The Atlantic Coast Conference has been incredibly entertaining so far this season. My rankings have fluctuated wildly, and they will probably will continue to do so through October. As long as the Canes stay on top, who cares? Am I right?! Seriously though, FSU lost, Georgia Tech should’ve lost, Louisville got lucky at Pitt, Duke looks good all of the sudden, and NC State fell to Virginia Tech at home. Yikes. Still, those are some good ole fashioned tough conference games.
Without further ado, let’s
get to the rankings.
1. Miami – 4-0 overall, 0-0 conference
The Canes had the week off before starting conference play at FSU this Saturday night. As a Miami fan, I don’t really care that GameDay isn’t going to a Canes road game. It probably cost FSU more free advertising than anything. As far as the game, I’m anxious. And that is despite watching the Seminoles defense allow big runs and middle-of-the-field completions consistently against Virginia. I am not naive enough to forget that anything can happen in a rivalry game.
2. Georgia Tech – 5-0, 2-0
Oh buddy. The Yellow Jackets were gifted a win at Wake Forest last Saturday afternoon. GT was in the neutral zone when Wake snapped the ball on third and five, up by three points, with less than two minutes left in the game. The Yellow Jackets were out of timeouts, so a first down wins it for Wake. GT coach Brent Key knows his team got away with one. I think he will coach his guys up even harder during their bye.
3. Virginia – 4-1, 2-0
The Hoos are back! Tony Elliott led his squad to its biggest win of his time in Charlottesville with the 46-38 double overtime win over #8 FSU last Friday night. When the Seminoles took a 21-14 lead with 2:32 left in the second quarter, I thought the upset was dead. FSU would get a stop before halftime, then score with their first possession in the third quarter to go up by two touchdowns. Not even close. Virginia scored before halftime to tie the game, then scored the first touchdown in the third quarter. Tony Elliott had a great offensive game plan. The running game was effective and quarterback Chandler Morris kept finding open receivers in the middle of the field. Just as impressive was Virginia’s defense. They created turnovers and limited big plays. They played great in coverage against everyone not named Duce Robinson. It was Virginia’s biggest win in years. If they can beat Louisville on the road this Saturday, look out!
4. Louisville – 4-0, 1-0
The Cardinals were down 17-0 at Pitt after just the first quarter. By halftime, it was a tie game. Louisville then spotted Pitt another nine-point lead before scoring the last 17 points of the game to get the 34-27 victory. The Cardinals are 4-0, but not ranked in the top 25 of either poll. And I’m not saying they should be. Louisville probably isn’t the fourth best team in the ACC this season. Still, I appreciate the zero in the loss column. The Cardinals are more than a touchdown favorite at home against Virginia this weekend. If Jeff Brohm’s squad can beat a newly-ranked Virginia, they’re 5-0 going into their bye week before their trip to Miami. That would be huge.
5. FSU – 3-1, 0-1
Freaking Seminoles. I felt good about them going into their Friday night game in Charlottesville (for gambling purposes, obviously). They seemed like a team that would thrive in a raucous road environment. And then the game started. Silly me. FSU looked off from the start. The turnovers were bad; the defense was uninspired. It was another tough loss of many for Mike Norvell. As far as them being more dangerous to the Canes coming off a loss as opposed to being undefeated, I don’t think it matters one way or another. It’s a huge rivalry. Both teams will be ready to go. I do think this year’s Seminoles team has and will continue to play considerably better at home than on the road.
6. Duke – 3-2, 2-0
After stumbling against Illinois and Tulane, the Blue Devils have found their stride (mostly on offense) on their way to a 2-0 start in conference play. This Saturday, Duke plays at Cal at 10:30 pm EST on ESPN. Miami was in a similar spot last year, and it was a battle. Manny Diaz needs to have his guys as ready as they’ve ever been. They have a bye in Week 7, then host Georgia Tech in Week 8. A win in Berkeley, followed by nearly two weeks to prepare for the Yellow Jackets’ offense is exactly what Duke needs. This is a make-or-break game for the Blue Devils.
7. Cal – 4-1, 1-0
The Golden Bears spotted BC 14 points in the first quarter last Saturday. After taking the lead early in the fourth quarter, they fell behind less than one minute later after a long touchdown run by BC running back Turbo Richard. Turbo Richard is by far the best player name I have seen this season. Anyway, Cal freshman quarterback JKS (he has reached three-letter-status with how long his name is) threw a 51-yard touchdown with only 1:26 left in the game. Big time play for the kid! That’s impressive. Cal hosts Duke this weekend, so they better bring their defense.
