NC/ACC Week Nine College Football Previews:

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

By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Oct. 22, 2025)

The 2025 college football season continues via a compelling Week Nine schedule, with embattled UNC hosting nationally ranked Virginia, up-and-down NC State visiting surging Pitt, overachieving Wake Forest welcoming ACC contender SMU, and — at the Division Two level — #22 Johnson C Smith facing long-time rival Winston-Salem State.

Meanwhile, the most prominent Week Nine games nationally include three intra-league clashes in the Southeastern Conference on Saturday: #8 Ole Miss at #13 Oklahoma (noon, ABC), #15 Missouri at #10 Vanderbilt (3:30 p.m., ESPN) and #3 Texas A&M at #20 LSU (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

#16 Virginia (6-1) at North Carolina (2-4), Sat., noon (ACCN)
(An “Old North State Tailgate & Traveling Sports Circus” Game!)

This statement may sound strange — perhaps even outrageous — to some, given the teams’ sharply contrasting midseason records, but in terms of overall talent and other important things, the 6-1 Virginia Cavaliers are not night-and-day better than 2-4 North Carolina.

They’re just not.

Fourth-year UVa coach Tony Elliott definitely has more outstanding players than first-year UNC coach Bill Belichick has this season — that’s crystal-clear — but the Wahoos’ sheer combination of skill, depth and experience probably ranks in the middle third of the ACC, just as the Tar Heels’ versions of those things definitely rank in the bottom third of the league.

Two things Virginia does have this season — and two things Carolina has lacked for virtually all of 2025 — are a very high-quality quarterback and, as the season has unfolded, a sky-high level of confidence.

If the Wahoos get off to an impressive start at Kenan Stadium on Saturday afternoon, those two advantages alone could lead to a massive margin of victory for the visitors. However, if the Heels build on their close loss at Cal last week, where they were perhaps one goal-line fumble away from their first Power Four victory of the Belichick Era, and if they start this UVa game well — and get whatever fans who show up riled up about a potential upset of a nationally ranked opponent — anything could happen. Seriously.

Sixth-year UVa quarterback Chandler Morris, a North Texas transfer, is both one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC this season and possibly the #1 true run-pass threat from that position in the entire conference. The bottom line is that Morris throws it much better than the best run-first quarterbacks (e.g., Georgia Tech’s Haynes King), and he also runs it much better than the best throw-first QBs (e.g., Duke’s Darian Mensah).

That means Belichick’s son Steve, UNC’s defensive coordinator, has his hands full with the Tar Heels’ defensive game plan against the only prolific offense UVa has had during Elliott’s four seasons in Charlottesville, one that is averaging an ACC-best 40 points per game.

However, UVa is not a dominant team at the line of scrimmage, on either side of the ball, so if the Tar Heels (a 10-point underdog) can somehow find that elusive combination of creating turnovers defensively while moving the chains offensively against a middling UVa defense, that’s at least a potential path to their first victory against a quality opponent this season.

In-State “Three To See,” Game Two

NC State (4-3) at Pittsburgh (5-2), Sat., 3:30 p.m. (ACCN)

There’s a simple, two-part bottom line in this game.

NC State’s first possible — and perhaps less likely — path to victory at Pittsburgh would be for the Wolfpack’s occasionally explosive offense, led by three superb sophomores (highly accurate quarterback CJ Bailey, sensational running back Hollywood Smothers and blossoming wide receiver Terrell Anderson), to generate a handful of explosive plays against an extremely aggressive and very well-coached Panthers defense.

Unfortunately for the Pack, 11th-year Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi (who became a highly regarded defensive coordinator during his time at Michigan State) probably has the third-best defense in the ACC, behind only Louisville and Miami. Led by two NFL-caliber linebackers, junior Rasheem Biles (All-ACC last year) and especially redshirt junior Kyle Louis (an All-American), the Panthers are giving up only 20 points per game this season.

Meanwhile, although Bailey is a fantastic passer and Smothers a highly productive runner against many lesser opponents, the Wolfpack is coming off a lopsided 36-7 loss at Notre Dame, in which the Irish defense absolutely overwhelmed the Pack’s offense in every possible way.

For 13th-year NC State coach Dave Doeren, the only other conceivable path to victory — also unlikely, perhaps, but far more conceivable if you’ve watched both teams play all season — is for the Wolfpack’s embattled defense to rise up and figure out a way to rattle and generate sacks and turnovers from Pitt’s 18-year-old true freshman quarterback, Mason Heintschel.

While it’s true that the Panthers are 3-0 since Heintschel replaced Alabama transfer Eli Holstein as their starting QB, it’s also true that Heintschel has thrown three interceptions and taken a whopping 14 sacks in those three games, and that the opponents all came from the bottom half of the ACC standings: 1-6 Boston College, 3-4 Florida State and 3-4 Syracuse.

One other reminder: Pitt’s offensive coordinator is former Western Carolina OC Kade Bell, son of Catamounts head coach Kerwin Bell, and one of the Panthers’ best offensive players is Desmond Reid, the former WCU star, who was an All-American last season for Pitt as an all-purpose guy and an honorable mention All-ACC selection as a running back. Reid has been limited by injuries this season, but he was one of Pitt’s stars just two weeks ago, when the Panthers went to Tallahassee and beat the Seminoles.

Lastly, Pitt (a six-point favorite) has been truly elite this year on special teams, and NC State has been mostly horrific this season on special teams.

The Panthers so far really like their placekicker, true freshman walk-on Trey Butkowski, who has made 15 of 16 field goal attempts and 30 of 31 extra points. Meanwhile, a former walk-on, fifth-year senior Caleb Junko, has Pitt #2 in the ACC in net punting, at more than 42 yards per game, and rarely yields any return yardage. Finally, return man Kenny Johnson, a junior who’s also a dangerous wide receiver, is second in the ACC at 14 yards per punt return, and he also would be second in the ACC in kick returns — at 32 yards per game — if he had enough attempts in that category to qualify.

