NC/ACC Week 14 College Football Preview
(“This Week In College Football, with David Glenn” show = below)
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
The 2024 college football season continues Friday and Saturday with an intriguing Week 14 schedule, highlighted by two prominent Top 25-vs.-Top 25 contests and several important Atlantic Coast Conference matchups, while legendary UNC coach Mack Brown takes on NC State in his final game at Kenan Stadium, with the Wolfpack needing a victory to reach the six-win threshold required for automatic bowl eligibility.
On the national scene, the ACC and the Southeastern Conference will provide the most prominent clashes pairing fellow members of the national Top 25, and another ACC contest will determine who gets to take on SMU in that league’s championship game.
In an SEC matchup of College Football Playoff hopefuls, #3 Texas (10-1) will visit #20 Texas A&M (8-3) on Saturday night (7:30 pm, ABC/ESPN+). The rivalry between the Longhorns and the Aggies is coming off a 13-year hiatus, during which the Longhorns were still members of the Big 12, and their much-anticipated reunion comes with very high stakes. The winner will face Georgia in the SEC championship game, with a playoff bid at stake. Texas has won 12 of its last 17 head-to-head matchups against A&M, including five of the last six played at the Aggies’ 100,000-plus-capacity Kyle Field.
The only other ranked-vs.-ranked game with possible playoff implications will match #15 South Carolina (8-3) and #12 Clemson (9-2) at Death Valley on Saturday (noon, ESPN). The Gamecocks did beat the Tigers 31-30 on their home field two years ago, but Clemson has taken eight of the last nine in this rivalry, including by a 16-7 margin last year in Columbia. The Tigers need a Miami loss to Syracuse to get into the ACC title game against SMU, and both the Tigers and the Gamecocks hope a win in their head-to-head matchup will propel them into the conversation for an at-large playoff bid.
Meanwhile, when #6 Miami (10-1) visits Syracuse (8-3) on Saturday (3:30 pm, ESPN), the favored Hurricanes can punch their ticket to the ACC championship game with a victory, but the Orange present an intriguing challenge. While truly elite offensively, the Canes have been vulnerable on defense all season, and Syracuse has one of the most prolific passing attacks in the entire country. Orange quarterback Kyle McCord actually leads the ACC with 359 passing yards per game, slightly more than scintillating UM quarterback Cam Ward, and McCord (also like Ward) has plenty of high-caliber weapons around him, led by LeQuint Allen at running back, Orande Gadsden II at tight end, and Jackson Meeks and Trebor Pena at wide receiver.
In action involving one or more teams from the Old North State, resurgent East Carolina (7-4) will get the Week 14 schedule off to an early start on Friday, when the Pirates host Navy (7-3) as a two-point favorite (noon, ESPN). ECU has gone 4-0 under coach Blake Harrell, who had the “interim” label removed from his title earlier this week.
Elsewhere, North Carolina (6-5) hopes to send Brown out in style and simultaneously end its three-game losing streak to long-time rival NC State (5-6) on Saturday afternoon (3:30 pm, ACCN) at Kenan Stadium. UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham announced Brown’s dismissal on Tuesday, one day after Brown said he expected to be back with the Tar Heels in 2025. Carolina is a three-point favorite over the Wolfpack.
Meanwhile, first-year Duke coach Manny Diaz continues his pursuit of history as the Blue Devils (8-3) visit Wake Forest (4-7) on Saturday (noon, ACCN) as a four-point favorite. With a victory over the Demon Deacons and another in a bowl game, the Devils would post just their second season of 10 or more victories in program history.
Finally, although the state of North Carolina failed to place any teams in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) or Division Three playoffs this year, it did produce two teams for the Division Two postseason bracket, and one of those is still standing.
Last week, under first-year head coach Doug Socha, long-time Division Two powerhouse Lenoir-Rhyne posted just its third playoff road victory in program history, and the Bears did so in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion.
Midway through the third quarter, #15 Lenoir-Rhyne trailed 34-24 against #12 West Alabama, which had entered the game with a 9-1 record. The Bears weren’t running the ball well, and they couldn’t stop West Alabama, either. Things looked bleak.
