College Football’s Week Nine:
DG’s “Pick Six” Includes SMU-Duke, UNC-UVa,
Plus App State, ECU, Wake Forest, WCU, More
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
Each week during college football season, we offer a “Pick Six” package of intriguing matchups — three “local” games that include one or more North Carolina-based team and three “national” contests that involve the Atlantic Coast Conference and/or the most prominent intersectional games.
Week Nine: Top “Local” Games
Game Four
#22 SMU (6-1) at Duke (6-1), Sat., 8 pm (ACCN)
Latest Betting Line: Mustangs an 11-point favorite
This is a special weekend for Duke athletics for several reasons, including the Blue Devils’ opportunity to get to 7-1 against a nationally ranked SMU team.
Beyond the football game itself, Duke is inducting its latest Hall of Fame class, which includes its former men’s basketball sharpshooter JJ Redick (now the head coach of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers), two-sport star Quinton McCracken, All-American offensive tackle Chris Port and legendary men’s lacrosse coach John Danowski, among others.
The Blue Devils also are honoring several of their best football teams that are having special anniversaries this year: the 1954 squad that won the ACC championship; the 1989 group that won the program’s most recent ACC title, under legendary coach Steve Spurrier; the 1994 bunch that started 7-0 and rose to #16 in the national rankings under coach Fred Goldsmith; and the 2014 squad that went 9-4 and played in the Sun Bowl under coach David Cutcliffe.
It’s especially cool that Spurrier, Goldsmith and Cutcliffe — the latter two ultimately were fired by Duke under emotional circumstances — all are expected to be in attendance, which should make it an even more special weekend.
On the field, the Blue Devils will face perhaps their toughest challenge so far this season. SMU is the first nationally ranked opponent Duke has faced this year, and the Mustangs are really good again, especially on defense, which is where the Devils have been special, too, under their first-year coach Manny Diaz.
SMU is in its third season under coach Rhett Lashlee, a former Arkansas backup quarterback and former SMU and Miami assistant coach who led the Mustangs to an 11-3 record and the American Athletic Conference championship last season.
Lashlee is only 41 years old, and this is his first head coaching job, but he has really helped the Mustangs through a smooth transition to ACC membership this season. Other than Miami and Clemson, SMU may have the best chance of grabbing one of those two spots in this year’s ACC championship game.
SMU has a dual-threat quarterback in Kevin Jennings, who — combined with Brashard Smith, a Miami transfer who was All-ACC last year as a return man for the Hurricanes and may be All-ACC this year as a running back for the Mustangs — leads one of the ACC’s best rushing attacks. Jennings isn’t an elite passer, but he’s completing about two-thirds of his throws this season, with tight end RJ Maryland his favorite target.
Duke’s defense has been mostly excellent every week during the Blue Devils’ 6-1 start, even in their 24-14 loss to Georgia Tech in Atlanta a few weeks ago, and that same group likely will have to lead the way again against SMU.
The Mustangs’ defense is giving up only 21 points per game and has been the most stingy ACC defense against the run, yielding only 87 yards per game and a measly 2.6 yards per carry.
Game Five
North Carolina (3-4) at Virginia (4-3), Sat., noon (The CW)
Latest Betting Line: Cavaliers a three-point favorite
The UNC-UVa matchup has been called “The South’s Oldest Rivalry,” although the Auburn-Georgia football series actually started one year earlier, so go figure.
The Tar Heels have a slight edge over the Wahoos on the gridiron historically, going all the way back to the late 1800s, but Virginia has won five of the last seven matchups, including three of the five played since coach Mack Brown returned to Chapel Hill.
Trips to Charlottesville have been especially haunting for Brown, who wasn’t able to win even one road game against George Welsh-coached UVa teams during his first (10-years-long) UNC tenure, even as Brown was building a program that posted eight straight winning seasons and back-to-back finishes in the national top 10.
These UNC-UVa games tend to be pretty close on the scoreboard, back in the 1990s and more recently, and it wouldn’t be surprising if that’s the case again this year, because while neither team is great, each has enough weapons to be dangerous.
UNC has the best running back in the ACC in Omarion Hampton. UVa has one of the best wide receivers in the conference in Malachi Fields. UNC has one of the best cornerbacks in the ACC in Alijah Huzzie. UVa has one of the best safeties in the league in Jonas Sanker. Neither team has been great at the line of scrimmage, on either side of the ball, although the Wahoos have been much more efficient than the Tar Heels defensively, thanks in part to veteran defensive end Chico Bennett Jr.