In-State “Three To See,” Game Three

SMU (5-2) at Wake Forest (4-2), Sat., noon (The CW)

By this point in the season, the Wake Forest snapshot is pretty well-known here in the Bold North State.

The Demon Deacons have a first-year head coach in Jake Dickert, a limited passing attack led by athletic South Carolina transfer and sixth-year senior quarterback Robby Ashford, an elite running back in senior Demond Claiborne (a prominent NFL prospect who’s averaging almost eight yards per carry), an exciting wideout and return man in redshirt freshman Chris Barnes (who followed Dickert from Washington State), an impressively overachieving defense (although mostly against lower-caliber competition) and a 4-2 record that would be 5-1 if not for a truly horrific missed call in the Demon Deacons’ overtime loss to #7 Georgia Tech (7-0).

All of that said, 5-2 SMU has some significant advantages over the Deacs.

Remember, the Mustangs finished 11-3, made the ACC championship game and competed in the College Football Playoff just last year, their first as a member of the league. Some in North Carolina had seen coach Rhett Lashlee and the Mustangs up close in 2023, when they beat East Carolina convincingly in Greenville on their way to another 11-3 season and, in that case, the American Conference title in their final year in that league.

Now, after back-to-back 11-win campaigns, both of which ended with top-25 national rankings, SMU has a shot at a third straight special season.

How have the Mustangs done it? With a combination of home-grown talent from the legendary Lone Star State and a whole bunch of money from their wealthy alumni and supporters, which both enabled them to join the ACC and — in the transfer portal era — has enabled them to supplement their depth chart with big-time talent from other major programs.

Remember that SMU’s invitation from the ACC came with the requirement that the Mustangs forgo $270 million in media-rights revenue; they won’t get a regular, full-sized check from the league until 2033!

How can anyone possibly afford that scenario? Well, in the summer of 2023, within five days of SMU officially accepting the ACC’s offer, 31 of the university’s supporters stepped forward and donated a collective $100 million to the cause, and some of those same people own or run companies that have been able to help with NIL money in the portal on top of that.

Three of SMU’s most accomplished players this year, redshirt junior quarterback Kevin Jennings, senior tight end RJ Maryland and senior safety Isaiah Nwokobia, grew up in the Dallas area and went straight to the Mustangs out of high school. But the entire starting offensive line, for example, previously started at places such as Arkansas, Miami and Oklahoma, and others were backups at places such as Texas and Texas A&M who wanted more playing time at another in-state school after being high school stars in that enormous state, which has 13 FBS-level programs.

The magical combination of Lashlee, that huge SMU money and those productive talent pipelines has enabled a program that infamously received the Death Penalty for extreme NCAA rules violations in the 1980s to be nationally relevant over these last three years after a 30-year-plus period without a single top-25 finish in the national polls.

It will be surprising — and extremely impressive — if the Demon Deacons (just a three-point underdog) can make this a down-to-the-wire game on Saturday, as they did so impressively against Georgia Tech.

In-State “Three To See,” Bonus Games

With Duke (4-3) and East Carolina (4-3) both off this week, there are only two other FBS games involving an in-state team. … Appalachian State, which is off to a 4-3 start under first-year head coach Dowell Loggains, hits the road Saturday to take on 4-3 Old Dominion (noon, ESPNU). The Mountaineers were stunned 45-37 last week in Boone by Coastal Carolina, which dissected the App State defense under the direction of dual-threat senior quarterback Samari Collier, who had played very little — and not very well — during the Chanticleers’ unimpressive 3-3 start. Now App is a 14-point underdog at ODU, and the Mountaineers — given their remaining schedule in Sun Belt competition — will need to improve significantly in the coming weeks if they’re going to reach a bowl game this year. … Meanwhile, Charlotte — which has no realistic chance at a bowl in Year One under head coach Tim Albin — gets a fairly prominent national TV window this week, as the 1-6 49ers host 6-1 North Texas on Friday, but as a whopping 26-point underdog (7 p.m., ESPN2). … Lastly, at the Division Two level, the only nationally ranked team in our state — 6-1 Johnson C Smith, which is #22 in the D2 poll — hosts 4-4 Winston-Salem State in Charlotte. The Golden Bulls can’t get where they want to go this season without beating the Rams, who have a much more successful track record in the CIAA historically and still can be a very tough team to beat.

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

North Texas (6-1) at Charlotte (1-6), 7 p.m. (ESPN2) — Friday
#16 Virginia (6-1) at North Carolina (2-4), noon (ACCN)
SMU (5-2) at Wake Forest (4-2), noon (The CW)
Appalachian State (4-3) at Old Dominion (4-3), noon (ESPNU)
NC State (4-3) at Pittsburgh (5-2), 3:30 p.m. (ACCN)

Open Week: Duke (4-3), East Carolina (4-3)

Atlantic Coast Conference (17 Teams)

California (5-2) at Virginia Tech (2-5), 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) — Friday
#16 Virginia (6-1) at North Carolina (2-4), noon (ACCN)
Syracuse (3-4) at #7 Georgia Tech (7-0), noon
SMU (5-2) at Wake Forest (4-2), noon (The CW)
NC State (4-3) at Pittsburgh (5-2), 3:30 p.m. (ACCN)
Stanford (3-4) at #9 Miami (5-1), 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Boston College (1-6) at #19 Louisville (5-1), 7:30 p.m. (ACCN)

Open Week: Clemson (3-4), Duke (4-3), Florida State (3-4)