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Games 1-5 | Games 6-10 | Games 11-15 | Games 21-25 | Games 26-30 | Games 31-35

16. Pittsburgh 41 Tennessee 34 – September 11, 2021

When Pittsburgh went down to Knoxville and defeated Tennessee 41-34, it raised a lot of eyebrows. There haven’t been many ACC wins over SEC teams in recent years, especially on the road, and this game set in motion what would be possible for the Panthers for the rest of the season. They went on to win 11 games and the ACC Title. Tennessee wasn’t great, but they were a decent 7-6 (4-4) team with a win over Top 20 Kentucky and near wins over top 15 Ole Miss.

17.  SMU 66 TCU 42 – September 21, 2024

SMU leaps into the top 20 of the ACC’s best OOC wins of the 2020s with this 66 – 42 over TCU. It was part of a truly great first season for the Mustangs in the ACC as they made a run to the ACC Title game, and the playoffs in an 11-3 top 15 season. TCU was a solid team that went 9-4 (6-3). It never made any sense that SMU’s resume was so constantly questioned when prior to the ACC Title game, their only loss was by 3 points to a very good BYU team. This was QB Kevin Jennings first full game starting, and he completed 14 out of 19 passes with 2 TDs.

18. Syracuse 44 #25 UNLV 41 – October 4, 2024

For a non-P4 win to be this high up the list, it better be over a really good team. Syracuse’s 44 – 41 win over UNLV was just that. It was on the road. UNLV was 2-0 against the Big 12, beat Cal in a bowl game, only lost 3 total games to Syracuse and G5 playoff participant Boise State, and oh yea they won 11 games and finished in the top 25 with an 11-3 record. The win was part of a great first year for Head Coach Fran Brown as he led Syracuse to a 10-3 top 25 season of their own. After a 3-1 start that showed flashes of how good Syracuse could be, this game proved the season could be special, and it was.

19. California 21 Auburn 14 – September 7, 2024

Sure, Auburn finished the year 5-7 (2-6), and California went 6-7 (2-6), but when California went into Jordan Hare and knocked off the Tigers 21-14 it sent shockwaves around the country. The Calgorithm started to take college football social media by storm, and Cal endeared itself to ACC fans everywhere. Their defense forced 5 turnovers and held Auburn to 286 total yards. Anytime an ACC team walks into an SEC stadium and leaves with a win, that is a big deal. The ACC needs more of those kinds of wins.

20. Louisville 28 James Madison 14 – September 5, 2025

This was a quiet early September win for Louisville over James Madison. In some circles, it was even questioned whether Louisville took nearly the entire game to put James Madison away. James Madison didn’t lose the rest of the regular season on their way to a playoff spot. They finished the year 12-2 and ranked in the top 20, with their only other loss being to top 5 Oregon. By the end of the year, this absolutely qualified as a quality win for Louisville and the ACC.

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@AllSportsDACC and me (@TalkinACCSports ) are back at it with our ACC Football Previews. In this podcast we’re looking at Wake Forest publisher @ConorONeill_DI of Deacon Illustrated. We appreciate Conor joining!

In this order, these are the topics we covered on the podcast. It’s episode 587

@ConorONeill_DI tells us about himself

Wake Forest’s men’s basketball thoughts

Major Strengths coming back for football team

Major Weaknesses coming back for football team

New recruits or transfers that have impressed

Will Syracuse be better than last year? 2 Most Important games

Pulse of the Program for Wake Forest fans

Open Microphone 

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Games 1-5 | Games 6-10 | Games 11-15 | Games 16-20 | Games 26-30 | Games 31-35

21.  NC State 15 #21 Liberty 14 – November 21, 2020

This was the one win by an ACC team that was a legitimately strong OOC win in 2020, and it was pulled off by NC State. Liberty finished the year 10-1 with a final ranking in the top 25 of both major polls and had wins over Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and a top 15 Coastal Carolina team. It was a stellar defensive performance by the Wolfpack while playing their backup QB Bailey Hockman. This was a quality win that NC State fans can take pride in.

22. Louisville 24 Cincinnati 7  – December 17, 2022

The ACC desperately needed a respectable bowl season in 2022. While you can debate the value of bowl wins with all the opt-outs these days, winning them can still carry some relative weight, and losing them results in criticism for a conference. Louisville’s 24 – 7 over Cincinnati set the tone for the ACC to have its first winning bowl season since 2018. The win gave Louisville a solid 8-win 2022. The Bearcats were 14 points from being undefeated after a 9-3 regular season, where they spent a good chunk of it in the top 25. It was a quality Cincinnati squad that Louisville beat in the Fenway Bowl.

23. Louisville 42 UCF 35 – September 17, 2021

UCF had become quite a quality football program in recent years prior to this game. They even opened the 2021 season with a win over Boise State. This game on Friday night had one of the highlight finishes of the year for an ACC team. Louisville returned a tipped pass for a TD with 13 seconds left to win this game in thrilling fashion. UCF went on to have a 9-4 season game with a bowl win over Florida. This was definitely a great win for Louisville in an otherwise uneven year.

