For some off-season football reading, we already looked at the ACC’s 25 best Out-of-conference wins of the 2020s. With good comes the bad, though, and ACC programs need to stop losing games they should win. The media is already against the conference; don’t keep giving them fuel for their narratives.
We ranked the ACC’s 50 biggest OOC wins of the 2010s, if you’d like a look at the previous decade.
Games 1-5 | Games 6-10 | Games 11-15
16. Syracuse 0 South Florida 45 – December 22, 2023
We don’t want to make too much of this 45-point loss by Syracuse to South Florida. Syracuse has already fired Dino Babers, and we know with bowl opt-outs, bowl value has been diminished. This loss by Syracuse was a disaster of a game, though, and that can’t be denied. South Florida was 5-6 in mid-November, but beat UNC Charlotte to reach a bowl game. When they met Syracuse, they absolutely thrashed the Orange. I remember turning this game in the second qtr and it was 24-0 USF, and shortly thereafter 31-0 as the game went to half. USF could have scored 80 if they had wanted. Syracuse should have opted out of the whole game.
17. Pittsburgh 46 Toledo 48 (6 OT) – December 26, 2024
At one point during the 2024 season, Pittsburgh was 7-0 in the top 25 and thinking playoffs. The Panthers lost their next 5 games, but the bowl game gave them a chance to still make something of the season. It went badly against a team that came into the game 7-5 and just 4-4 in the MAC. Toledo ended up winning 48-46 in 6 OTs, and Pittsburgh had nothing to show for the football year after October. Pittsburgh ran for 301 yards and still found a way to lose. The Panthers’ second half of the season collapse was nothing short of epic.
18. NC State 21 East Carolina 26 – December 28, 2024
East Carolina lives to beat ACC teams, especially if they are on Tobacco Road. This bowl game with NC State looked bad from the start for the Wolfpack. It went as many thought it might, with East Carolina taking care of NC State 26-21. East Carolina was a mediocre 5-loss team from the AAC. East Carolina ran for over 320 yards, but still trailed 21-20 inside of 2 minutes on their own 14-yard line. It didn’t matter as the Pirates went 86 yards for a game-winning run. This is part of why Dave Doeren never seems to turn the corner in Raleigh.
19. Stanford 31 San Jose State 34 – November 29, 2024
In Stanford’s first season in the ACC, they already produced an embarrassing defeat. The Cardinals were 3-9, but had wins over Syracuse and Louisville. They finished the year with a game at San Jose State who at the time were 6-6 (3-4) in the Mountain West. San Jose State beat Stanford 34-31, while throwing for nearly 400 yards as Stanford’s secondary was shredded to pieces. It put a stamp of Stanford’s ugly season.
20. Florida State 12 Memphis 20 – September 14, 2024
Should a season where the worst team in the ACC loses to an 11-2 top 25 Memphis team register as a bad loss for an ACC school? Well at the time, it was an absolute disaster of a loss. Florida State was already 0-2, and this was Florida State’s last gasp at salvaging something out of the season. Memphis manhandled Florida State upfront and got paid over a million dollars to go to Tallahassee. The Noles were never in this game, and the rest of the year spiraled out of control for Florida State. It was a humiliating game for a humiliating season for FSU.
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