No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 25 UNC meet in ACC headliner this week

Updated Nov. 26, 2020 4:01 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Here are things to watch in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Week 12:

GAME OF THE WEEK

No. 2 Notre Dame at No. 25 North Carolina. Brian Kelly's Fighting Irish (8-0, 7-0 ACC) face their toughest remaining hurdle in their march toward the ACC championship game with Friday’s trip to face the Tar Heels (6-2, 6-2). Both teams had an open date last week. Notre Dame followed its win against then-No. 1 Clemson by

BEST MATCHUP

The battle between the Fighting Irish’s top-tier defense and the Tar Heels’ high-powered offense offers one of the

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

The coronavirus pandemic continues to shake up the ACC schedule. The league had played 69 of 78 scheduled games through last weekend. But last weekend also saw the cancellation of the Duke-Wake Forest due to positive tests, quarantines through contact tracing and injuries for the Demon Deacons. That marked the first time the instate programs haven’t met since the 1966 season. There was also the last-minute decision to postpone the game between No. 4 Clemson and Florida State, a move that

LONG SHOT

Two years after winning 10 games, Syracuse (1-8, 1-7) has lost six straight games since beating Georgia Tech on Sept. 26. The last was a 30-0 loss at Louisville while finishing with 137 yards and seven first downs. The Orange are a roughly two-touchdown underdog entering Saturday’s visit from North Carolina State (6-3, 5-3), which handed

IMPACT PLAYER

Boston College quarterback Phil Jurkovec is putting up strong numbers entering Saturday’s visit from Louisville. The Notre Dame transfer has thrown for 2,355 yards in his first nine starts, the most by a BC quarterback in program history. That’s also ninth in the Bowl Subdivision ranks this season, while the redshirt sophomore has one interception in his last four games.

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