CFB Week 13 Previews, Notebook (National):
Virginia Tech’s New Guy (James Franklin), #14 Miami,
USC-Oregon, Pitt-Georgia Tech Tilts In Huge Spotlights
(DG’s “This Week In CFB” YouTube Show = Below Soon)
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Nov. 20, 2025)
The 2025 college football season continues through Saturday with a compelling Week 13 schedule.
The most prominent national games (previewed below) and story lines this time include intra-league clashes on Saturday involving College Football Playoff contenders from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten: #14 Miami at Virginia Tech (noon, ESPN), Pittsburgh at #15 Georgia Tech (7 p.m., ESPN) and #16 Southern Cal at #6 Oregon (3:30 p.m., CBS).
The Hokies’ recent hiring of James Franklin, who had great success at both Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference and Penn State in the Big Ten, just made the ACC a more interesting gridiron neighborhood.
Meanwhile, in the Old North State, Duke visits UNC in a rivalry game that includes bowl-eligibility implications, NC State hosts Florida State in a Friday night national television spotlight, East Carolina continues its pursuit of an American Conference title with a trip to UTSA, and Johnson C Smith and Wingate host first-round Division Two playoff games.
Here are more details on our “Three To See” selections from this week’s national schedule:
National “Three To See,” Game One
#14 Miami (8-2) at Virginia Tech (3-7), Sat., noon (ESPN)
For the second year in a row, fourth-year Miami coach Mario Cristobal probably has the best top-to-bottom football team in the ACC.
However, also for the second year in a row, the Hurricanes almost certainly won’t even make it to the ACC championship game, and even if they finish 10-2 overall in the regular season — as they did last year — they’re highly likely to be on the wrong side of the College Football Playoff bubble again, too.
Miami is the best defensive team in the ACC, and — with all due respect to Louisville, SMU and Wake Forest — it’s not all that close. The Canes are among the best in the league offensively, too, with an average of about 34 points per game.
In addition, Miami has one of the ACC’s two best non-conference victories of the entire season — a 27-24 win, way back at the end of August, over a Notre Dame squad that’s now 8-2 and #9 in the national rankings. The Canes also will have all sorts of players, on both sides of the ball, voted onto the All-ACC team next month.
All of that said, because of its single-possession league losses to Louisville and SMU, Miami will be left out of that ACC title game, and the Canes likely would have to post dominant road victories — at Virginia Tech this week, at Pitt next week — to have even a slim chance of grabbing one of the CFP’s seven at-large invitations.
If the final at-large spot somehow comes down to 10-2 Notre Dame and 10-2 Miami, it would seem difficult for the CFP committee chairman to explain inviting the Fighting Irish over the Hurricanes, largely because of those teams’ head-to-head result back in that season opener, but things may be headed in that direction.
Meanwhile, regarding this week’s game at Virginia Tech, against a bad Hokies team playing under an interim head coach, the biggest news in Blacksburg surrounds what one arguably could call the highest-profile gridiron hire in Hokies history.
(Quick reminder: Frank Beamer was a former Tech player who certainly became a truly legendary coach during his 29 seasons leading the Hokies’ program, but his only head coaching experience prior to getting the job at his alma mater was at Murray State, an FCS program.)
Earlier this week, Tech hired James Franklin. Still only 53 years old, Franklin posted back-to-back Top 25 seasons at Vandy in 2012 and 2013, and that success helped him land the job with the Nittany Lions.
Although he got fired by Penn State at midseason this year, after a 3-3 start, he had led the Lions to seven Top 25 seasons in the previous nine years. Franklin finished in the national top 10 five times during his time in Happy Valley, including in 2016, when he captured his only Big Ten title.
The only other Virginia Tech football hire that drew similarly big headlines came when the Hokies lured legendary coach Bill Dooley away from UNC to be their football coach and athletic director, soon after he had led the Tar Heels to the 1977 ACC football title, which was Dooley’s third in his 11 seasons in Chapel Hill.
Dooley ultimately did lead the Hokies into the national Top 25 before giving way to Beamer, and Tech’s new guy will be expected to deliver, too.
Franklin posted 10 or more victories in six of his final eight full seasons at Penn State, and he went 13-3 just last year, including a trip to the College Football Playoff.
