Only three ACC games played Saturday counted.

Yes, North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton had a big game with 265 scrimmage yards (172 rushing, 93 receiving) in the Tar Heels’ 35-11 win over Florida State, which continues its 1-8 record. shock the nation.

And, admittedly, North Carolina State freshman quarterback CJ Bailey was just short of spectacular, completing 18 of 20 passes for 234 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions during a 59-28 victory over Stanford, which has lost the last six games by a combined margin of 146 points.

And it’s true that Syracuse’s rebound from a 21-3 deficit midway through the third quarter to earn a 38-31 victory over Virginia Tech was impressive.

But we’ll focus on the three ACC games that impacted the college football landscape:

Louisville 33, Clemson 21

(Louisville is 6-3, 4-2 ACC; Clemson is 6-2, 5-1 ACC)

—This result erased a major concern over the weekend that three teams could finish with undefeated ACC records, leaving one 8-0 team — perhaps Miami — out of the championship game of the ACC. Clemson, Miami and SMU do not play each other this season, allowing all three to finish the regular season heading into this weekend with undefeated conference marks, leaving it up to a complicated tiebreaker scenario to determine the two teams from the ACC title game. .

But Clemson’s loss means only two teams — SMU and Miami — can finish with unbeaten conference records.

That said, Clemson is still in contention for the College Football Playoff, as it seems likely that at least one two-loss team will make the 12 teams, perhaps even a three-loss team.

—Clemson looked almost unbeatable at home, especially at night, and not only did the Tigers lose, but Louisville made them look tame in a dominant 33-21 victory that wasn’t as close as the score suggested.

“We looked like a very poorly coached team tonight,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.

Clemson was 69-3 at home in the College Football Playoff era and had not lost a night game at home in 11 years.

The last time Clemson lost a home game to an unranked team was in 2001, when North Carolina beat the Tigers 38-3.

—Louisville freshman running back Isaac Brown is one of the surprises of the ACC season. He had his fourth 100-yard game of the season against Clemson, totaling a career-high 151 yards while averaging 7.6 yards per carry.

“Their running back was the difference in the game,” Swinney said.

For the season, Brown is averaging 7.55 yards per carry, which is fourth best in the country and by far the best among freshmen. His 800 rushing yards rank second in the nation for freshmen, just 11 yards behind Louisiana-Monroe freshman Ahmad Hardy.

Brown is second on the team in receptions with 26.

Coming out of Homestead, Fla., high school, the 5-foot-9 Brown was rated as a three-star recruit ranked as the 524th best prospect in the class of 2024 by 247 Sports Composite.

Miami 53, Duke 31

(Miami is 9-0, 5-0 ACC; Duke is 6-3, 2-3 ACC)

—Miami is No. 4 in the AP rankings released Sunday and is one of five undefeated FBS teams. Miami leads the nation with 47.4 points per game, but it will be interesting to see where the College Football Playoff committee ranks the Hurricanes when the first CFP rankings are released on Tuesday.

—For the third time this season, Miami won a game in which it trailed by a double-digit margin in the second half.

Miami trailed Cal 35-10 with eight minutes left in the third quarter and outscored the Bears 29-3 the rest of the way to win by one.

The Hurricanes trailed Virginia Tech by 10 points with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter and won by four (on a contested call on the final play).

Miami faced an 11-point deficit against Duke with 10 minutes left in the third quarter, then outscored the Blue Devils 27-3 the rest of the way to make the result look like a rout.

—Miami quarterback Cam Ward threw five touchdown passes, giving him 29 for the season, three more than anyone else in the country. Ward is tied for the school record for TD passes in a season. His plus-23 touchdown-to-interception margin (29 touchdown passes, 6 interceptions) is five better than anyone else in the country.

—Miami receiver Xavier Restrepo set a school record for career receiving yards, starting the day 4 yards ahead of Michael Irvin, then passing Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss on Saturday.

But if you can guess the player Restrepo tied for most career catches in Miami history, consider yourself a sports trivia genius. Let me offer you a few options:

Santana Moss, former Pro Bowl pick and Super Bowl champion?

Reggie Wayne, six-time Pro Bowler?

Hall of Famer Michael Irvin?

Andre Johnson, seven-time Pro Bowl selection?

