COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 10:

Virginia, Duke, ECU, Western Carolina, D2
Among DG’s ACC/NC “Fun Facts & Shout-Outs”
(Weekly Video = Posted At Bottom)

By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Nov. 3, 2025)

While the focus of our “This Week In College Football” show is forward-looking as often as possible, we always take a glance back at the previous weekend in college football, too, and sometimes we’ll offer some quick mentions to those making impactful headlines on the gridiron, especially in the Atlantic Coast Conference and/or across North Carolina.

With that in mind, below are our Week 10 “Fun Facts and Shout-Outs,” brought to you by our good friends at Jimmy’s bar and King Neptune restaurant in Wrightsville Beach.

Jimmy’s has a full bar, nightly drink specials and live music 365 days a year(!). (It’s a great place to watch a game, too.) Right next door, King Neptune has become one of the best restaurants in the entire greater Wilmington area.

Week 10 “Fun Fact #1″

Fun Fact: Among the 68 college football programs that compete at the Power Four level — meaning members of the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and Southeastern Conference, plus Notre Dame — only five programs have failed to post a single season of 10 or more victories within the past 20 years: Vanderbilt, Purdue, Virginia, NC State and Maryland.

Some Power Four schools crank out 10-win seasons routinely. Others do it rarely. For example, in the Bold North State, the most recent examples include coach David Cutcliffe leading Duke to a 10-4 campaign in 2013, coach Larry Fedora leading UNC to an 11-3 campaign in 2015, and coach Dave Clawson leading Wake Forest to an 11-3 campaign in 2021.

Only five P4 programs have failed to get to the 10-win threshold even one time in the past 20 years: the Commodores, Boilermakers, Cavaliers, Wolfpack and Terrapins.

So, why bring up this fact now, and what’s so “fun” about it? Well, two of the five programs on this miserable list have — here in November — a very realistic chance to remove themselves from it.

Fifth-year Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea has the Commodores 7-2 with at least four games left to play, meaning three in the regular season and at least one in the postseason. Vandy, which is the only Power Four program that has never reached the 10-win mark in a single campaign, will be favored in its next two games — both at home, against Auburn and Kentucky — so the Commodores could be 9-2 as they head to Tennessee for their regular-season finale. At that point, either a win over the Volunteers or a single victory in the postseason would finally get the Commodores to this particular promised land.

Meanwhile, under fourth-year coach Tony Elliott, Virginia is 8-1 with at least four games left to play, and the Cavaliers are favored both this week as they host Wake Forest and when they host archrival Virginia Tech in their regular-season finale. The Wahoos have a difficult trip to Duke in between those games, but there’s at least a possibility they could reach the 10-win mark even before they face some difficult postseason opponents, perhaps in the ACC title game or in a bowl game or even in the College Football Playoff.

If the Commodores and the Cavaliers both make it to 10 wins (or more) this season, that would leave Purdue, NC State and Maryland as the only three schools with 20-plus-year droughts in this 10-win-season category.

Now on to some Shout-Outs, which this week are designed to celebrate North Carolina-based coaches and teams that have put themselves in position — entering mid-November — to at least make a run at a conference championship. …

#1—Shout-out to second-year Duke head coach Manny Diaz and the 2025 Blue Devils.

Diaz and offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer have cultivated one of the best offenses in the ACC — and one of the most entertaining attacks in all of college football — while putting the Blue Devils (4-1 in ACC play) in position to make a run at the ACC championship game.

The Duke coaching staff identified and signed Tulane transfer Darian Mensah from the transfer portal in the offseason, and that has proven to be a stroke of genius, as Mensah is #2 nationally with 321 passing yards per game, and he’s thrown 21 touchdown passes against only two interceptions.

Among the other standouts for the Devils this season have been redshirt junior right tackle Brian Parker II, redshirt junior wide receiver Cooper Barkate (a Harvard transfer), true freshman running back Nate Sheppard, senior defensive end Vincent Anthony Jr. and senior cornerback Chandler Rivers.