There may not be a major advantage at quarterback for either team, either, although UVa’s Anthony Colandrea — a true sophomore who just turned 20 years old — is more dangerous as a runner and a slightly more accurate passer than UNC’s Jacolby Criswell, a 23-year-old fifth-year senior who began this season as the Tar Heels’ third-stringer.
Overall, this appears to be a pretty even matchup, so the usual indicators — turnovers, penalties, mental mistakes, big plays, etc. — probably will determine the outcome. UVa has been better than UNC in those areas this season under the Cavaliers’ third-year head coach, former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott, who is hoping to take the Wahoos to their first bowl game on his watch and their first in five years overall.
Game Six
Georgia State (2-4) at Appalachian State (2-4), Sat., 1 pm (ESPN+)
Latest Betting Line: Mountaineers a seven-point favorite
Somehow, our “This Week In College Football” coverage has made it all the way into late October without a single reference to the overused phrase “must win.”
Well, that three-month-long streak comes to an end right now, because App State head coach Shawn Clark must win this game if he’s going to keep his job, and the Mountaineers must win this game if they’re going to make a run at a postseason invitation this season.
This is the first of three straight winnable games for App State, and the Mountaineers really need to win all three — that won’t be easy — because the final two contests on their regular-season schedule are a home matchup against Sun Belt-leading James Madison and a road trip to face long-time rival Georgia Southern, which also looks like a pretty good squad this year.
This week’s tilt against Georgia State comes with some meaning beyond football, too, obviously. Because of the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene on so many parts of western North Carolina, including Boone, this will be the Mountaineers’ first home game in 37 days.
Remember, their Sept. 28 matchup against Liberty, which was supposed to be one of the stops on our Old North State Tailgate Tour and Traveling Sports Circus, was cancelled because King Street was under water and the surrounding areas were so devastated that the community and its infrastructure simply couldn’t handle tens of thousands of visitors for a football game. Since then, App State has had two road games and an open week.
There likely will be a lot of positive, overflowing emotions at The Rock on Saturday afternoon, when it will be up to (among others) senior quarterback Joey Aguilar and fifth-year senior wide receiver Kaedin Robinson — one of the best QB-wideout combinations North Carolina has to offer this year — to play huge roles in what could be a high-scoring Mountaineers victory.
When 2-5 Temple visits 3-4 East Carolina, it will be the Pirates’ first game under interim head coach Blake Harrell, who has been the team’s defensive coordinator. ECU definitely still has a legitimate chance at a bowl, even after coach Mike Houston’s dismissal, but they must beat the Owls if they’re going to have a serious chance to get to six victories this season. The Pirates are a seven-point favorite at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in this one. …
It’s a similar situation for 3-4 Wake Forest during its trip to 2-5 Stanford. The Cardinal — last in the ACC in scoring defense (32.1 points per game) and next-to-last in scoring offense (18.9 points per game) — may be the worst team in the conference this year. That means the Demon Deacons, who have proven to be a dangerous team offensively (QB Hank Bachmeier, RB Demond Claiborne, WR Taylor Morin) this fall, have to take this contest if they are going to reach a bowl game this year. Wake is a two-point favorite in Palo Alto. …
At the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level, 4-3 Western Carolina — which is the only Southern Conference team that is still undefeated in league play this season — is visiting 6-1 Mercer, which is ranked #16 in the FCS Top 25 and is now coached by Mike Jacobs, a David Glenn Show guest last fall as he was leading Lenoir-Rhyne to the semifinals of the Division Two playoffs. The winner of this Western-Mercer game will be in the pole position for the 2024 SoCon title, and that’s rarified air for the Catamounts, so good luck to coach Kerwin Bell (another DG Show guest!) and his squad on their trip to Macon, Ga. …
Finally, at the Division Two level, in the most incredible college football story our state has to offer this season, 7-0 Johnson C Smith — which holds a #19 national ranking, the highest in the century-long history of the program— is visiting 6-2 Winston-Salem State on Saturday afternoon. This is probably the most difficult regular-season game remaining for the Golden Bulls, who have a chance at the greatest season in the history of that Charlotte-based program. Congratulations and best wishes to third-year coach Maurice Flowers and his crew as they head to Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, where the Rams have been very difficult to beat historically.
NOTE: For the complete Week Nine schedule (including television/streaming options) for all ACC and state of North Carolina teams, please click HERE.