What a fun weekend it was around the ACC. The true ACC title contenders showed themselves to the country, while others’ chances at a run began to fade. As always, the ACC power rankings are below, from 1 to 17.
1. Miami
In a test on the road, another all around performance allowed Miami to cruise to another victory against Clemson 41-13. Opposed to his start of the season, Darian Mensah cooled off, “only” throwing 18/27 for 227 yards and one touchdown, but this did not matter because of Miami’s depth. Mark Fletcher Jr stepped up in a big way, scoring on the ground twice. The defense turned Clemson over twice, including a pick six. There is not much else to say about this team; they keep dominating. The Hurricanes now head into a bye week before their rivalry game against Florida State.
2. Wake Forest
Pure domination took place in Winston Salem as Wake Forest embarrassed Stanford 57-3. This team keeps getting better each week, starting with the leader on offense, Gio Lopez. He threw 20/27 for 265 yards and 2 touchdowns in the air, while adding 88 yards on the ground. Lopez has developed into a star for the Demon Deacons. Looking to keep the momentum going, Wake Forest heads eastbound Saturday for an in state rivalry game at NC State.
3. Pittsburgh
Good news first: Pitt walked into Lane Stadium and beat Virginia Tech to stay undefeated, ended up in the AP Top 25, and are the biggest risers in the ACC power rankings. Unfortunately, it was announced by the team that quarterback Mason Heintschel tore his ACL in the game and will be out for the remainder of the season. This is a major blow to Pitt, as he is the life and soul of the offense. However, the team managed to win with backup Holden Geriner, a Auburn and Texas State transfer, who kept the offense on track. Although we have not seen Geriner start a game yet, not all hope should be lost for this Pitt team because of how stingy the defense is and the weapons they still have surrounding him on offense. They play North Carolina Saturday in what will show what the rest of the season has in store for Pitt.
4. Duke
Duke was on a bye this week and will travel to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech Saturday.
5. SMU
With stars all around the offense, this team should be winning by wider margins against inferior teams, but that is not the case. SMU beat Boston College 25-16 and only had 218 yards of offense. This has become a recurring theme, which can be concerning but also disregarded because other than the Louisville game, the Mustangs keep winning. They have a bye week to figure the offensive concerns out, but there is plenty of upside with SMU. A race for the ACC title game is still in play.
6. Virginia Tech
Missed opportunities were what Virginia Tech faced against Pitt. The offense put up 500 yards, but had 4 turnovers and a game winning field goal that was ruled no good. In a game where Pitt was faced with adversity, Virginia Tech did not do enough to reverse the momentum onto their opponents and it turned into a Friday night heartbreaker, with shouts of “Big Game Franklin” being hurled at them. The team will regroup this week with a bye in preparation for Georgia Tech.
7. Florida State
Whatever was thought about this team coming into the game against Virginia, it all changed within 60 minutes. In a 38-7 blowout victory, Ashton Daniels set a program record for 5 rushing touchdowns in a game and the defense looked like a completely different unit. Unable to get any pressure leading up to this game, the defensive line erupted for 10 sacks and made life miserable for Virginia’s offense. Credit to Mike Norvell for responding to the adversity and completely shifting the outlook of this season for the Seminoles. Florida State looks to keep up the good play in a Friday night matchup at Louisville, in what could be the game that ends their prolonged road losing streak.
8. Louisville
The downward spiral continues for Louisville in a 31-28 loss against NC State. A few weeks ago, we had this team projected into the College Football Playoff. Now, they’re scraping on the edge of bowl eligibility. Poor defensive play has been the main issue, and with the yards and time of possession they have been allowing (493 and 37:18 to NC State), the offense is forced in a bad position and has zero margin for error. Changes need to happen before their matchup against Florida State Friday or the Louisville defense will be eaten alive and the boos will be piercing.
