NC/ACC Week Seven CFB Previews & Schedules:
UNC-Duke, Wake-Cal, UVa-SMU Lead Way
As App, ECU Enjoy Prime-Time TV Spotlights
(DG’s Weekly CFB YouTube Show = Below)
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Oct. 14, 2026)
The 2026 college football season continues Tuesday through Saturday with a compelling Week Seven schedule that includes six North Carolina-based Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams in action, including a head-to-head clash between UNC and Duke in Durham and prime-time national television games for East Carolina (Thursday) and Appalachian State (Friday).
The most prominent games nationally include #4 Ohio State (5-1) taking on #5 Indiana (6-0) in an early Big Ten contest on Saturday (noon, FOX), another Southeastern Conference showdown between #6 Alabama (5-1) and #14 Tennessee (5-1) in Knoxville on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m., ABC), and #2 Notre Dame (6-0) and #8 BYU (5-0) putting their perfect records on the line in a head-to-head clash in prime time on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., ABC).
Meanwhile, from the wide-ranging schedule (please see at bottom) involving teams from the Bold North State, below are more details from this week’s “Three To See” in-state selections, plus brief notes on two other compelling Week Seven matchups.
NC/ACC “Three To See,” Game One
UNC (3-2) at Duke (4-1), Sat., 3:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
The battle for the Victory Bell has been one heck of a roller-coaster ride, including over the past 40 years.
In the late 1980s, legendary Duke coach Steve Spurrier faced UNC three times and beat the Tar Heels three times, even famously — or infamously, depending on your point of view — pausing with his players and staff to take a photo in front of the field-level scoreboard at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill after the Blue Devils’ 41-0 road victory in 1989.
In the immediate aftermath of that dominant Duke triumph, Carolina turned the tables on the Blue Devils in a huge way, winning 21 of the next 22 head-to-head contests between the two schools, whose football stadiums are located just 8.5 miles apart.
More recently, the rivalry has become a true stalemate; in the last 14 matchups, the Devils have won seven times, and the Heels have won seven times, although third-year Duke coach Manny Diaz has gone 2-0 against Carolina during his time in Durham.
When second-year UNC coach Bill Belichick was hired in Chapel Hill, prior to last season, he joked at his introductory press conference that his first words as a small child were “Beat Duke.”
That was a reference to the fact that his late father, Steve Belichick, was an assistant at Carolina under coach George Barclay in the mid-1950s, when the Blue Devils were not only an important UNC rival but a regular Top 25 program on the gridiron.
The Devils have been peaking again lately, first under coach Mike Elko (now at Texas A&M) and now under Diaz, whose third Duke team has ridden a sensational running game and a top-notch defense to an impressive 4-1 start.
The Blue Devils’ biggest star is sophomore Nate Sheppard, a powerful and slippery running back who is leading the nation in both rushing (149) and all-purpose yards (181) per game. Even while fighting through an ankle injury, Sheppard had 190 yards of total offense in Duke’s 28-25 loss at Georgia Tech last Saturday.
Meanwhile, Duke has the #2 scoring defense in the ACC, at only 14 points per game. UNC isn’t far behind in that category; the Tar Heels are #4 in the ACC, at 19 points per game.
Both defenses are tough, smart and well-coached this season, so UNC (a three-point underdog) will have an intelligent plan for Sheppard, just as Duke will have one for the Tar Heels’ most dangerous playmakers, wide receiver Jordan Shipp and tight end Jelani Thurman.
At quarterback, neither UNC’s sixth-year senior Billy Edwards Jr. (formerly the starter at Maryland and Wisconsin) nor Duke’s sixth-year senior Walker Eget (San Jose State) has been above-average this season, so this contest seems likely to come down to big plays, turnovers, special teams and — perhaps especially — which defense can limit the opponents’ favorite weapons, with Sheppard looking like the Devils’ ultimate wild card in that regard.
NC/ACC “Three To See,” Game Two Virginia (4-2) at #24 SMU (4-1), Sat., noon (The CW) As the guessing game continues regarding which ACC team will emerge to take the spot opposite Miami in the conference championship game, it’s important to remember that both of these programs played in that league title contest, and they did so under their current head coaches and within the past two years.
Fifth-year SMU coach Rhett Lashlee quickly has made the Mustangs one of the top programs in the ACC since their jump from the American Conference in 2024. They finished 11-3 and played in both the ACC title game and the College Football Playoff two years ago, and they went 9-4 and tied for second in the league standings last year.