That’s when Lenoir-Rhyne quarterback Jalen Ferguson, a redshirt junior from West Forsyth High School in Clemmons, N.C., put on a performance for the ages. Ferguson led two long drives for clutch field goals by kicker Jake Brown and he connected on a 78-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Adonis McDaniel to lift the Bears to an incredible 37-34 victory.
In the end, Ferguson became the first player in 105 years of Lenoir-Rhyne football history to throw for more than 400 yards in any game, much less a playoff game. He ended up 22-for-40 passing against West Alabama, for 411 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Now the Bears get to host their second-round (or “Sweet 16”) game on Saturday. They’re hosting, even as an unseeded team, because another unseeded squad, Virginia Union, went to Lenoir-Rhyne’s long-time rival Wingate last week and upset the #17 Bulldogs on their home field.
It was the first Division Two playoff victory in the history of Virginia Union football, and it came at the expense of a Wingate team that had played some of the best defense in the country all season.
Virginia Union has been by far the most prolific offense in the CIAA this season, as the Panthers have averaged about 42 points per game. They have the best running back in that league, Jada Byers, and they actually used two quarterbacks, Mark Wright and backup RJ Rosales, in their upset of Wingate.
Lenoir-Rhyne, led by Ferguson on offense and standouts such as lineman JT Black, linebacker Jaelin Willis and safety Nic Cheeley on defense, likely will have to be at its best on both sides of the ball to move on to the Division Two quarterfinals.
NC Football Bowl Subdivision (Seven Teams)
(Games Saturday Unless Otherwise Indicated)
Navy (7-3) at East Carolina (7-4), noon (ESPN) — (Fri.)
Duke (8-3) at Wake Forest (4-7), noon (ACCN)
NC State (5-6) at North Carolina (6-5), 3:30 pm (ACCN)
UAB (3-8) at Charlotte (4-7), 3:30 pm (ESPN+)
Appalachian State (5-5) at Georgia Southern (7-4), 6 pm (ESPN+)
Open Week: none
Atlantic Coast Conference (17 Teams)
Stanford (3-8) at San Jose State (6-5), 4 pm (CBS) — (Fri.)
Georgia Tech (7-4) at #7 Georgia (9-2), 7:30 pm (ABC/ESPN+) — (Fri.)
#15 South Carolina (8-3) at #12 Clemson (9-2), noon (ESPN)
Duke (8-3) at Wake Forest (4-7), noon (ACCN)
Louisville (7-4) at Kentucky (4-7), noon (SECN)
Pittsburgh (7-4) at Boston College (6-5), 3 pm (The CW)
#6 Miami (10-1) at Syracuse (8-3), 3:30 pm (ESPN)
California (6-5) at #9 SMU (10-1), 3:30 pm (ESPN2)
NC State (5-6) at North Carolina (6-5), 3:30 pm (ACCN)
Florida (6-5) at Florida State (2-9), 7 pm (ESPN2)
Virginia (5-6) at Virginia Tech (5-6), 8 pm (ACCN)
Open Week: none
NC Football Championship Subdivision (Seven Teams)
no games
Season Complete: Campbell (3-9), Davidson (6-5), Elon (6-6), Gardner-Webb (4-8), North Carolina A&T (1-11), #23 North Carolina Central (8-3), Western Carolina (7-5)
NC Division Two (14 Teams)
Virginia Union (9-3) at #15 Lenoir-Rhyne (10-2), 1 pm (ESPN+)
(D2 Playoffs, Second Round)
Season Complete: Barton (3-8), Chowan (3-7), Elizabeth City State (3-7), Fayetteville State (4-5), Johnson C Smith (8-2). Livingstone (6-4), Mars Hill (5-4), Shaw (6-4), St Augustine’s (program suspended for 2024), UNC Pembroke (6-5), #17 Wingate (9-2), Winston-Salem State (7-3)
NC Division Three (Five Teams)
no games
Season Complete: Brevard (6-3), Greensboro (1-9), Guilford (3-7), Methodist (1-9), North Carolina Wesleyan (4-6)
