For some off-season football reading, we want to look at the ACC’s 15 best Out of Conference wins of the 2020s. For years we’ve said winning OOC game would benefit the health of the ACC. With the obvious bias built in, and the narratives being set around media, actual winning doesn’t matter like it should. It’s still fun to look back on some nice wins. Maybe we’ll get back to looking at results one day. We can only hope.
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 6-10 here, below are the other rankings.
Games 1-5 | Games 11-15 |
6. Miami 48 #23 Texas A&M 33 – September 9, 2023
By the end of the year Texas A&M had fired Jimbo Fisher and went 7-6. Miami also went 7-6 and 3 of their last 4 games, but for one glorious night Miami looked like the Miami of old. Against a ranked Aggie team, the Hurricanes looked aggressive and fast. Tyler Van Dyke threw for 5 TDs. This win had Miami fans and the college football world thinking that the Canes might be on their way to a monster season. That didn’t happen, but in early September of 2024 we were reminded of what Miami football is still capable of when hits on all cylinders.
7. 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 besides Clemson, 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.
8. 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 Baily Hockman. This was a quality win that NC State fans can take pride in.
9. 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 their 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.
10. Louisville 42 UCF 35 – September 17, 2021
UCF has become quite a quality football program in recent years. 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.
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