NC/ACC Week Six College Football Previews:

UNC, Duke, Wake Forest Among
In-State Teams Facing Key Games
(DG’s “This Week In CFB” YouTube Show = Below Soon)

By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Sept. 30, 2025)

The 2025 college football season continues via a compelling Week Six schedule, with legendary coaches Dabo Swinney and Bill Belichick going head-to-head with their Clemson and UNC teams in Chapel Hill, plus Duke and Wake Forest embarking on important out-of-state road trips as they attempt to take another step toward bowl eligibility or something bigger.

Meanwhile, the most prominent games nationally on Saturday include conference clashes in the ACC and SEC, led by #24 Virginia at 4-0 Louisville (3:30 p.m., ESPN2), #16 Vanderbilt at #10 Alabama (3:30 p.m., ABC) and #3 Miami at #18 Florida State (7:30 p.m., ABC).

From the wide-ranging schedule (see below) in the Old North State, here are more details from this week’s “Three To See” selections:

In-State “Three To See,” Game One

Clemson (1-3) at North Carolina (2-2), Sat., noon (ESPN)
(Old North State Tailgate Tour & Traveling Sports Circus)

There are 10 college football coaches making $10 million or more this season, and two of them — Dabo Swinney of 1-3 Clemson and Bill Belichick of 2-2 UNC — are going head-to-head in this game.

Among the others in this financial neighborhood, by the way, the only other one who does not have a winning record so far this season is Deion Sanders of 2-3 Colorado. The other seven guys who are members of this exclusive big-money club have either good records or great records right now, at Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Alabama, Southern Cal and LSU.

While both Clemson (a 13-point favorite) and Carolina are clearly in crisis mode at the moment, they took very different routes to get here.

The Tar Heels’ situation is much easier to explain, because Belichick just started his tenure in Chapel Hill, and while he and his staff seem to be recruiting well for future seasons, Carolina just has below-average talent at most places on its depth chart this season, at least by ACC standards. The Heels have had some good moments on defense this season, but their truly anemic offense — and especially their dysfunctional passing game — has been really hard to watch.

It’s up to first-year offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens, a Mack Brown Era holdover who has a very thin resume as a coordinator and play-caller over his 27-year coaching career in college and the NFL, to get something better out of either starting QB Gio Lopez (the South Alabama transfer) or sixth-year senior QB Max Johnson, who has energized the Heels at times off the bench this season.

With Swinney in his 17th full season as the head coach at Clemson, it’s much harder to understand the Tigers’ current predicament, especially because they returned the highest portion of last year’s production — around 80 percent — among the 136 schools playing at the FBS level.

It’s one thing to lose to LSU and Georgia Tech, which are both high in the national rankings right now, but it’s another to lose at home to Syracuse and struggle to beat Troy, also at Death Valley.

Senior quarterback Cade Klubnik has had a nightmarish season so far, with Clemson dead-last in the ACC in scoring offense, at less than 20 points per game. Meanwhile, three other key starters — including star wide receiver Antonio Williams and starting left tackle Tristan Leigh — have missed several games with injuries, and the Tigers’ defense — which is loaded with future NFL talent — has been mostly solid but not nearly as dominant as expected.

One mark of great coaches is that they make great use of an open week, with all that extra practice time, so this will be a fascinating litmus test for both coaches and their players, who have had basically two full weeks to prepare for one another.

In-State “Three To See,” Game Two

While there’s a realistic possibility that neither of these teams will make a bowl game this season, both showed a little improvement and a lot of fight just last week, under very challenging circumstances.

Playing under interim head coach Philip Montgomery, the former Tulsa head coach who was elevated from offensive coordinator after the midseason dismissal of Tech head coach Brent Pry, the Hokies went to NC State and upset a pretty solid Wolfpack team on their home field.

Meanwhile, in Winston-Salem, first-year head coach Jake Dickert came oh-so-close to his first signature victory at Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons led #16 Georgia Tech 20-3 in the third quarter before falling to the undefeated Yellow Jackets 30-29 in overtime.

Tech’s struggling offense got a massive boost last week in the form of fifth-year senior running back Terion Stewart, a Bowling Green transfer who hadn’t played much in the Hokies’ first four games. Against NC State, the 5-foot-9, 222-pound human bowling ball — who was a two-time All-MAC selection prior to his arrival in Blacksburg — forced 11 missed tackles while rushing 15 times for 174 yards. With the Wolfpack focused on slowing down the ground game of Tech QB Kyron Drones, who’s a much better runner than passer, Stewart made them pay with some big runs, including an 85-yarder up the middle.

Wake’s defense faces a similar challenge to the one it faced last week, when it ultimately wore down against Georgia Tech’s dual-threat QB, Haynes King.

Offensively, Wake Forest (a four-point underdog) has been inconsistent for many of the same reasons Virginia Tech has been inconsistent on that side of the ball. Like Drones, Wake QB Robby Ashford is a much better athlete and runner than he is a polished downfield passer, and most defenses do a good job of preparing for that, although Ashford did find room to run for 82 yards on 10 carries against Georgia Tech.

Wake’s best player is senior running back Demond Claiborne, who has posted 100-yard rushing games against both Western Carolina and Georgia Tech this season, although NC State held him to just 35 yards on 12 carries.

