Chubbs make name for themselves

Pittsburgh at Duke , Noon, ESPN News

N.C. State at Florida State, 12:30 p.m., WUPA

Virginia at Louisville, 12:30 p.m., FSSO

Clemson at Syracuse, 3:30 p.m., ABC

Miami at North Carolina, 3:30 p.m., ESPNU

Wake Forest at Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m., NBC

Brandon Chubb’s football bloodlines run deep.

From his father Aaron, who played at Georgia and was drafted by the NFL, to his cousin Nick, the Bulldogs’ injured All-SEC running back, the Chubb family has made a name for itself on the field.

Now Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson is his promoting 245-pound senior linebacker as an All-ACC candidate.

Chubb (Hillgrove) is the conference’s fifth-leading tackler with 78 and is 15th among active FBS players with 297 career tackles. He has 164 career solo tackles and 133 career assists.

“Brandon Chubb should be a first-team all-ACC linebacker,” Clawson told the media this week. “He plays at a high level. He plays well against everybody. Certainly, when we play the Florida States and Clemsons, he shows up even bigger.

“He’s played awesome football for us this year. In my opinion, Brandon Chubb should be an all-ACC linebacker, and he should be first team.”

Chubb set his career high with 19 tackles in the final game of 2014, but also had 18 in a game last season and is coming off a 12-tackle performance against Louisville.

Wake Forest was off Saturday, but younger brother Bradley Chubb (Hillgrove), who is a 260-pound sophomore defensive end at North Carolina State, is the ACC’s co-defensive lineman of the week.

He had nine tackles, a total that included five for losses and two sacks, and forced a fumble in a win over Boston College.

“I think Bradley Chubb had his best game of the year,” N.C. State coach Dave Doeren said. “He’s playing with a lot of confidence.”

Bradley Chubb has 45 tackles — second on the Wolfpack — with nine for loss and 4.5 sacks.

Big improvement: Marquise Williams threw three interceptions in North Carolina's opening loss to South Carolina and then was benched against Delaware on Sept. 26.

He’s since thrown nine touchdown passes, and North Carolina is coming off a 66-31 victory over Duke in which Williams set the school record with 494 passing yards and 524 yards of offense in less than three quarters.

He threw for 404 yards by halftime.

“(Williams is) probably just more focused than he was, and not to say that he wasn’t focused at that time, I just think he’s become more focused,” North Carolina coach Larry Fedora told reporters. “(The benching) was just a lesson, and I think he handled it very well and responded the right way. Because of it, I think he’s a better quarterback today.”

Williams also ran for a score in the Tar Heels’ eighth consecutive victory.

No. 17 North Carolina (8-1, 5-0 in the ACC) leads the Coastal Division and looks to advance to its first ACC Championship game. The Tar Heels finish the regular season with games at Virginia Tech (4-5) and N.C. State (6-3).

On the move? Clemson coach Dabo Swinney lost offensive coordinator Chad Morris in December, when he was hired as the head coach at SMU.

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables is now being mentioned as someone who is ready to take the next step.

“I think that Brent is the best defensive coordinator in the country,” Swinney said. “Anybody on my staff that has aspirations of being a head coach, I would love that for them. But that’s something that every one has to evaluate for himself. I’m for all of my staff and I would never want anybody to not have a chance for advancement if they want that.”

Clemson ranks fifth in the FBS in total defense (287.3 yards a game), seventh in passing yards allowed (168.4), ninth in scoring (17.1 points) and 20th against the run (118.9).

On the verge: Louisville started the season with three consecutive losses, but is 5-1 in its past six games and needs one more win to qualify for a bowl.

The Cardinals (5-4, 4-2 ACC) play host to Virginia (3-6, 2-3) on Saturday.

“We want to get to a bowl, and obviously we know this is the most important game for us to get that done,” coach Bobby Petrino told the media. “We have just really tried to concentrate on one game at a time, but all the time, you know what is sitting out there.”

Undercover Tiger: Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan, who is known for his antics, wore a Clemson helmet while speaking to the media Tuesday.

The reason: His son Seth is a receiver with the Tigers who also holds on kicks.

“(Clemson is the) No. 1 team in the country, arguably, and (has) the best holder in the country,” Ryan said, according to news reports.

Swinney said: “I didn’t know that was going to happen. He’s crazy. He is hilarious. I love Rex Ryan because he is who he is.”

He said it: "The most important thing I've learned through the years is to react and correct. Win or lose, you treat them the same. You try to never overreact. We've tried to take a realistic view of what we have to do to be successful. We believe we have a process and we believe in that process strongly. You don't go changing everything you've ever done and overreact." — Duke coach David Cutcliffe on handling consecutive losses.

Etc.: Dalvin Cook needs 12 yards to break Florida State's single-season rushing record of 1,242 yards, set by Warrick Dunn in 1995. Cook has 1,231 yards and is averaging 153.9 yards per game. … Clemson freshman Mitch Hyatt (North Gwinnett) is the ACC's offensive lineman of the week. He graded a season-high 93 percent — a season-high for Clemson — and had four knockdown blocks in the Tigers' win over Florida State. … Virginia has five touchdown passes of at least 40 yards this season, which equals its total from the past four seasons combined. The Cavaliers didn't have any the past two years. … Miami's Brad Kaaya is the only FBS quarterback with a minimum of eight starts to have completed at least 59 percent of his throws in every game, ESPN.com reported. … Louisville has intercepted 41 passes since the start of the 2014 season, the most in the country.