For some off-season football reading, we want to look at the ACC’s 35 best Out of Conference wins of the 2020s. 2025 was a year the ACC could look back proudly on, with 10 OOC wins added to this list, led by the Miami Hurricanes.
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 31-35 here, and soon we’ll get into the top 10.
Games 1-5 | Games 6-10 | Games 11-15 | Games 16-20 | Games 21-25 | Games 26-30
31. Syracuse 52 Washington State 35 – December 27, 2024
Syracuse culminated a remarkable first season under Fran Brown with a 52 – 35 victory over Washington State. Syracuse finished the year 10-3 and 20th in the country. The ACC had 4 ranked teams, and it was a testament to the job Brown did that Syracuse was one of them. Kyle McCord threw for 453 passing in the game with 5 TDs to break Clemson’s Deshaun Watson ACC’s passing yardage mark.
32. Pittsburgh 38 West Virginia 34 – September 14, 2024
At a couple of points in the 4th quarter, ESPN’s win predictor had West Virginia at over 95% of winning the matchup with Pittsburgh, but the Backyard Brawl never fails. Down 34-24 with under 5 minutes left, Pittsburgh mounted a furious rally to win 38-34. It’s propelled the Panthers to a top 20 7-0 start and with whispers of playoff contention. Unfortunately, Pitt collapsed down the stretch to finish 7-6, but at the time, Pitt fans couldn’t have been more thrilled.
33. North Carolina 19 Minnesota 17 – August 29, 2024
This 19 – 17 victory over Minnesota by UNC never got the attention it deserved. The Gophers finished year 8-5 (5-4) and were one of the Big 10’s upper half teams. The Tar Heels in this one lost their starting QB Max Johnson, and gutted out the win with a 45 yard FG with just under 2 minutes left. The game was on the road, making the win that much better. Mack Brown didn’t finish out the season at UNC, but on a late August night, it was one of his most emotional wins at UNC.
34. California 27 Minnesota 14 – September 13, 2025
California entered this game 2-0, but really under the radar. Late on the night of September 13, 2025 it was QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele’s coming out party. Sagapolutele threw for 279 yards and 3 TDs, and it set the stage for a very strong freshman year for the quarterback. Minnesota went on to an 8-5 season in the country’s best football league, the Big 10. Cal couldn’t quite build on the season, finishing 7-6, but they ended up with an emerging star at QB, and an early-season noteworthy win.
35. Boston College 23 Michigan State 19 – September 21, 2024
Anytime a team from the ACC can beat a P2 team, that’s good for the league. I remember that not a lot of folks were paying attention to this Boston College Michigan State September matchup, but it turned into a noteworthy early-season win for the conference. It was the 2nd big victory for Bill O’Brien at Boston College, validating a win at Florida State a couple of weeks earlier. Special things happen during BC’s Red Bandana game, and this didn’t fail. Boston College held on after 42 yard TD pass from Thomas Castellanos to Lewis Bond with just about 90 seconds left. The Spartans were 3-0 at the time, but BC wouldn’t let them get to 4-0.
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