If both defenses can slow down the other team’s running game, it will become a guessing game as to which side can make more plays in their extremely inconsistent passing games.

Wake’s top targets include redshirt freshman wide receiver Chris Barnes, who’s also a big-time threat in the return game. Tech’s top receiver may be sixth-year senior wide receiver Donavon Greene, a Mount Airy High School product who spent the past five years at Wake Forest.

In-State “Three To See,” Game Three

Duke (3-2) at California (4-1), Sat., 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Blue Devils a TWO-point road favorite in Berkeley (SIX-hour flight; 2,000-plus miles)

This will be a fun late-night TV matchup, in part, because Duke quarterback Darian Mensah (the Tulane transfer) already has proven himself to be among the best quarterbacks in the ACC, while Cal QB Jaron Sagapolutele (practice it: “Song-Ew-Polo-Tell-Ay”) — a highly touted true freshman from Hawaii who originally signed with Oregon — is widely viewed as a rising star, even as he’s gone through some growing pains so far this season.

Even if you give the quarterback advantage to the Blue Devils in this game, it’s important to remember that Cal’s defense has played pretty well during the Bears’ 4-1 start, whereas Duke’s defense has been very up and down, although last week it was truly brilliant in the Devils’ 38-3 win at Syracuse.

Cal head coach Justin Wilcox is a modern-day rarity in that he’s been with the Bears for nine seasons now, and he’s never led them to a winning record in conference play, either in the Pac-12 or the ACC. He has taken them to four bowl games in his previous eight years, but he hasn’t posted a winning overall record since way back in 2019.

At most Power Four schools, that sort of resume definitely would put you on the hot seat, and it didn’t help when — during this past offseason — starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza transferred to Indiana, starting running back Jaydn Ott transferred to Oklahoma, backup running back Jaivian Thomas left for UCLA, starting tight end Jack Endries left for Texas, and starting wide receiver Nyziah Hunter left for Nebraska, among other key departures in the transfer portal.

That mass exodus was one of the reasons the Bears opted in the offseason to hire a general manager for football, in their case former Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera, who played linebacker at Cal in the early 1980s.

While Cal (a two-point underdog) has really struggled to run the ball and has been inconsistent offensively during its 4-1 start, the Bears have developed a pretty strong culture on defense under Wilcox, and that theme definitely has continued so far this season. The Bears rank second in the ACC in scoring defense, behind only Miami, at just 18 points per game, and as usual they have a bunch of talented players at linebacker and in the secondary.

Duke’s two losses this season came against the two best defenses the Blue Devils have faced, those of Illinois and Tulane, so this will be a true test for Mensah and his various weapons, which include Harvard transfer Cooper Barkate at wide receiver and true freshman running back Nate Sheppard, who may be another of the ACC’s rising young stars.

In-State “Three To See,” Bonus Games

NC State, Appalachian State and Charlotte also are in action at the FBS level this week. While none of those games qualifies as a high-profile matchup, the 1-3 49ers will get the Friday night national TV spotlight on ESPN2 during their trip — as a massive underdog — to 3-1 South Florida. … Meanwhile, 2-2 App State is only a slight favorite over 0-5 Oregon State at The Rock in Boone. … At NC State, the 3-2 Wolfpack will host an FCS opponent in 1-4 Campbell, but much bigger things are in play off the field. All of us here at the North Carolina Sports Network send our deepest condolences to Wolfpack defensive coordinator DJ Eliot and his family and friends. Coach Eliot lost his teenage daughter, Drue, after her five-year battle with a form of pediatric cancer. As Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren said this week, “Parents aren’t supposed to be at the funerals of their own children.” Eliot apparently has decided to rejoin the Wolfpack for this week’s game, although Charlton Warren will call the defensive signals against Campbell, since Eliot was understandably away from the team during much of the week, while dealing with his daughter’s death and memorial service. Our sincere condolences to that entire branch of the Wolfpack’s extended family.

NC Football Bowl Subdivision (Seven Teams)
(Games Saturday Unless Otherwise Indicated)

Charlotte (1-3) at South Florida (3-1), 7 p.m. (ESPN2) — Friday
Clemson (1-3) at North Carolina (2-2), noon (ESPN)
Wake Forest (2-2) at Virginia Tech (2-3), 1 p.m. (The CW)
Campbell (1-4) at NC State (3-2), 2 p.m. (ACCX/ESPN+)
Oregon State (0-5) at Appalachian State (2-2), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Duke (3-2) at California (4-1), 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Open Week: East Carolina (3-2)

Atlantic Coast Conference (17 Teams)

Clemson (1-3) at North Carolina (2-2), noon (ESPN)
Boston College (1-3) at Pittsburgh (2-2), noon (ACCN)
Wake Forest (2-2) at Virginia Tech (2-3), 1 p.m. (The CW)
Campbell (1-4) at NC State (3-2), 2 p.m. (ACCX/ESPN+)
#24 Virginia (4-1) at Louisville (4-0), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Syracuse (3-2) at SMU (2-2), 3:30 p.m. (ACCN)
#3 Miami (4-0) at #18 Florida State (3-1), 7:30 p.m. (ABC)
Duke (3-2) at California (4-1), 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Open Week: Georgia Tech (5-0), Stanford (2-3)