Clemson finally won a home game while both Louisville and Virginia suffered upset losses at home. All of a sudden, Pitt is the talk of the town, and they didn't even play this weekend. 17. Syracuse 37 Prev 17: Syracuse went to Miami and lost 3810 in a game where nobody looked amazing. Syracuse still hasn't won since they beat Clemson. Fran Brown and Mario Cristobol got in some sort of shouting match too. Not great. 16. Boston College 19 Prev 16: Boston College averaged less than 3 YPC on offense while surrendering 574 yards of offense to SMU. 15. Stanford 37 Prev : Stanford was always a strange addition to the conference, and they seem to be mostly noncompetitive in all three major sports. They lost to Bill Belichick's UNC squad this week. Sad!14. Florida State 45 Prev 12: Despite an impressive blowout win over Wake Forest, the Seminoles returned to their losing ways. The 2410 loss to Clemson was their 10th ACC loss in their last ACC games. In reality, it was much closer than the score indicated. They outgained Clemson but made some critical mistakes that allowed Clemson to control the game. They need a new coach to bring life back to the program, but this isn't the coaching cycle to do it as they'd likely be 4th in line or even 5th in line depending on what you think of Auburn's job opening. Norvell also has a $58 million buyout so they should probably wait another year. That's not to mention they play Notre Dame and Florida and go to Alabama, Miami, and Pittsburgh next year. You don't want your new rebuilding coach to start with that schedule Markus Dixon Jersey. 13. Virginia Tech 3 Prev 10: Virginia Tech hasn't scored since the first half of their game against Louisville. They were off this weekend and then have a big finish at Florida State, Miami, and then Virginia. They'll have to sweep them to make a bowl, which is unlikely, but they could steal one win just for fun. I wouldn't be surprised if they upset Virginia and knock them out of the ACC championship. 12. North Carolina 45 Prev 15: North Carolina has won again. Back when they played Clemson, they were among the worst ACC teams I'd ever seen. Now they're halfway decent. They couldn't run the ball against Stanford averaging just 1. 9 YPC but held Stanford to just 1. 0 YPC en route to a 2015 win. They finish by playing the three other North Carolina ACC schools in a row. I wouldn't pick them to beat Wake Forest, Duke, or NC State, but if they somehow beat two of them, they basically win the state championship and go bowling. Clemson 45 Prev 14: Clemson has won a home game against a P4 opponent. Who cares if it was a struggling FSU team, the Tigers needed this!Clemson led the whole way in their 2410 over FSU, but they also benefited from an unforced fumble by Castellanos, a missed field goal, and a brutal drop on a busted coverage they would have gone for a touchdown or at least put them in the red zone Banks Pope Jersey. On top of that, a twopoint conversion attempt was called good and was at best 5050 upon replay. Clemson was outgained by 41 yards and couldn't get either running back over 4 YPC. With all that being said, QB Cade Klubnik played smart and was by far the better of the two QBs in the contest. Clemson got pressure on the QB, was more disciplined, and looked like the more wellcoached team. 10. Duke 54 Prev 7: I'm convinced Duke exists solely to ruin ACC football. After their basketball team beat Texas by 15 points, the football team agreed that it is time for basketball and lost to UConn. They're 03 against nonconference FBS teams after losing 3734 to the Huskies in Connecticut. Also, why are they playing at UConn?Duke was outgained by 77 yards so this was no freaky fluke game. Their defense is porous as can be. Duke also lost to Illinois and Tulane in the nonconference yet they're still in the ACC race at 54 overall, but 41 in ACC play. Although unlikely, Duke can really destroy the ACC if they manage to win the if USF and UNLV finish as 2loss champions of the AAC and MWC respectively. Meanwhile, if Duke wins out, their best win would be against Virginia who still could finish with 4 losses or the ACC runnerup which could be a 4loss Pitt team if they lose to Notre Dame but then beat Georgia Tech and Miami to make the title game. If that happens, Duke might not be one of the top five conference champions and in theory, the ACC could be left out of the playoff. I wouldn't complain. It would be deserving, but not great for optics or finances. 