8. SMU – 2-2, 0-0
I guarantee Mustangs coach Rhett Lashlee did not think his team would be .500 this season going into conference play. Losing to TCU by double digits isn’t great, but it’s much worse because of the home loss to Baylor two weeks prior. Still, SMU controls their own destiny in the ACC. These are the next six weeks for them before their second bye: vs Syracuse, vs Stanford, at Clemson, at Wake, vs Miami, at BC. Those are all winnable games for the Mustangs (even the Miami matchup). That said, I don’t think SMU has the defense to run the table in conference play this year.
9. Pittsburgh – 2-2, 0-1
The Panthers are a few plays away from being undefeated. Cam was tweeting from the SOTU account last Saturday and he said the refs were really bad for Pitt during the game. I never watched the highlights, so I will take his word for it. And after watching the Georgia Tech vs Wake Forest game, I have no reason to doubt more awful and biased ACC officiating. Still, that’s tough for Pat Narduzzi’s squad. A conference-opening win over Louisville would have been a great way to start their tough stretch of games.
10. Syracuse – 3-2, 1-1
Starting quarterback Steve Angeli’s injury might be the biggest in the ACC so far this season. He was finding his groove in Fran Brown’s offense. Syracuse was trending upward and looked to be a dark horse contender for the conference title. Sadly, they are just not the same team without Angeli. Their offense can’t stay on the field as long, which puts their defense in a tough spot multiple times per game. Let’s see if backup Rickie Collins can get better as the season goes, keeping Syracuse competitive the next two months.
11. Virginia Tech – 2-3, 1-0
The Hokies are 2-0 since firing Brent Pry a couple weeks ago. Do I see a mid-season turnaround happening in Blacksburg? Let’s check their remaining schedule: vs Wake, at GT, bye, vs Cal, vs Louisville, bye, at FSU, vs Miami, at Virginia. Nope. It was a fun two weeks for Hokies fans. Back to focusing on the coaching search, recruiting, and the 2026 season.
12. NC State – 3-2, 1-2
The Wolfpack started this season so promising, but let it slip away the last two weeks. Losing at Duke in a shootout is one thing, but losing to Virginia Tech in Raleigh after the Hokies fired their coach is something else. That’s a really bad loss for Dave Doeren’s program. NC State’s offense has been good this season. Their defense can’t get stops when they need them. CJ Bailey is a talented and exciting quarterback, but he might be looking to play elsewhere next season if the Wolfpack can’t turn it around in 2025.
13. Wake Forest – 2-2, 0-2
As mentioned above, the Demon Deacons got robbed against Georgia Tech last weekend. I was shocked at how good Wake looked. They moved the ball effectively on offense. Even more impressive, they held GT’s vaunted running game in check. New Demon Deacons coach Jake Dickert seems to have his program going in the right direction. Could Wake be the ACC’s Vanderbilt? Maybe. Probably not actually. But maybe.
14. Clemson – 1-3, 0-2
Did any team in the country need a bye more than Clemson? I can’t think of one. The Tigers are the “year from hell” team for college football’s 2025 season. They are tied with Wake Forest and Boston College at the bottom of the ACC standings. Their offense is abysmal. Their defense isn’t nearly as good as it should be. Their next three games before their second bye are at UNC, at BC, and vs SMU. Well then. I predict Clemson will be 4-3 going into their final five-game stretch.
15. Stanford – 2-3, 1-1
The Cardinal should petition the ACC and NCAA to play all their games in the state of California. They can play Cal, schedule teams from California for their non-conference opponents, and use all the Silicon Valley money to bribe ACC teams to play in Palo Alto. It’s really not a bad plan. I think Miami and other programs might take a few million dollars a year to play at Stanford instead of alternating home and away games.
16. UNC – 2-2, 0-0
I have seen multiple videos in my YouTube Recommended feed with some sort of variation of Bill Belichick can’t stop embarrassing himself. It’s sad to see the greatest NFL coach ever getting his ass kicked by TCU and UCF. It’s even sadder to see his 24-year old girlfriend on the sidelines doing..I don’t really know. Whatever she wants I guess. I have to admit I was nervous as a Miami fan when he was announced as the UNC coach. I thought he would be good, possibly even really good. That has to be one of my worst takes of recent years. After five weeks, I just don’t see it happening for a 74-year old Bill Belichick in big time college football.
17. Boston College – 1-3, 0-2
Speaking of bad takes. I thought a Bill O’Brien coached Boston College would be better than this. Losing at Stanford is not great. Losing at home to Cal far surpasses “not great”. The travel advantage alone should have been enough for BC last weekend. The Eagles are probably only going to be favored once in their next seven games, so O’Brien better coach ‘em up, or it’s going to be a long season in Chestnut Hill.
See you next week!