#2—Shout-out to first-year (full-time) East Carolina head coach Blake Harrell and the 2025 Pirates.

Harrell and defensive coordinator Josh Aldridge have built one of the best defenses in the American Conference, and as a result, all five of ECU’s victories so far this season — most recently, a 45-14 triumph at Temple — have come by very convincing margins.

The Pirates are only halfway through their league schedule, but they are 3-1 in conference play, they will be favored in at least three of their final four regular-season games, and their biggest remaining challenge — against nationally ranked Memphis — will come at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville on Nov. 15.

The program’s first appearance in the American Conference championship game is definitely not out of the question at this point.

Among the standouts for the Pirates this season have been quarterback Katin Houser, wide receiver Anthony Smith, wide receiver Yannick Smith, defensive end JD Lampley, linebacker Ryheem Craig, linebacker Samuel Dankah and safety Ja’Marley Riddle.

#3—Shout-out to fifth-year Western Carolina head coach Kerwin Bell and the 2025 Catamounts.

Western Carolina is a university that has been a member of the Southern Conference for 50 years now but has never won the league’s football championship and has made the FCS playoffs only one time.

Both of those goals are within reach right now, as the Catamounts — a perfect 5-0 in SoCon play so far this season — compete this Saturday in one of the biggest regular-season games they’ve played in decades, hosting #10 Mercer, the only other team that’s undefeated in SoCon competition this season.

(That game is at Whitmire Stadium in Cullowhee, and we hope to see you there, as part of our Old North State Tailgate & Traveling Sports Circus.)

The Catamounts’ superstar is redshirt sophomore Taron Dickens, a dual-threat quarterback who is leading the FCS ranks with 367 passing yards per game, with 26 touchdown passes and only one interception. Dickens missed Western’s first three games this season — all losses — but is 6-0 in his six starts, in which the Catamounts have averaged 41 points per game.

#4—Shout-out to fourth-year Johnson C Smith head coach Maurice Flowers and the 2025 Golden Bulls.

This team got a huge win last week, 17-14 at Fayetteville State, with senior quarterback Kelvin Durham leading the Bulls on a late touchdown drive to earn a comeback victory with lots of big things at stake, including a trip to the CIAA championship game.

If JC Smith beats Livingstone in Charlotte this Saturday afternoon, the Golden Bulls will punch their ticket to the CIAA title game at Durham County Stadium on Nov. 15.

The Bulls’ opponent in that title contest in the Bull City would be nationally ranked Virginia Union, which has won two consecutive CIAA crowns and is favored to win its third in a row. JCSU hasn’t won the league title since 1969 and hasn’t played in the championship game since 1972!

Whether or not his team reaches its ultimate goals, Flowers deserves a ton of credit for turning the Johnson C Smith program around in a huge way and posting his third straight successful season in Charlotte.

#5—Last, but not least, shout-out to third-year UNC Pembroke head coach Mark Hall and the 2025 Braves.

Like the other coaches in this week’s shout-outs, he has his team firmly in contention for a conference championship, but in his case, that trophy is only one victory away.

Division Two programs finish their regular seasons in the first half of November, remember, and UNC Pembroke finished its regular-season campaign a week early, with an impressive 8-2 record.

Next up for the Braves is the Conference Carolinas championship game, on Nov. 15, at North Greenville. The Trailblazers were only 5-4 during the regular season, but they went a perfect 5-0 in league play, including a 20-7 head-to-head win over UNCP in mid-October.

The rematch comes in what the league calls the Conference Carolinas Bowl, with the winner earning its automatic bid to the Division Two playoffs.

UNC Pembroke led its league in both scoring offense and scoring defense this season, at 33 and 16 points per game, respectively. Among their star players is sophomore Tre Robinson, a dual-threat quarterback who previously starred at Chambers High School in Charlotte.