National “Three To See,” Game Two
#16 Southern Cal (8-2) at #6 Oregon (9-1), Sat., 3:30 p.m. (CBS)
Right now, the Big Ten championship game projects as a whopper of a matchup, between #1 Ohio State and #2 Indiana, with the Buckeyes 10-0 and the Hoosiers 11-0, although OSU does have a game at a Top 25 Michigan team to close the regular season.
The Big Ten’s two other best teams appear to be #16 Southern Cal and #6 Oregon, so the winner of this head-to-head matchup between the Trojans and the Ducks will remain in the league’s title chase and central to the College Football Playoff conversation.
Just last year, under coach Dan Lanning, Oregon introduced itself to the Big Ten by going 12-0 in the regular season and then knocking off Penn State in the conference championship game, before falling to Ohio State — the eventual national champion — in the CFP quarterfinals. The Ducks lost six high draft picks from that great team, including quarterback Dillon Gabriel, but they may be one of the top five teams in the country again this season, and the Trojans aren’t far behind.
One compelling aspect of this year’s USC-Oregon game is the quarterback matchup, as the Trojans and the Ducks join Indiana as the highest-scoring teams in the Big Ten, at just under 40 points per game.
Under the tutelage of fourth-year USC coach Lincoln Riley, who hasn’t had nearly as much success with the Trojans as he had at Oklahoma but still carries the “offensive guru” label, redshirt junior Jayden Maiava leads a league loaded with high-quality QBs with 287 passing yards per game, with 18 touchdown passes and only six interceptions.
Oregon counters with redshirt sophomore QB Dante Moore, who probably will be a first-round NFL draft pick whenever he leaves school, possibly after this season.
Whereas both offenses in this game can be off-the-charts productive, the Ducks (a 10-point favorite) have played much better defense overall, with tackle A’Mauri Washington, edge rusher Matayo Uiagalelei, linebacker Bryce Boettcher, safety Dillon Thieneman and true freshman cornerback Brandon Finney Jr. among those leading the way.
National “Three To See,” Game Three
Pittsburgh (7-3) at #15 Georgia Tech (9-1), Sat., 7 p.m. (ESPN)
The equation here for Georgia Tech (6-1 ACC) is simple. For Pitt (5-1 ACC), it’s a bit more complicated.
If the Yellow Jackets beat the Panthers, they will play in the ACC championship game, and they’ll have a chance there for their fourth ACC title overall and their first since 2009.
The Jackets also would maintain at least some momentum heading into next week’s enormous nonconference matchup against archrival Georgia, which has become a national superpower under coach Kirby Smart. The Bulldogs have won seven straight head-to-head contests — and 20 of the last 23 — against Tech, much to the disdain of Tech’s third-year coach Brent Key, a former Yellow Jackets offensive lineman.
If Pitt wins this one, the Panthers would remain among the contenders for a trip to the ACC title game, along with Virginia (off this week) and SMU (still in the hunt as long as the Mustangs beat Louisville on Saturday), although the Panthers have by far the most difficult regular-season finale, with Miami heading to the Steel City next week.
Both of these teams have shown plenty of vulnerability lately. Tech lost 48-36 at NC State two weeks ago, then needed a dramatic, come-from-behind effort just to survive 36-34 at last-place Boston College last week. Pitt, meanwhile, just got annihilated by Notre Dame, 37-15, on the Panthers’ home field.
Regardless of these teams’ many flaws, Tech (a two-point favorite) has one of the most productive offenses in the ACC, and Pitt has one of the most effective defenses in the conference. The Jackets and the Panthers also have the league’s top two special-teams units.
The quarterback matchup in this one is compelling, too.
Tech’s Haynes King is a 24-year-old sixth-year senior who, thanks to his incredibly productive running and efficient passing, is among the frontrunners for the ACC Player of the Year honor.
Pitt’s Mason Heintschel is a true freshman who began this season third on the Panthers’ depth chart, behind incumbent Eli Holstein and Western Carolina transfer Cole Gonzales. Right after Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi elevated Heintschel into the starting role in early October, the Panthers won five consecutive games, in which they averaged 40 points per game.
While Notre Dame shut Pitt down last week, Tech’s defense has been its weakest link all season, so this one could be a back-and-forth thriller in Atlanta on Saturday night.
NOTE: For the in-state edition of our Week 13 college football preview, including analysis on the highest-profile games, plus schedules and TV/streaming options for all 32 teams (FBS, FCS, Division Two, Division Three) in the Bold North State, please click HERE.