24. #22 Miami 25 Appalachian St 23 – September 11, 2021

I never understood why, after Miami won this game, people were so critical of Miami. That was a pretty solid Appalachian State team that went 10-4 and won a division title. Yeah, it was only a 2-point win, but the reality was the Canes were not as good as their top 15 ranking, so this was a quality win over a good team.

25. #16 NC State 27 Texas Tech 14 – September 17, 2022

If there was one criticism of Dave Doeren during his tenure at NC State, it was a lack of quality OOC wins. They finally got a noteworthy one against Big 12 opponent Texas Tech. The Red Raiders finished the season 8-5 and won their final 4 games. The win helped the Wolfpack eventually get into the top 10, which set up a gameday matchup with Clemson later in the season. Only one other defense held Texas Tech to 14 points or less the entire season.

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Games 1-5 | Games 6-10 | Games 11-15 | Games 16-20 | Games 21-25 | Games 31-35

26. Syracuse 32 Purdue 29 – September 17, 2022

The Syracuse win over Purdue never got the credit it deserved. The Boilermakers were the Big 10 West Division Champions, and Syracuse ended up as a middle-of-the-pack ACC team. Maybe the ACC had a little depth in 2022? The game itself was a thriller, with Orande Gadson II catching a 25-yard pass from Garrett Shrader. The win was part of a 6-0 start by Syracuse that led to Syracuse and Clemson playing the highest-rated game of the weekend when they faced each other in late October.

27. #23 Clemson 30 South Carolina 0 – November 27, 2021

Clemson’s worst team in nearly a decade went down to Columbia, SC, and thrashed a South Carolina team some felt could knock off the Tigers. This wasn’t an awful South Carolina team as they went 7-6, and were just a couple of scores from a 9-win season. Clemson’s win suggested at the time there was still an enormous gap between the two schools’ football programs. The win was part of the Tiger’s late-season surge that saw them win their final 6 games and finish with their 11th straight 10+ win season.

28. Boston College 23 #24 SMU 14 – December 28, 2023

While we all admit winning most bowl games isn’t like it used to be, they can still carry some weight on the ole resume. Boston College faced an 11-win SMU team that won the AAC and was ranked in the top 25. With SMU joining the ACC in 2024, there was that aspect to the game as well. The Eagles came into this one on a 3-game losing streak, but with the win achieved their first 7+ win season since 2019. QB Thomas Castellanos showed why he was one of the ACC’s best dual-threat QBs, with over 250 yards on the ground and in the air, leading BC to a 4th quarter comeback win.

29. Virginia Tech 31 Marshall 14 – September 7, 2024

Virginia Tech beating Marshall 31 – 14 didn’t look like much at the time. By the end of the year a 6-7 (4-4) ACC team had beaten a 10-win Marshall team that won the Sun Belt. Bayshul Tuten ran for 120 yards, and the defense held the Thundering Herd to under 300 yards of offense. Sometimes, the quality of the win can be measured by a team that finished lower in the ACC standings and defeated a decent team. Virginia Tech had good moments in an inconsistent 2024, and this was one of them.

30. Louisville 35 Washington 34 – December 31, 2024

In 2024, it was, to be honest, a disaster of a bowl season for the ACC, as conference members won only 2 bowl games. Certainly, bowl games have been diminished, but there’s still some value in winning them. For Louisville, their 35-34 win over the Big 10’s Washington Huskies finished off a season that had them go 9-4 with wins in their final 3 games. Louisville was down a whopping 22 players with 18 optouts, and still managed to leave the Sun Bowl with the victory. It was Jeff Brohm’s 19th victory in just two years at Louisville.

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For some off-season football reading, we want to look at the ACC’s 35 best Out of Conference wins of the 2020s. 2025 was a year the ACC could look back proudly on, with 10 OOC  wins added to this list, led by the Miami Hurricanes.

For the previous decade, we ranked the ACC’s 50 biggest OOC wins of the 2010s.

There were some great wins there. That’s for sure.

We look at games 31-35 here, and soon we’ll get into the top 10.

Games 1-5 | Games 6-10 | Games 11-15 | Games 16-20 | Games 21-25 | Games 26-30

31. Syracuse 52 Washington State 35 – December 27, 2024

Syracuse culminated a remarkable first season under Fran Brown with a 52 – 35 victory over Washington State. Syracuse finished the year 10-3 and 20th in the country. The ACC had 4 ranked teams, and it was a testament to the job Brown did that Syracuse was one of them. Kyle McCord threw for 453 passing in the game with 5 TDs to break Clemson’s Deshaun Watson ACC’s passing yardage mark.

