game for 68 yards. That’s a lot of real estate for a team averaging only 318 yards per game.

It was especially costly against NC State.  Ten of the Hokies’ 13 penalties – that’s right 10 – were for false starts. They also muffed 2 kickoffs to help pin Tech’s offense back and help give the Wolfpack the field position that enabled their come-from-behind effort. The loss was Tech’s 5th straight, its longest skid in 30 years.

Wake Forest

For the 2nd straight year, we learned that the Deacons don’t play well when ranked among the nation’s top 10. 

Last season, after starting 8-0 and rising to No. 10 in the AP poll, they came to Chapel Hill and lost a 58-55 shootout to North Carolina. Saturday, again ranked No. 10, they lost another high-scoring game on the road to an unranked opponent. This time, though, only 1 of the teams did most of the scoring. And most of it came in the 3rd quarter.

Wake led 14-13 at halftime, but the game got away quickly thanks to 7 3rd quarter turnovers that produced 35 Louisville points. Sam Hartman threw a pair of pick-6s and the Deacons gave the ball away 8 times in all on the way to a resounding 48-21 thrashing that could jeopardize their chances at a New Year’s 6 bowl.