By AARON BEARD AP Sports Writer
Things to watch this weekend in the Atlantic Coast Conference:
Game of the week
No. 8 Florida State (3-0, 0-0 ACC) at Virginia (3-1, 1-0), Friday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
The Seminoles opened the year with an expectations-altering win against Alabama, then cruised past East Texas A&M and Kent State by a combined score of 143-10. Things figure to be tougher against the Cavaliers, at least for the FSU defense.
Virginia has scored at least 31 points in every game and ranks fifth nationally in total offense (564.5) in its fourth year under Tony Elliott. Its lone loss came at N.C. State.
This season marks 30 years since Virginia upset then-No. 2 FSU at home to hand the Seminoles their first-ever ACC loss after a 29-0 start. The Cavaliers have unveiled throwback uniforms to that 1995 win for the occasion.
The undercard
No. 16 Georgia Tech (4-0, 1-0) at Wake Forest (2-1, 0-1), Saturday, noon ET (ESPN)
There is a buzz in Atlanta, with the Yellow Jackets having won at Colorado and coming off a win against preseason ACC favorite Clemson. Now they’ll travel to Winston-Salem to face the Demon Deacons, who got off to a 2-0 start in first-year coach Jake Dickert’s rebuild but fell to N.C. State in their league opener.
Duke (2-2, 1-0) at Syracuse (3-1, 1-0), Saturday, noon ET (ACC Network)
It’s difficult to know for sure what to expect with the Blue Devils and Orange. The Blue Devils continually undercut their chances of an upset against then-No. 11 Illinois with miscues and turnovers and fell behind big in a loss at Tulane, but responded by rallying past N.C. State. As for Syracuse, Fran Brown’s team is coming off an impressive win against Clemson but lost starting quarterback Steve Angeli to a season-ending injury.
Impact players
— N.C. State RB Hollywood Smothers. The transfer from Oklahoma has nearly matched his rushing total for last year’s debut with the Wolfpack. He’s sixth nationally in rushing yardage (125.8 per game) entering this weekend’s visit from Virginia Tech.
— California quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele had the Bears off to a 3-0 start before last weekend’s shutout loss at San Diego State. The freshman has thrown for 988 yards and six TDs entering Saturday’s trip to Boston College.
Inside the numbers
The league has three ranked teams in this week’s AP Top 25 poll, headlined by No. 2 Miami. … Louisville (3-0) hits the road Saturday to face Pittsburgh (2-1) in the ACC opener for both teams, with the Panthers having won three of five meetings since the Cardinals joined the ACC for the 2014 season. The Cards have lost the last three meetings at Pitt. … Stanford (1-3) hosts San Jose State on Saturday with a chance to start 2-0 at home for the first time since 2018. … Miami, Clemson, North Carolina and SMU have open dates this week.