NC/ACC Week 12 College Football Previews:

Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, ECU Among
In-State Teams Facing Pivotal Matchups
(DG’s “This Week In CFB” YouTube Show = Posted Below)

By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Nov. 11, 2025)

The 2025 college football season continues via a compelling Week 12 schedule, with Duke hosting Virginia and East Carolina hosting Memphis in games with league championship implications, UNC traveling to Wake Forest in a classic Big Four matchup, and Johnson C Smith and UNC Pembroke competing in their respective conference championship games.

Meanwhile, the most prominent Week 12 matchups nationally include intra-league clashes on Saturday in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference: NC State at #16 Miami (3:30 p.m., ESPN), #11 Oklahoma at #4 Alabama (3:30 p.m., ABC) and #10 Texas at #5 Georgia (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

#20 Virginia (8-2) at Duke (5-4), Sat., 3:30 p.m. (ESPN2)

It is not even a slight exaggeration to say that it has been a very long time since both Virginia (5-1 ACC) and Duke (4-1 ACC) were serious contenders for the ACC football championship in the same season.

Way back in 1989 — 36 years ago — the Cavaliers and the Blue Devils actually shared the conference title when they tied for first place in the league standings, long before the advent of the ACC championship game. It took legendary coaches on both sidelines to make that magic happen; Steve Spurrier was in the final season of his three-year tenure at Duke, and George Welsh was in the middle portion of his 19-year tenure at UVa.

Over these past 35 seasons, Duke has zero ACC football titles, and UVa has just one, way back in 1995, when another Welsh team tied Florida State.

Since the launch of the ACC championship game in 2005, Duke has participated in that contest just once, under coach David Cutcliffe in 2013, when the Blue Devils got destroyed by FSU. UVa also has been there only once, under coach Bronco Mendenhall in 2019, when the Wahoos got annihilated by Clemson.

Fast forward to 2025, and this matchup between UVa and Duke at Wallace Wade Stadium comes with a lot at stake. The winner will remain in the shrinking one-conference-loss club — along with Georgia Tech, Pitt and SMU — and will remain firmly in contention for a trip to the ACC title game. The loser will fall out of that picture.

After this game on Saturday, fourth-year coach Tony Elliott and the Wahoos have only a home game against struggling archrival Virginia Tech remaining in the regular season. Second-year coach Manny Diaz and the Blue Devils also finish with middleweight opponents: UNC and Wake Forest.

Although UVa surprisingly has won eight of the last nine head-to-head matchups in this rivalry, Duke is a five-point favorite in this one. That’s partly because the Blue Devils are at home, partly because of the Devils’ brilliant quarterback Darian Mensah (#2 nationally with 310 passing yards per game), and partly because of the Cavaliers’ uncertainty at quarterback.

Like Mensah (a Tulane transfer), UVa quarterback Chandler Morris (a North Texas transfer) has been fantastic when healthy this season, but Morris has taken an extraordinary number of hits as a dual-threat QB for the Wahoos, and he was knocked out of last week’s loss to Wake Forest with a head injury.

If Morris is available and healthy, this could be a fun, high-scoring affair. If Morris can’t go, it will be up to backup QB Daniel Kaelin (who looked shaky against Wake last week) to try to take advantage of what has been a very vulnerable Duke defense. UVa’s star tailback, NC Central transfer J’Mari Taylor (#5 among ACC backs in rushing yards), likely will be asked to carry a heavy load, perhaps including some wildcat-style carries.

In-State “Three To See,” Game Two

UNC (4-5) at Wake Forest (6-3), Sat., 4:30 p.m. (The CW)
(An “Old North State Tailgate & Traveling Sports Circus” Game)

These teams are a lot more alike than their records may indicate.

Each side has a first-year head coach, Bill Belichick for North Carolina and Jake Dickert for Wake Forest. Each has cultivated a defense that ranks among the top five in the ACC (giving up only 20-21 points per game), the Tar Heels under coordinator Steve Belichick (Bill’s son) and the Demon Deacons under coordinator Scottie Hazelton (a guy who coached on the same Wyoming staff with Dickert years ago).

Continuing the theme, both teams have offenses that rank near the bottom of the conference, mainly because of their ineffective passing games.

Wake’s starting quarterback is Robby Ashford, a South Carolina transfer who previously started at Auburn. UNC’s starter is Gio Lopez, a South Alabama transfer. Ashford, a sixth-year senior, has been a much better runner and a better decision-maker than Lopez. Lopez, a redshirt sophomore, has been a slightly better downfield passer than Ashford.

Given these matchups and details, if you only like football because of its offensive fireworks, you may be better off cutting the lawn or raking the leaves late Saturday afternoon.

It’s fair to say that if Wake Forest had scheduled TCU and UCF in non-conference play, as UNC did, the Demon Deacons might be 4-5 right now instead of 6-3.

However, it’s also fair to say that Wake has defeated two ACC contenders, SMU and Virginia, and came within an egregious officiating error of beating Georgia Tech, too. Carolina’s four victories — over Charlotte, Richmond, Syracuse and Stanford — offer nothing even close to those Wake accomplishments.

One under-the-radar aspect of these two first-year coaches is that Dickert inherited a lot more key players from Dave Clawson than Belichick inherited from Mack Brown.