32. Pittsburgh 38 West Virginia 34 – September 14, 2024

At a couple of points in the 4th quarter, ESPN’s win predictor had West Virginia at over 95% of winning the matchup with Pittsburgh, but the Backyard Brawl never fails. Down 34-24 with under 5 minutes left, Pittsburgh mounted a furious rally to win 38-34. It’s propelled the Panthers to a top 20 7-0 start and with whispers of playoff contention. Unfortunately, Pitt collapsed down the stretch to finish 7-6, but at the time, Pitt fans couldn’t have been more thrilled.

33. North Carolina 19 Minnesota 17 – August 29, 2024 

This 19 – 17 victory over Minnesota by UNC never got the attention it deserved. The Gophers finished year 8-5 (5-4) and were one of the Big 10’s upper half teams. The Tar Heels in this one lost their starting QB Max Johnson, and gutted out the win with a 45 yard FG with just under 2 minutes left. The game was on the road, making the win that much better. Mack Brown didn’t finish out the season at UNC, but on a late August night, it was one of his most emotional wins at UNC.

34. California 27 Minnesota 14 – September 13, 2025

California entered this game 2-0, but really under the radar. Late on the night of September 13, 2025 it was QB  Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele’s coming out party. Sagapolutele threw for 279 yards and 3 TDs, and it set the stage for a very strong freshman year for the quarterback. Minnesota went on to an 8-5 season in the country’s best football league, the Big 10. Cal couldn’t quite build on the season, finishing 7-6, but they ended up with an emerging star at QB, and an early-season noteworthy win.

35. Boston College 23 Michigan State 19 – September 21, 2024

Anytime a team from the ACC can beat a P2 team, that’s good for the league. I remember that not a lot of folks were paying attention to this Boston College Michigan State September matchup, but it turned into a noteworthy early-season win for the conference. It was the 2nd big victory for Bill O’Brien at Boston College, validating a win at Florida State a couple of weeks earlier. Special things happen during BC’s Red Bandana game, and this didn’t fail. Boston College held on after 42 yard TD pass from Thomas Castellanos to Lewis Bond with just about 90 seconds left. The Spartans were 3-0 at the time, but BC wouldn’t let them get to 4-0.

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ACC Prescription takes a look at pre-season top 25 poll from ESPN. Where do the ACC teams show up?

FromtheRumbleSeat takes a look back as previously #3 Georgia Tech baseball swept previously #5 Florida State in impressive fashion. Since then, Georgia Tech has won another game and moved up to #2 in the country.

Louisville basketball is tearing things up in the transfer portal. CardChronicle tells us about it.

RubbingtheRock tells us about Clemson baseball coach Erik Bakich ‘freaking pissed’ about the Tigers season as they stay near the bottom of the ACC.  

While Louisville is hitting the portal hard and succeeding, Virginia is keeping most of their core that made the NCAA tournament, says StreakingtheLawn. 

CanesWarning looks at Miami’s QB situation this year and beyond. 

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 @AllSportsDACC and me (@TalkinACCSports ) are ready to get you ready for the football season. With 17 schools we’re going to take you through the 4 months of ACC previews now with Virginia. We were happy to have @WillsWorldMN of accnation.net.

To find old podcasts prior to episode 385, you can follow this link -> https://www.talkshoe.com/show/the-acc-weekly-podcast

In this order, these are the topics we covered on the podcast. It’s episode 586

@WillsWorldMN  tells us about himself

Virginia basketball’s season

Major Strengths coming back for football team

Major Weaknesses coming back for football team

New recruits or transfers that have impressed

Will Virginia be better than last year? 2 Most Important games

Pulse of Program for Virginia fans

Open Microphone and NCAA Tournament Recap

Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page.

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Pat Kelsey has rebuilt Louisville from the nightmare Kenny Payne era. They are a competitive top-25 caliber basketball program. Under Kelsey they’ve won 51 games the last two years. They made the NCAAs both years and advanced to the second round in 2026.

They have been the ACC’s second or third-best program the last two years. It’s been fine work by Kelsey and Louisville coming out of the basketball abyss, but Louisville had developed a one-dimensional personality. They were a couple of notches below physically from the best teams, and when those 3s weren’t dropping, Louisville simply didn’t have alot of answers.

They had to become a tougher, more physical team. The transfer portal can give and it can take away. For Louisville this past weekend, they cashed in big time.

Source: Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad and Kansas big man Flory Bidunga have both committed to Louisville. A major package deal for the Cardinals, as the Louisville administration was aggressive in laying out a vision for building championship roster. pic.twitter.com/tyrIC0dZO0

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) April 12, 2026

Shelstad when healthy, provides Louisville a shotmaking experienced guard, and Bidunga is the inside rim protector that Louisville has lacked. Louisville may be putting together the top portal class in the country, and looks to have put itself into the pre-season top 10.

For the first time in a while, Duke may have a true challenger in the ACC.

Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page.