Meanwhile, fifth-year UVa coach Tony Elliott quickly went from three consecutive losing seasons and some “hot-seat” chatter to an 11-3 campaign in 2025. That included an overtime loss to Duke in the ACC title game last December.
Neither Virginia nor SMU has looked dominant so far this season, but the Mustangs definitely have a very dangerous offense, and the Cavaliers appear to have a pretty firm foundation on defense.
Interestingly, both of these teams still have to play Wake Forest this season — Virginia will travel to Winston-Salem later this month, and the Demon Deacons will head to Dallas in mid-November — and there’s a good chance that if one of those three teams can sweep that round-robin competition, that would be the team that takes on the mighty Hurricanes in Charlotte in early December.
The most intriguing aspect of this week’s UVa-SMU matchup is that the Mustangs have the #1 passing offense in the ACC, led by fifth-year senior quarterback Kevin Jennings, and the Wahoos have the #1 passing defense in the league.
Both of UVa’s losses this season, against West Virginia and Florida State, came when the Cavaliers’ defense couldn’t handle the opponent’s dual-threat QB. While Jennings is #2 nationally with 318 passing yards per game, he doesn’t run nearly as much as he did earlier in his career, although that certainly could change on Saturday afternoon.
Jennings also has a strong supporting cast, including former NC State and Cal running back Kendrick Raphael, former JMU wide receiver Yamir Knight and a reliable offensive line.
Virginia (a nine-point underdog), meanwhile, hopes to control the game with its offensive line, which is the most experienced in the entire country. However, the Cavaliers will need more successful downfield throws from Missouri quarterback transfer Beau Pribula to free up more running lanes in the trenches.
NC/ACC “Three To See,” Game Three
#21 Wake Forest (5-1) at Cal (3-3), Sat., 10:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
This has been a really, really strange season for Cal, which makes this game a somewhat unpredictable challenge for surging Wake Forest, even beyond the 2,300-plus-mile flight to the Bay Area.
Under first-year head coach Tosh Lupoi, a former Cal defensive lineman who previously made a name for himself as a defensive assistant at Alabama, Oregon and in the NFL, the Bears already have suffered a loss at UNLV — one of only three defeats this season for any Power Four program against any Group of Six opponent — yet they immediately bounced back and beat a solid Virginia Tech team last week.
Along the way, Cal lost starting quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, starting running back Adam Mohammed and star safety Kingston Lopa (who’s leading the nation in interceptions) to various injuries, although it’s possible that all three players will return for this nationally televised contest against the Top 25 Demon Deacons.
In yet another oddity, Lupoi already has changed offensive play-callers, recently promoting passing-game coordinator Pat McCann, a former Fresno State OC.
This is only the second meeting ever between Wake and Cal in football. Two years ago, the Bears of coach Justin Wilcox beat the Demon Deacons of coach Dave Clawson 46-36 in Winston-Salem.
Now second-year Wake coach Jake Dickert has re-energized the program, with the Deacons blending an explosive offense with a solid defense in a manner exceeded by only Miami in the ACC.
Wake’s many stars now include quarterback Gio Lopez, true freshman running back Deuce Lawrence, wideout Carlos Hernandez, defensive end Langston Hardy, linebacker Vinny Firenze and safety Davaughn Patterson.
Cal’s biggest weakness so far this season has been in the trenches, where the Bears have neither run the ball effectively nor stopped the run well on defense.
One goal for Dickert and his superb defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton will be to make the Cal offense one-dimensional, whether it ends up being JKS at quarterback or his backup, Jackson Brousseau, a Colorado State transfer who led the Bears’ 25-20 victory over Virginia Tech.
Wake (a nine-point favorite) is giving up less than three yards per rushing attempt, and when neither Stanford nor NC State could run the ball against the Deacs, those teams’ entire offenses collapsed as a result.
Quick-Hitters Involving Other NC Teams
East Carolina (3-2) at UAB (3-3), Thurs., 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) — Since losing to Alabama and Appalachian State to begin the season, the Pirates have won three in a row, with their defense again looking like one of the best in the American Conference and their offense taking baby steps in the right direction after an extremely slow start. In this Thursday night national television spotlight game, ECU is a four-point favorite at UAB, a team expected to finish near the bottom of the American, so it’s up to quarterback Emory Williams, running back TJ Englemon Jr., wide receiver Ray Ray Joseph and others to keep the offensive upgrade going — on the road, against a team that might be inspired by the ESPN cameras — before the Pirates face the much more difficult games that await them on their conference schedule, including a nationally televised game at Memphis next Thursday night.
