Collegiate Times

Saturday will make history for the Atlantic Coast Conference, as four of its teams will host ranked opponents. 

The ACC has never experienced this rare occurrence before, and all these games are rematches from last season.

The four games are Auburn at Clemson, West Virginia at Maryland, Ohio State at Miami and Oklahoma at Florida State — the conference lost all four of them last year.

Let’s take a closer look at how each team fared last season and what differences there will be this year. 

Auburn at Clemson

The Auburn Tigers will be visiting Death Valley in a game Clemson has been waiting for all offseason. 

The game between these schools last year took overtime to determine a winner and was the only overtime game Auburn, the eventual national champion, played in.

Clemson blew a 17-0 lead to lose 27-24. Clemson’s freshman kicker missed a 31-yard field goal to tie the game in overtime. The good news for Clemson is No. 2 Cam Newton is no longer under center for Auburn. 

Both teams are breaking in new quarterbacks — Clemson’s Tajh Boyd and Auburn’s Barrett Trotter. However, Trotter and company seem to be making the smoother transition. 

Clemson is coming off two unconvincing wins against Troy and Wofford, which doesn’t bode well for ACC fans hoping they can go four for four in this weekend’s games. 

The Clemson Tigers do get this one at home, but their inexperience on offense going against a tough Southeastern Conference defense will be the difference in the game.

West Virginia at Maryland

This game was a blowout from the start last season. West Virginia jumped out early on Maryland 28–0, which led to a 31–17 victory. 

However, at that point, the Terrapins coaching staff had not realized current quarterback and 2010 ACC Rookie of the Year Danny O’Brien’s true potential, as he watched from the bench. 

This is an interesting matchup between two head coaches in their first season with their respective schools. West Virginia’s Dana Holgorsen is attempting to bring the high-powered offense he had as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State to the Mountaineers. 

However, the team’s offense has been very streaky early on this year. They found themselves down 12-10 at halftime to Norfolk State, only to score 45 points in the second half in a route. 

Players like West Virginia’s Noel Devine and Maryland’s Torrey Smith had big impacts in this game last season but have now moved on to the NFL. It will be interesting to see who steps up in this game, and fans should expect a very close contest between these two schools.

Ohio State at Miami

ESPN’s Heather Dinich called this game the IneligiBowl, playing on the fact that both of these teams are under heavy investigation by the NCAA and neither is at full strength for this game. 

Last season, Ohio State defeated Miami 34-26, mainly because of former Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who racked up 346 yards of total offense. 

However, this Ohio State team looks a lot different without longtime coach Jim Tressel. 

This is another matchup between first-season head coaches that should be very interesting.

Miami quarterback Jacory Harris expects to play against the Buckeyes, which might not be a good thing for the Hurricanes, as he was picked off four times in this game last season. 

Whoever has the least number of turnovers will win this game.

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A version of this article appeared in the Sep 15 issue of the Collegiate Times.