The Deacons’ top players this season include a bunch of Clawson holdovers: senior running back Demond Claiborne (a high-level NFL prospect), redshirt junior defensive lineman Mateen Ibirogba (an analytics darling), redshirt senior linebacker Dylan Hazen (a three-year starter), redshirt sophomore safety Davaughn Patterson (a two-year starter) and sixth-year senior safety Nick Andersen (a four-year starter).

Meanwhile, Belichick’s regular offensive and defensive starters at UNC include only three players who started regularly for Brown last year, and only one of those — nickel back Kaleb Cost — has been a standout for the Tar Heels this season.

The analytics in this one suggest a close, low-scoring contest — the over/under for this game is only 38.5 points, with Wake a six-point favorite — so big plays and turnovers likely will be even more important than usual.

Carolina has taken five of the last six in this rivalry, usually in close games, but this Wake team has been absolutely remarkable in its ability to just stay the course and find a way to prevail.

In-State “Three To See,” Game Three

Memphis (8-2) at East Carolina (6-3), Sat., 4 p.m. (ESPNU)

This is East Carolina’s 12th season as a member of the American Conference, after the Pirates’ 17-year affiliation with Conference USA.

Whereas the Pirates won two CUSA football championships, in 2008 and 2009 under coach Skip Holtz, they’ve never come close to a title in the American Conference, they’ve never played in the league’s championship game, and they’ve never finished better than 8-5 overall as a member of that league.

Those sorts of challenges became a lot more manageable when Cincinnati, Houston, SMU and UCF — four schools that collectively had won six of the first nine American Conference football championship games — departed in recent years for either the ACC or the Big 12.

Army broke through last season for its first American football title, and it’s someone else’s turn this year. Could that someone else be the Pirates? The five teams with only one loss in conference play right now are South Florida, North Texas, Tulane, Navy and, yes, ECU.

With 8-2 Memphis coming to Greenville, it’s sort of a double litmus test for ECU. First, if you want to remain in the hunt for a trip to the American’s championship game, obviously, you need to beat the Tigers.

Second, the Pirates (a two-point favorite) have a chance to prove they’re a true contender in a broader sense. To this point, they are 6-0 against their lesser opponents but 0-3 against their higher-caliber opponents, meaning BYU, Tulane and NC State.

Memphis is definitely a higher-caliber opponent. The Tigers’ only two losses this season were by a single possession each to UAB and Tulane, and they have one of the best offenses in the entire league, led by dual-threat quarterback Brendon Lewis, who’s a better passer than other running QBs in the American, such as Jake Retzlaff at Tulane, Byrum Brown at USF or Blake Horvath at Navy.

Under coach Blake Harrell, ECU can counter with one of the best and most well-coached defenses in the league, a unit that leads the conference in scoring defense, at only 17 points per game.

This one won’t be easy — veteran ECU quarterback Katin Houser will need to lead a balanced, efficient offense against a Memphis defense that’s giving up only 21 points per game — but Pirate Nation may be able to provide the home-field advantage the team likely will need if it’s going to post its most impressive victory of the season.

In-State “Three To See,” Bonus Games

With the NC State-Miami contest included in our post about the top national games of the week, the only other FBS matchup worth mentioning here is Appalachian State’s trip to James Madison on Saturday (3:30 p.m., ESPN+). The Mountaineers are only 4-5 thus far in coach Dowell Loggains’ debut campaign, and they are 20-point underdogs against JMU, which is 8-1 this season and entered the national rankings this week at #24. This is just the Dukes’ fourth season in the FBS ranks, and they’re seeking both their first Sun Belt football championship and — possibly — the Group of Six’s spot in this year’s 12-team College Football Playoff. Even if the Mountaineers fall short in their spoiler role this week in Harrisonburg, they still can make a bowl by winning home games against Marshall and Arkansas State. … In the FCS ranks, NC Central gets a national television spotlight on Friday, when the 7-3 Eagles host 7-3 South Carolina State (5:30 p.m., ESPN2). The winner of that game will remain in the running for this year’s MEAC championship, although the Eagles lost their head-to-head contest against fellow contender Delaware State earlier this season. … Finally, at the Division Two level, both #16 Johnson C Smith and #25 UNC Pembroke are playing for their respective conference titles on Saturday. Those big games were explored in our “Fun Facts & Shout-Outs” post earlier this week.

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

UTSA (4-5) at Charlotte (1-8), noon (ESPN+)
#19 Virginia (8-2) at Duke (5-4), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
NC State (5-4) at #16 Miami (7-2), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Appalachian State (4-5) at #25 James Madison (8-1), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Memphis (8-2) at East Carolina (6-3), 4 p.m. (ESPNU)
North Carolina (4-5) at Wake Forest (6-3), 4:30 p.m. (The CW)

Atlantic Coast Conference (17 Teams)

Clemson (4-5) at #21 Louisville (7-2), 7:30 p.m. ESPN) — Friday
#9 Notre Dame (7-2) at #23 Pittsburgh (7-2), noon (ABC)
#19 Virginia (8-2) at Duke (5-4), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
#12 Georgia Tech (8-1) at Boston College (1-9), 3:30 p.m. (ACCN)
NC State (5-4) at #16 Miami (7-2), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN)
North Carolina (4-5) at Wake Forest (6-3), 4:30 p.m. (The CW)
Virginia Tech (3-6) at Florida State (4-5), 7:30 p.m. (ACCN)

Open Week: California (6-4), SMU (7-3), Stanford (3-7), Syracuse (3-7)