Road games huge this Saturday for ACC

The ACC lost both of its headline games in the opening weekend of the season, with North Carolina falling to LSU Saturday and Virginia Tech losing to Boise State Monday night.

Maryland held on for a nice win against Navy, but let’s face it – ACC teams should beat Navy. Otherwise, the opening weekend was cupcake fodder to get the season underway.

This week could be a rough one for the league, with four important road games for league teams. Florida State is at Oklahoma, Miami is at Ohio State, Virginia is at Southern Cal and N.C. State is at Central Florida.

Georgia Tech is also on the road, at Kansas, but the Jayhawks are coming off a 5-7 season and just lost to North Dakota State, 6-3.

Duke is at Wake Forest in ACC play at noon. This is a winnable game for the Blue Devils, of course. Their schedule ahead is Alabama Sept. 18, Army Sept. 25 and at Maryland Oct. 2. Duke has a bye Oct. 9, and it’s easy to see them 4-1 going into the Oct. 16 home game with Miami.

But the Blue Devils have lost six straight to Wake Forest, including that brutal 14-13 defeat in 2006 when Duke botched a field goal and the Deacons went on to the ACC title.