The Miami Hurricanes enter week eight of the college football season at 3-3 and split their two conference games. Sitting in fourth place in the Coastal division, the Hurricanes will need some help getting back into the conference championship race.

In need of help, Miami fans should be watching each conference game and rooting for specific teams. But many of the teams they need to lose are off this week, including North Carolina.

But in the four other games in the ACC this week, who should Hurricane fans be rooting for?

Thursday, October 20

Virginia @ Georgia Tech; 7:30 p.m.

After firing head coach Geoff Collins a few weeks back, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have won two in a row with wins over Pittsburgh and Duke. They host the Virginia Cavaliers, who have lost three in a row, all to ACC opponents.

Win Virginia sitting at 0-3 in conference play and Georgia Tech second in the division at 2-1, Miami could benefit from the Yellow Jackets dropping this one. The Cavaliers aren’t much of a threat in the race for the division this season, but they could help the Hurricanes by beating a team that currently sits higher in the standings.

Saturday, October 22

Syracuse @ Clemson; Noon

In the most important matchup of the week between undefeated teams, Syracuse travels to Clemson to take on the fifth-ranked Tigers. The Orange continues to surprise this season and it would be fun for that to continue.

There is no reason to root for Clemson this week since both of these teams are in the Atlantic division. So rooting for the underdog and against a team like the Tigers is always more fun. Once again, we ride with ‘Cuse.

Boston College @ Wake Forest; 3:30 p.m.

Another matchup between Atlantic division teams, this also doesn’t affect Miami much. I find myself leaning toward rooting for Wake Forest. They are a likable program with no recruiting battles with the Hurricanes.

Boston College is a program that, though not very recently, has a history with Miami that is just hard to shake.

Another reason to root for the Demon Deacons is who we want in the ACC Championship game. Whether the Hurricanes make it to Charlotte or not, I would rather see a program like Wake Forest or Syracuse make it over Clemson.

Pittsburgh @ Louisville; 8 p.m.

After losing to Georgia Tech two weeks ago, the Pittsburgh Panthers helped Miami in terms of how the division could play out. But having an extra game to play with could come in handy later in the season.

Louisville has struggled so far this season with a 1-3 record against ACC teams and is also in the Atlantic, so their record doesn’t matter much to us. So it makes sense that we just want a division rival to lose and fall behind us.