Well, that was a wild college football Saturday, wasn’t it? Vanderbilt taking down Alabama, and then delirious Commodores fans parading one of the goal posts through downtown Nashville and depositing it into the Cumberland River.

Arkansas beating Tennessee (see, N.C. State: such a thing is possible!).

Michigan losing. USC losing.

Miami, in a special edition of ACC After Dark, coming back from 25 down (!) lateish in the third quarter to win at Cal, which put on a show and reveled in the national spotlight that ESPN’s College GameDay provided.

Whew. A lot happened.

It’s college football Saturdays like that that have allowed this sport to maintain such a hold, despite all its obvious flaws. It’s Saturdays like that that keep fans following and tuning in, despite the reality that we pretty much know, right now, which three or four teams actually have a real chance of competing at the highest level (sorry, about 130 other schools).

And it’s Saturdays like the one we just witnessed that can leave us, in North Carolina, with something of a sense of longing. A sense of ... missing out? Something like that. At its best college football can be a delightful and unpredictable spectacle. At its worst, or most mediocre, it can make anyone question why schools continue to pour money into it, with so little return.

Such is the case, sadly enough, for the majority of FBS programs in North Carolina these days. We’re at the midpoint of the regular season and only one out of the seven teams in this state – Duke – can say with any confidence or grounding in reality that it’s happy with how things have gone over the past six weeks. (And OK, maybe Charlotte qualifies here, too.)

The others? Well, some fleeting hope mixed with a good amount of letdown.

Given we’re at the midpoint, a progress report is in order for the three Triangle schools. Warning: It’s not especially encouraging for two of the three. For State and Carolina, it’s the sort of report card they’d hide from their parents before forging Mom’s signature and turning it back in.

Hey, we’ve all been there. No? Just me?

The grades

Duke (5-1, 1-1)

Midpoint grade: A.

Why: Easy schedule, yes, but Duke has exceeded all expectations under a new coaching staff. The Blue Devils have also been ... what’s the word? Fun? Yes, that’s it. A fun team to watch, which is more than its two Triangle counterparts can say.

The highlight: Erasing a 20-point deficit in a 21-20 victory against UNC gave first-year head coach Manny Diaz an early signature moment — and sent a rival further into despair. Can’t beat that.

The lowlight: Duke couldn’t hold a third quarter lead of its own Saturday night in a loss at Georgia Tech, which ended the Blue Devils’ perfect start.

From here: The schedule doesn’t get any easier, even against downtrodden Florida State later this month. But the question is not so much how Duke finishes, but what kind of foundation Diaz is building in his first year. And that part of the equation looks strong.

Predication: An eight-win regular season, which would be fantastic in Year One under Diaz.

N.C. State (3-3, 0-2)

Midpoint grade: D.

Why: This was supposed to be The Year for the Wolfpack. It ... has not been.

The highlight: Ummmmm ... [10 minutes later] ... hmmmmmm ... [15 minutes later] ... uhhhhhh ... coming from behind to beat Western Carolina and Louisiana Tech? That probably says it all, doesn’t it?

The lowlight: State suffered blowout losses against Tennessee and Clemson, in games the Wolfpack pointed toward as opportunities to prove it belonged on the national stage. The only thing they proved is how far away State really is from ever doing that.

From here: The Wolfpack rallied a season ago amid a similarly uninspired start. But that team had Payton Wilson, and strong leadership. This team has underperformed just about everywhere. Who does State beat from here? Its best chance for another win is probably against UNC.

Prediction: Five wins, which is half as many as State expected.

UNC (3-3, 0-2)

Midpoint grade: D-minus

Why: Allowing 70 points against James Madison, the Mack Brown locker room fiasco that followed, blowing a 20-point lead days later at Duke ... that pretty much covers it, no?

The highlight: Well, at the time, the season-opening victory at Minnesota really was a big deal, and a good moment for a program that needed it. And then came ...

The lowlight: The 70-50 defeat against James Madison, and whatever happened in the locker room in the aftermath, will be worth a chapter whenever the book is written on Brown’s UNC’s tenure (both parts of it). Surrendering a 20-point lead at Duke days later did not help matters.

From here: This more and more has the vibe of Brown’s final season, barring some sort of spectacular (and probably impossible) turnaround. Crazy thing is, given the schedule, there’s not a game UNC can’t win. But it can also lose every one of them, too. There’s a decent chance that UNC and State meet in Chapel Hill in late November as two three- or four-win teams.

Prediction: A 4-8 finish and a likely and merciful program reset.

In other words, with all of this said: It’s pretty much basketball season in the Triangle.

ONE BIG THING

The question is not whether N.C. State quarterback Grayson McCall has played his final football game but whether that should be the case, given he was on the other side of another horrific collision that ended with him on a stretcher, on the back of a cart on Saturday against Wake Forest. McCall’s courage and competitive spirit is admirable. He came back this season after missing half of last season — while still at Coastal Carolina — after sustaining a hit that looked a lot like the one he took Saturday. But some things — a lot of things, in fact — are bigger than football.

