It was yet another interesting week for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Miami beat a pesky Virginia Tech team in Blacksburg, Duke held off UNC in Chapel Hill, SMU bludgeoned Louisville in Dallas, and Syracuse
lost by a thousand to Notre Dame in South Bend. The big one was Pitt upsetting Georgia Tech in Atlanta a week after getting dominated at home by aforementioned Notre Dame. Oh, and FSU lost to NC State in Raleigh on Friday night in hilarious fashion. What a season it’s been. And we still have rivalry week to go!
Without further ado, let’s get to the rankings.
1. Virginia – 9-2 overall, 6-1 conference
The Cavaliers were able to sit at home on their bye and watch Georgia Tech knock itself out of the ACCCG and most likely the CFP. Virginia is now in the driver’s seat for the ACC automatic bid for the CFP. Tony Elliott’s squad probably has to win the conference championship game, as I don’t see them receiving an at-large bid. Still, it’s a great spot to be in. The Cavaliers host their arch rival Hokies on Saturday. It’s a game Virginia should win. That said, if the Hokies’ running game performs like they did against Miami, there is a real shot for an upset.
2. SMU – 8-3, 6-1
The Mustangs took advantage of facing a Louisville team playing its backup quarterback and with injuries to other key contributors. Still, Rhett Lashlee’s squad dominated and have worked their way back into the CFP discussion. Pretty impressive, especially considering this year’s roster is definitely not as talented as last year’s. SMU travels to Berkeley this weekend to face a Cal team that just fired its coach after falling to Stanford last week.
3. Miami – 9-2, 5-2
The Canes controlled the game against the Hokies last weekend. I am nervous to see where the CFP committee ranks them tonight. Miami should absolutely be ahead of Utah, but with the Utes’ athletic director being part of the committee, I’m skeptical it’ll actually happen. I try not to think about the disrespect towards my favorite sports team, but it’s hard to ignore. A dominant win at Pitt should go a long way in helping Miami’s CFP chances. I have my doubts that it actually would.
4. Pitt – 8-3, 6-1
The enigmatic Pitt Panthers. Just when it looked like they came back down to earth after getting handled by Notre Dame, Pat Narduzzi’s squad traveled south and beat Ga Tech after jumping out to a huge early lead. The game was wild to watch. I thought it was over when Pitt went up 28-0. Then their offense stalled and was bailed out by the pick-six. Then they inexplicably ran a fake punt in their own territory up 14 points. I thought I was seeing things. Despite the hiccups, Pitt completed the upset. Now the Panthers are going to try to do to Miami what they couldn’t do against Notre Dame.
5. Georgia Tech – 9-2, 6-2
The Yellow Jackets have fallen a long way in the last few weeks. They were 8-0 and looking good to be undefeated going into their last game against Georgia. Not so fast my friend! GT fell behind so fast last weekend, it was jarring. If the game remained a blowout, that would have been bad. The fact that GT came back and was inside the 10-yard line when Haynes King threw that pick-six made the loss even worse. With how GT’s defense has been playing lately, I don’t like their chances against the Bulldogs.
6. Duke – 6-5, 5-2
That fake field goal call by Manny Diaz late in the game last weekend at UNC was clutch. The Blue Devils are still in the mix to play in Charlotte for the ACC championship. For a team with a 6-5 record, that’s pretty incredible. Duke hosts Wake Forest on Saturday in what should be an interesting matchup. The plodding Demon Deacons against the high-flying Blue Devils.
7. Wake Forest – 8-3, 4-3
The Demon Deacons whooped up on Delaware last weekend, 52-14. Wake Forest continues to be a great story in 2025. This Saturday is a huge matchup with Duke. Wake has a chance for nine wins, another road upset, and the chance to eliminate Duke from conference championship contention. I know I’ll be all aboard the Demon Deacon express on Saturday.
8. Clemson – 6-5, 4-4
The Tigers crushed Furman last weekend, getting to bowl eligibility. It’s a short trip to Columbia this weekend for the season finale. Clemson vs South Carolina is one hell of a battle of disappointing teams. Both coaches thought they had teams good enough to make the CFP. Now there are doubts how long each will be coaching at their respective school. Things change fast in modern college football.
9. Louisville – 7-4, 4-4
The Cardinals couldn’t overcome quarterback Miller Moss’ absence against SMU last weekend. Louisville looks worse than ever, making Miami’s loss to them look…worse than ever. Thinking back to that game, the Canes really blew it. They had no business falling to this year’s Louisville squad. The Cardinals close their season hosting rival Kentucky.
10. NC State – 6-5, 3-4
The Wolfpack bounced back in a big way after getting smoked at Miami last weekend. CJ Bailey looked good again, plus NC State’s defense made some plays in a nice bend-don’t-break performance. The Wolfpack will be looking to get to .500 in conference play and invited to a slightly better bowl game with a win over rival UNC on Saturday.
11. Stanford – 4-7, 3-5
The Cardinal got a satisfying rivalry win last Saturday over Cal. Going 3-5 in the ACC as an interim coach who lost some of his best players to the transfer portal is more than solid for Frank Reich. Stanford does finish the season hosting Notre Dame on Saturday night at 10:30 PM EST. Come on Frank! Win your last game and go out in style!
12. Cal – 6-5, 3-4
So much for Justin Wilcox being able to develop the dynamic quarterback JKS. After the 31-10 road loss to arch rival Stanford, Cal relieved Wilcox of his duties. I don’t know the inner workings of Cal football, but I guess that loss was too much to stomach. Will JKS transfer? I have no idea. I do know it would be great if he played a great game at home on Saturday against SMU.
13. FSU – 5-6, 2-6
Wow. That game Friday night was really bad. The Seminoles could not get out of their own way throughout the game. Their penalties came at the worst times. Tommy Castellanos seemed to only throw to Duce Robinson in the second half. Duce is great, but that strategy can only work for so long. Then the back-to-back fourth quarter special teams blunders happened, putting two cherries on top of a terrible Friday night performance against a middling ACC team. And now we know FSU is bringing Mike Norvell back for next season. Huzzah!
14. UNC – 4-7, 2-5
The Tar Heels had Duke down at home last weekend, but they couldn’t pull off the upset. That loss officially eliminated UNC from bowl eligibility. I can’t imagine Belichick is upset about not having to coach for another month, then travel to a random city for a lower-tier bowl game. He can generate some goodwill with UNC fans if he’s able to lead his team to an upset of NC State in Raleigh. If not, 4-8 is not what people expected from the Super Bowl winning coach, no matter how old he is.
15. Virginia Tech – 3-8, 2-5
The Hokies took it to Miami in the run game last weekend. They put up 195 yards and had several explosive plays. I mention that because I would absolutely love for Va Tech to put up similar numbers on Saturday in Charlottesville. While beating the Canes would have been nice, upsetting their biggest rival to close the season with James Franklin coming in to take over would be gigantic.
16. Syracuse – 3-8, 1-6
Last Saturday was embarrassing for the Orange. Two weeks after saying his team had Miami on the verge of quitting, Fran Brown couldn’t get his team to show up at all at Notre Dame. Saturday’s matchup with Boston College has to be one of the worst in all the Power 4 this season. Yuck.
17. Boston College – 1-10, 0-7
Boston College is coming off a bye. The Eagles travel to Western New York to take on Syracuse on Saturday. It will be their last and only chance at a conference win in 2025. Feel the excitement!
See you next week!