Kellen Winslow, four-time Pro Bowl pick?

Greg Olsen, three-time professional player?

Jeremy Shockey, four-time Pro Bowl pick?

Well, it was none of those things. Restrepo is tied with a guy named Mike Harley, who played in Miami just three years ago. But Harley went undrafted in the 2022 NFL Draft and has never played in an NFL game.

SMU 48, Pittsburgh 25

(SMU is 8-1, 5-0 ACC; Pitt is 7-1, 3-1 ACC)

—SMU is now 5-0 in conference play for the second straight season, and the last time the Mustangs started 5-0 in conference play in back-to-back seasons was in 1947 and 1948, when Doak Walker was SMU’s star.

—The degree to which SMU dominated previously undefeated Pitt was shocking. Pitt had allowed its opponents an average of just 2.52 yards per rushing attempt, third best in the country, before SMU shut down that defense for 135 yards rushing and 5.9 yards per carry in the first half, which ended with SMU holding a 31-3 lead.

—SMU moved up seven spots in the AP Poll this week and sits at No. 13, the Mustangs’ highest ranking since 1985. But will the College Football Playoff committee be as kind to the Mustangs when the first CFP ranking will be published on Tuesday? Clemson’s loss puts the ACC in danger of having just one team in the 12-team CFP, and SMU might be the conference’s best chance for a second representative.

— It has been a long and difficult struggle for SMU since it received the death penalty in 1987, preventing the school from playing football for two seasons due to repeated recruiting violations and forcing the program to restart from zero. Since then, SMU has never been ranked higher than 15th until now, and not once since receiving the death penalty has SMU finished a season in the top 20.

Both members of SMU’s famous Pony Express running back tandem, Eric Dickerson and Craig James, attended SMU’s victory over Pitt. Dickerson and James helped the Mustangs finish the 1982 season with an 11-0-1 record and a second national ranking. Coincidentally, SMU beat Pitt 7-3 in the Cotton Bowl that season.

—SMU was all but shut out of the ACC championship discussion after the first three games of this season. In the first game, the Mustangs had to overcome an 11-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to beat a mediocre Nevada team, which was picked to finish last in the 12-team Mountain West and is now 0- 4 in conference. Then, in the third game, SMU lost at home to BYU, which was picked to finish 13th in the 16-team Big 12.

SMU’s high-profile quarterback Preston Stone struggled early and was replaced by Kevin Jennings as the starter. The Mustangs seemed to be going nowhere.

Since then, SMU has won six straight, including two games against then-ranked teams Louisville and Pitt. Meanwhile, BYU is still undefeated and ranked No. 9 in the country. The Mustangs’ remaining three games will be against Boston College, Virginia and Cal, all of whom have losing conference records and have a combined 3-10 ACC mark.

ACC Player of the Year Rankings

–1. Quarterback Cam Ward, Miami – 29 TD passes, 6 interceptions for the #4 team.

–2. Quarterback Cade Klubnik, Clemson – Poor performance Saturday, but he still has an impressive TD-to-interception margin at plus-17 (20 TDs, 3 picks) for a team ranked in the top 20.

–3. Running back Omarion Hampton, North Carolina – Yes, I know North Carolina is only 5-4, but the guy was outstanding against Florida State with 265 yards from scrimmage, and he’s fourth in the country for rushing with 1,178 yards.

–4. Quarterback Kevin Jennings – He is the main reason SMU is where it is.

–5. Quarterback Eli Holstein, Pitt – He barely edges out Miami receiver Xavier Restrepo for last place.

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The five best teams in the ACC

(We rank based on which teams performed the best, not based on which teams we consider to be the best)

–1. Miami (9-0, 5-0 ACC) – The Hurricanes have won three games by one score but are still undefeated.

–2. SMU (8-1, 5-0) – The way the Mustangs manhandled Pitt was impressive.

–3. Clemson (6-2, 5-1) – The Tigers looked weak on Saturday, but they are still in contention for an ACC title.

–4. Pitt (7-1, 3-1) – There are fears Pitt could fade after the humiliating loss to SMU.

–5. Louisville (6-3, 4-2) – The Cardinals’ three losses have been by seven points, and all have come to teams ranked in the top 13 in this week’s AP poll.

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