THREE TO LIKE

1. Some mountain camaraderie at Marshall.

The only good thing about the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina (and other devastated parts of the southeast) is how people have come together in support of each other, and their communities. And so it was at Marshall, which hosted Appalachian State on Saturday. The Mountaineers’ band did not travel. The Marshall band filled the void, and played the App State fight song early on. A small but humanizing and empathetic moment between two rivals.

2. ACC after Dark in ... Berkeley.

OK, it’s time to admit it: We were wrong about Cal in the ACC. Well, maybe not, in terms of logistics and the fact that Berkeley remains on the other side of the United States from most of the rest of the conference. But for the sake of this argument, we’ll say we were wrong. Outside of the absurd geographical conflict, Cal has been a great fit in the ACC. Its online-minded, meme-generating fans are smart, and fun. Its football team is worthy. The atmosphere Saturday night for Miami was incredible. And Cal even lost in heartbreaking, confounding fashion — which is also very ACC-like.

3. Charlotte has its first signature moment under Biff Poggi.

Don’t look now, but the 49ers just might have something going under Poggi, Charlotte’s second-year head coach. The Sleeveless Wonder led Charlotte to a dominant victory against ECU Saturday at Jerry Richardson Stadium, and Charlotte, at 3-3, has already equaled its win total from each of the past two seasons.

THREE TO ... NOT LIKE AS MUCH

1. N.C. State’s late collapse against Wake Forest.

The aforementioned collision that sent McCall to the hospital was by far the most concerning moment from the State-Wake game — one whose significance extends well beyond the field. In a football sense, though, the Wolfpack’s late collapse — surrendering a 10-point fourth quarter lead — is the sort of nightmare finish that can send a season into a tailspin.

2. Fourth-and-short and ... lining up in the shotgun.

Here’s an Old Man Rant (or, OK, Middle Aged) about how the game is played these days: Whatever happened to just lining up in the I-formation in short yardage situations and plowing ahead? We see this every week nowadays: teams lining up on 4th-and-1 in the shotgun, and then handing to a running back two or three yards behind the line of scrimmage. And it seems like those plays fail fairly often. It happened to Duke in the third quarter at Georgia Tech. Why do teams do this? What is the logic? Why make a 4th-and-short play ... longer ... than it needs to be?

3. Tar Heels fans tuning out.

Look, we get it, UNC fans: The JMU loss was demoralizing. The collapse against Duke was embarrassing. But still: It’s so easy to rip on the football culture at UNC exactly because of the scene at Kenan Stadium on Saturday, where empty seats reigned even more than usual when the Tar Heels are struggling. Like it or not, this much is true: There may not be another athletics-minded, major-conference school in the country where football fans bail faster on their program or coach than they do at UNC.

THIS WEEK’S BEST PROGRAM IN THE STATE

As impressive as Charlotte was during its dismantling of ECU, the honors go to another formerly-downtrodden program that celebrated a big moment against an in-state rival. Yes, Wake Forest, that means you. These haven’t been the best of times for Wake and Dave Clawson, who built a very strong program on the idea of finding under-the-radar talent, keeping it and developing it and turning those players into major contributors by the time they were juniors and seniors. In other words: Clawson’s program-building philosophy worked perfectly in a time that no longer really exists in today’s college football environment, thanks to NIL and the transfer portal.

Even so, Wake found a way at N.C. State on Saturday. Leave it to the Wolfpack to help the Demon Deacons get right.

CAROLINAS RANKING

The sentimental top spot will belong to Appalachian State this week and for the rest of the season. The Mountaineers are dealing with (and will continue to deal with) something much larger than football. Here’s hoping Boone and the surrounding communities find some normalcy and peace sooner than later. Beyond that, on the field, it continues to be Clemson, a huge gap ... a gap after that gap ... another gap even after that other gap ... and then everyone else, in some order. But Charlotte is not last this week. That much is clear.

ECU? Well, there’s nowhere to go but up.

FINAL THOUGHTS, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

▪ I think the weekend wasn’t a total wash for the Triangle — despite the 0-3 record for Carolina, Duke and State. If you’re looking for a bright spot, there was N.C. Central, with an impressive 45-14 victory against Campbell. The Eagles have won three straight, and all by at least 27 points. That run includes a 66-24 victory against North Carolina A&T. We see you, NCCU.

▪ I think the reaction to Vanderbilt’s stunning victory against Alabama told us a lot about media narratives and how things are talked about in college football. Where were the takes about the SEC being an inferior league, because its supposed worst team took down one of its best? The national talking heads didn’t have much to say. Yet when a similar thing happens in the ACC, there always seems to be a lot to say about the ACC’s perceived strength (or weakness). Why is that?

▪ I think it’s easy for State and UNC football fans to become disillusioned and, OK. Understandable, to an extent. But let’s keep some perspective. Last week, led by graduate defensive end Davin Vann, State came together to do important work in aiding the recovery from Helene in Western North Carolina. And at UNC, Mack Brown on Saturday asked for prayers for Tylee Craft, the Tar Heels receiver who for years has been fighting cancer. There’s a lot more important things going on than the weekly results in this absurd (yet occasionally delightful) game.