There have been some great coaching in the ACC this year, but November is where you make your money at.
Several ACC coaches did fine November coaching jobs, but three in particular did truly exceptional coaching jobs.
Mike Norvell, Dave Doeren, and Dabo Swinney. Let’s look at each one.
Florida State – Mike Norvell
Norvell has obviously done a wonderful job the entire season for Florida State. The Noles are 1 victory away from securing their spot in the college football playoff. I won’t even address the absolute lunacy of leaving them out if they win the ACC. Anti-FSU playoff arguments just sound stupid. Back to Norvell, before the Jordan Travis injury, FSU had wins over Pittsburgh and Miami in November, but Norvell really came through after losing Travis. After Travis got hurt in a game with Northern Alabama the Noles scored 58 straight points.
OK FSU outmanned Northern Alabama, but going into the Swamp against Florida even a 5-6 one could be a daunting task for a team playing a backup QB. The Noles appeared a bit overwhelmed for a quarter and a half down 12-0. The Noles closed the gap to 12-7 before the half. In the second half, FSU rode their defense, and just enough from their offense to outscore Florida 13-3 in the 2nd half. FSU even had play at times their 3rd string QB, as Tate Rodemaker had to sit out some plays. FSU suffocated Florida in the 2nd half, and won going away. FSU loses this game 8 out of 10 times in past years, not this year and not under Norvell.
NC State – Dave Doeren
NC State finished with a flourish. Sitting 4-3 after an ugly 24-3 loss to Duke, and a seeming failed experiment with QB Brennan Armstrong the Wolfpack looked the 3rd best football ACC team in the state of North Carolina. NC State seemed to have stabilized under QB MJ Morris who then called it a season. Doeren was forced to return QB Brennan Armstrong for the final 3 games, and he and NC State ended with some of their best football of the season.
They beat Wake Forest, NC State, and in a satisfying finale whooped arch-rival North Carolina. Doeren dealt with a lack of playmakers on offense, a change in QBs, and a finish that included Clemson, Miami, UNC, and an improved Virginia Tech team to win their final 5 games. NC State was a team that was absolutely surging by the end of the year.
Clemson – Dabo Swinney
Dabo Swinney’s task in November was to keep Clemson motivated. The Tigers entered November 4-4 with ranked teams Notre Dame, UNC, a capable opponent in Georgia Tech, and a road game at South Carolina. Clemson just went W, W, W, and W. This wasn’t the usual November stakes at play for Clemson, but Swinney with an assist from DC Wes Godwin had the Clemson defense playing as well as any defense in the country in November.
The defense was a wall shutting down 4 high-quality offenses. The vertical passing game still has major issues due to a lack of consistent receivers, and playmaking speed, but the Tigers worked around that to get just enough from that side of the ball. A season that was near disaster still has a shot at a 9-win top 20 season and renewed optimism going into next year. Swinney did one of his best November coaching jobs.
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