9. NC State 54 Prev 8: The Wolfpack upset the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and then has this weekend off to enjoy their successes. They go to Miami and then host FSU. If they can get one of those wins and then close with a win over UNC they'll be 75. Add a lowlevel bowl win to that and they've got a notsohorrible 8win season. 8. California 64 Prev 13: I'll admit I am shocked this Cal team is actually playing somewhat decent. I had them at the very bottom of the ACC Power Rankings to start the year. They lost everything to the portal, and I thought their chill surfer vibes would get crushed by all the schools in the ACC that actually care about sports. Places like Louisville where they pour money into their athletic programs should be beating Cal, but the Bears play with heart and win close games. They nearly got Virginia last weekend and won thrillers against UNC and Boston College earlier. Their QB, JaronKeawe Sagapolutele KS, is a lefty true freshman from Hawaii that has led Cal to some success despite limited tools around him. After throwing the gamewinning twopoint conversion to Jacob De Jesus his major receiving threat the used his platform to praise Jesus. None of this is what I expected from Cal, but I'm pleasantly surprised. 7. Miami 72 Prev 6: After a sleepy first half that saw them hold a 140 lead, they blew out a hapless Syracuse squad in the second half. Even though they beat Notre Dame, they look like a different team now. If it comes down to it, the committee will most assuredly pick an Irish squad that reeled off 10straight wins with their only losses coming at Miami and vs. Texas A M over a Miami squad that started hot but looked uneven the remainder of thew way and took losses to Louisville and SMU. I think Pitt will beat Miami in the final week regardless. 6. Wake Forest 63 Prev 9: After barely beating Kennesaw State 109 in the season opener and losing to NC State 3424 it seemed the Deacons were due for a rough season. Since then, their only losses were a somewhat funky OT loss to Georgia Tech they should have won and an inexplicable blowout at FSU. This week, they held Virginia to 9 points and earned the win on the road at night. Coach Jake Dickert has turned this program around rather quickly. 5. Louisville 72 Prev 3: I admit I was wrong. I thought Louisville would find a way to make the playoff and was shocked to see how much they struggled with Cal. With Isaac Brown injured, RB Keyjuan Brown stepped up and ran for 13yards so you can't even blame Miller Moss was just 2038 for 203 passing yards and 1 INT. They only scored 23 points in regulation as the offense just isn't what you'd expect from a Coach Brohm team. It is also worth noting that after Louisville beat Clemson last year, they went and lost to Stanford. This year, they beat Miami and then seemed flat against Boston College and Virginia Tech and it finally got them against Cal. Jeff Brohm may be the best big game coach in the sport, but he has to get his team to show up consistently. 4. Virginia 82 Prev 2: I have been saying this Virginia team is overrated while commenters kept saying I should rank them higher. I'd like to do a victory dance now, but a big part of their loss was QB Chandler Morris getting injured. As such, it feels illegitimate to knock the Wahoo too much for this loss. Chandler is expected to return next week to face Duke, so no excuses if they lose to the team that just lost to UConn. 3. SMU 73 : The Mustangs followed up their OT win vs. Miami with a complete dismantling of a bad Boston College team. They outscored the Eagles in every quarter for a 4513 win. Kevin Jennings threw for over 300 while they ran for over 7 yards per carry. 2. Pittsburgh 72 Prev 4: Pittsburgh had this week off. They finish with a flurry as they host Notre Dame, visit Georgia Tech, and then host Miami. 1. Georgia Tech 81 Prev 1: The Yellow Jacket defense got exposed last week against NC State. They have this off week plus a tuneup game next weekend against Boston College to figure it out https://www.clemsontigersfansshop.com/213-Ruke_Orhorhoro_Jersey. Then they have a big finish with both Pittsburgh and Georgia coming to Atlanta. Those will be tough battles. Either would qualify for Georgia Tech's best win of the season.