9. Virginia
It looks like the West Virginia loss was no fluke. The offense depends heavily on success in the run game, and it was stopped by the Florida State defense in the 38-7 loss. My biggest takeaway here is how poorly the offensive line played, despite having two preseason All-ACC players in McKale Boley and Noah Josey. They allowed 10 sacks and made it impossible for Beau Pribula to make throws or scramble out of the pocket. The Virginia defense also had no answer for Florida State’s run game, allowing 281 yards. Next on Virginia’s schedule is Syracuse, so they have an opportunity to get things back on track.
10. Clemson
Clemson kept the game against Miami close in the first half, but then the Hurricanes were able to pull away largely because of turnovers. Even though the Tigers lost 41-13, Tait Reynolds continues to show improvement and comfortability with the offense, as he threw for 295 yards. The defense also did well in shaking Mensah out of his groove of completing passes. Clemson will have a chance at a win against Charleston Southern, following a bye week.
11. NC State
After hitting rock bottom last week against Vanderbilt, the Wolfpack bounced back to beat Louisville 31-28 backed by a career-best performance from quarterback CJ Bailey. He picked apart the Louisville defense for 373 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. There are signs of life in Raleigh, and even though they currently sit at #11 in the ACC power rankings, NC State showed the league that they are not an easy matchup and can close out a game victoriously. Next on their schedule is Wake Forest Saturday, which could be their second upset win in two weeks.
12. North Carolina
North Carolina put up their best effort against Notre Dame at home, but ultimately lost 37-26. Their offense showed the ability to move the ball and made the game competitive, but ultimately the Tar Heel defense had no stops for CJ Carr and the Irish offense, which is a challenge for any team. Things do not get easier for North Carolina, as they travel to play #25 nationally ranked Pitt Saturday.
13. California
If Cal had not beaten Syracuse three weeks ago, their performance against UNLV surely would have sent them lower in these rankings. Nothing went right for the Golden Bears in a 39-31 defeat against a Mountain West opponent. Their defense allowed UNLV quarterback Jackson Arnold to run for 110 yards, execute several explosive plays, and Golden Bear quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was taken out of the game for concussion protocol. Cal has a bye week this week, which will give time for Sagapolutele to get healthy and have a chance to play in their next game against Virginia Tech.
14. Syracuse
Head coach Fran Brown decided to make a change at quarterback, handing the starting role over to Kennesaw State transfer Amari Odom. This move paid dividends for the offense, as he threw for 335 yards and 5 touchdowns in his first power four start. His 2 interceptions kept things close, but they were able to grab a 42-41 overtime win against UConn. The Syracuse offense had a good outing, but the defense was torched all game long, allowing UConn 515 yards. UConn was able to force extra time after being down 34-14, and Syracuse won the game on a successful two-point conversion. Although they got the win in the end, this is not what you want to see as a Syracuse fan. A four quarter performance will be needed to beat Virginia in Charlottesville Saturday.
15. Boston College
Boston College rises 2 spots from the bottom of the rankings after a 25-16 loss on the road to SMU. That is now two weeks in a row BC has come within single digits of a quality ACC opponent, rationalizing their jump over the bottom two teams in the conference. Quarterback Mason McKenzie is showing improvement, as he went 20/31 passing for 208 yards and 2 touchdowns. The defense also did a good job holding SMU to 218 yards of total offense, as mentioned before. Slowly but surely, Boston College is finding something, and we think the results will show for themselves following a bye this week.
16. Stanford
On the flip side, things could not be worse for Stanford right now after a 57-3 loss to Wake Forest. The offense found themselves short of a 200 yard performance, despite leading in time of possession. Stanford’s defense did not defend much of anything and put no pressure on Wake’s offense. The good news is that they are not the worst team in the ACC right now, because they beat that team last week in Georgia Tech. The bad news is they play Notre Dame Saturday. Hopefully Stanford can cover the 35.5 point spread.
17. Georgia Tech
And finally, we made it to Georgia Tech. They are still recovering from a close loss to Stanford and took this week to attempt to fix some of their problems during their bye. Either way, the Yellow Jackets are looking to rise from rock bottom with a win Saturday vs Duke.
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