College football Week 9 winners, losers, overreactions: ACC emerges as worst of Power Five conferences

The ACC has struggled with depth for years, but Week 9 marked a low point for the conference just days before the initial College Football Playoff Rankings are released. Nearly all of the excitement in the ACC is gone after the top two teams featured on Saturday fell in embarrassing fashion. 

Wake Forest moved into the AP top 10 and the edge of New Year’s Six consideration following a 6-1 start. How did the Demon Deacons respond? By turning the ball over six times in a historically terrible third quarter in a 48-21 loss to Louisville. No. 16 Syracuse, meanwhile, followed up its near-upset of Clemson by losing 41-24 against a struggling Notre Dame team.

Down the board, Boston College gave UConn its first win over a Power Five opponent since 2016, while Miami went to four overtimes against lowly Virginia. Even No. 24 NC State needed 19 unanswered points to edge out Virginia Tech. No. 21 North Carolina did manage to erase a deficit against Pitt to remain undefeated in ACC play, so that at least partially salvaged the day.

Clemson stands as the one true national contender in the conference as long as it can avoid the Notre Dame pitfall on the road next week. Still, the ACC is the worst of the five Power Five conferences heading into CFP Rankings season, and it’s not particularly close. 

Here are more winners, losers and overreactions from the college football action in Week 9. 

Winners

Tennessee: If one team has the potential to take over the unbeatable mantle, it’s the Vols. After beating Alabama in its last SEC game, the Volunteers took a tire iron to No. 19 Kentucky in a dominant 44-6 win. The Vols doubled up the Wildcats in yardage as Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker threw for three touchdowns and rushed for another. UK quarterback Will Levis, a projected first-round NFL Draft pick, threw three interceptions as the Volunteers showed their defense has another gear as they head into the stretch run. 

Oregon QB Bo Nix: Has anyone’s quality of life improved more over the course of a year than Bo Nix? Instead of being caught up in the Auburn dumpster fire, Nix is tearing up the Pac-12. Granted, it wasn’t his best performance with his first two-interception game since the opener against Georgia, but he scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to zoom past Cal 42-24. The Ducks are 7-1 thanks to Nix, and he is completing more than 70% of his passes and has 20…