App State (3-2) at Coastal Carolina (2-4), Fri., 8 p.m. (ESPN2) — Coach Dowell Loggains’ second season at App State took a significant step backward in Boone last week, with an ugly 10-3 home loss to struggling ODU in some nasty weather, but this Friday night national TV matchup offers the Mountaineers a chance to get back on track. Unlike ODU, which — as suggested here last week — plays extra-stingy defense, Coastal Carolina has had trouble stopping people this season, and App State is the very slight favorite in this game. After an impressive start to the season, Purdue quarterback transfer Malachi Singleton got a very rough ride against ODU and left that game with a lower-body injury, so backup Henry Hasselbeck — a dual-threat UCLA transfer and son of long-time NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck — running back Jaquari Lewis, wide receiver Sam Pickett III and perhaps others will have to be ready to shine under the Friday night lights against the struggling Chanticleers.
NOTE: For the national edition of our Week Seven college football preview, including analysis on the highest-profile games, please click HERE.
NC Football Bowl Subdivision (Seven Teams)
(Games Saturday Unless Otherwise Indicated)
East Carolina (3-2) at UAB (3-3), 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) — Thursday
Appalachian State (3-2) at Coastal Carolina (2-4), 8 p.m. (ESPN2) — Friday
Charlotte (0-6) at Temple (2-4), 1 p.m. (ESPN+)
North Carolina (3-2) at Duke (4-1), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
#21 Wake Forest (5-1) at California (3-3), 10:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Open Week: NC State (3-3)
Atlantic Coast Conference (17 Teams)
Virginia (4-2) at #24 SMU (4-1), noon (The CW)
Pittsburgh (5-1) at Boston College (2-3), noon (ESPN2)
Charleston Southern (3-3) at Clemson (3-2), noon (ACCN)
North Carolina (3-2) at Duke (4-1), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Georgia Tech (2-3) at Virginia Tech (4-2), 3:30 p.m. (ACCN)
Florida State (3-3) at #3 Miami (5-0), 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Elon (4-3) at Stanford (2-4), 7:30 p.m. (ACCNX)
Louisville (3-3) at Syracuse (2-3), 7:30 p.m. (ACCN)
#21 Wake Forest (5-1) at California (3-3), 10:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Open Week: NC State (3-3)
NC Football Championship Subdivision (Seven Teams)
Chicago State (1-5) at North Carolina A&T (2-5), noon (FloCollege)
Morehead State (1-5) at Davidson (2-5), 1 p.m. (ESPN+)
Gardner-Webb (2-5) at UT Martin (2-4), 3 p.m. (ESPN+)
Towson (0-7) at #18 Campbell (5-1), 3:30 p.m. (FloCollege)
Elon (4-3) at Stanford (2-4), 7:30 p.m. (ACCNX)
Open Week: NC Central (2-5), Western Carolina (3-4)
NC Division Two (13 Teams)
Bluefield State (0-6) at Winston-Salem State (0-6), 1 p.m. (CIAA)
Virginia State (6-1) at Shaw (4-3), 1 p.m. (CIAA)
Erskine (2-4) at Chowan (3-3), 1 p.m. (CCDN)
Newberry (4-2) at Mars Hill (5-1), 1 p.m. (FloCollege)
Elizabeth City State (1-5) at Fayetteville State (3-3), 1:30 p.m. (CIAA)
Lincoln-PA (1-5) at Johnson C Smith (5-1), 2 p.m. (CIAA)
Catawba (3-4) at Anderson (4-3), 2 p.m. (FloCollege)
Wingate (3-4) at Lenoir-Rhyne (3-4), 2 p.m. (FloCollege)
UNC Pembroke (5-2) at Barton (1-5), 4 p.m. (CCDN)
Open Week: Livingstone (2-5)
NC Division Three (Five Teams)
Huntingdon (3-2) at North Carolina Wesleyan (2-3), noon (FloCollege)
Southern Virginia (1-4) at Methodist (1-4), 1 p.m. (FloCollege)
Belhaven (2-3) at Greensboro (2-3), 1 p.m. (FloCollege)
Guilford (1-4) at Hampden-Sydney (4-1), 1 p.m. (FloCollege)
Brevard (5-0) at LaGrange (4-1), 2 p.m. (FloCollege)
Open Week: none
