CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The ACC’s non-conference football season got off to an encouraging start when North Carolina shoved aside its multitude of distractions and defeated TCU in Dublin, Ireland, in Week 0. But none out of that luck of the Irish came back across the pond for the conference, which laid an 0-for-5 egg against Power Conference non-league opponents in Week 1.

Georgia Tech and Louisville lost close games to Colorado and Ole Miss respectively, but Clemson found itself utterly and embarrassingly overmatched at LSU in the league’s marquee non-conference matchup. Throw in Cal’s loss to UCLA and Boston College’s defeat against Cincinnati and things could not have gone much worse for the conference out of the gate, a dangerous slate of negative results that the ACC may wear like an anchor the rest of the year.

Week 2 offers a few showcase opportunities to flip that narrative, led by Georgia Tech’s home game against Tennessee. Pittsburgh hosts Central Florida in one of the weekend’s most intriguing matchups, Duke plays at Illinois and Wake Forest visits Purdue.

It wasn’t all bleak for the conference. Miami did nothing to diminish its standing as the ACC favorite, dismantling Stanford 45-6 behind massive offensive performances by Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney. And SMU remains the biggest threat to the Hurricanes after surviving a surprisingly competitive trip to Tallahassee on Monday night.

Here is this week’s edition of Three Up, Three Down:

Who’s Up?

Lincoln Kienholz: Does Louisville have a quarterback? Kienholz did his part, in his Cardinals debut, to answer that question in the affirmative. The Ohio State transfer threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 69 yards and a score. Making his first college start, Kienholz had Louisville hunting an upset of Ole Miss before a last-second field goal squashed those hopes, 41-38. Still, Kienholz certainly gave Louisville fans reason for optimism.

Pittsburgh: Like Louisville, the Panthers got a strong showing from its quarterback. Mason Heintschel, who took over as Pitt’s starter early on last season as a true freshman and tossed seven touchdowns against Miami of Ohio. Maybe even more encouraging, Heintschel, who threw eight interceptions in nine starts in 2025, was 31 for 41 without a pick Saturday. And sure, we can question what he was still doing in the game in the fourth quarter of a 59-14 blowout, but there’s no question Heintschel can sling it.

Brent Pry as Virginia Tech’s defensive coordinator: In one of the oddest coaching moves in recent memory, Pry – fired by the Hokies three games into last season – agreed to stay in Blacksburg to run the defense for his former Vanderbilt and Penn State boss, James Franklin. Saturday night, Pry’s unit held their opponent to three points on 83 total yards while racking up 18 tackles for loss. Okay, that opponent was VMI, but still, the early returns on Pry as the Hokies’ defensive coordinator are encouraging. This weekend, Old Dominion visits Lane Stadium, a matchup that pits Pry and Franklin against another former Penn State-compadre, Ricky Rahne. Rahne and ODU handed Pry a loss in his first and his last games as Tech’s head coach.

Who’s Down?

Clemson: The Tigers’ 51-10 drubbing by Lane Kiffin and LSU rivaled North Carolina State’s Week 0 loss at UVA as the league’s most disappointing outing. The Chad Morris-coached, Chris Vizzina-led Clemson offense was absolutely punchless and the Tigers’ defense did nothing to slow down LSU. Of course, just because it couldn’t keep up with an SEC power doesn’t mean Clemson is out of the ACC title race. But the Tigers will need to make massive improvements, especially on the offensive side of the football.

Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets, coming off their first Top 25 season in 11 years, were hoping to come out of the gates strong, the way they did opening 8-0 last season. Instead, Georgia Tech didn’t look ready for prime time – or Coach Prime – in a Thursday night loss to Colorado. It couldn’t get any separation from Deion Sanders’s team and ended up giving the go-ahead touchdown with 42 seconds left. A potential game-winning field goal on the game’s final snap ended up being blocked by the Buffalos.

Cal’s conditioning program: The Golden Bears played a tight, competitive game against UCLA – for three quarters. But the JMU-West Bruins dominated the final stanza, rushing for three touchdowns, scoring 21 unanswered points and registering a 45-24 win in the meeting of former PAC-12 members. JMU transfer running back Wayne Knight ran for two fourth-quarter scores, both set up by interceptions thrown by Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.