It was a not-so-pretty week in the ACC as SMU suffered an upset at Syracuse, Miami struggled at UNC and won thanks to two flags that overturned onside kicks, and FSU looked incompetent on the field and in the air as a “Fire Mike Novell” banner flew overhead.
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17. Georgia Tech (Prev 16): The Yellow Jackets have completely bottomed out. They were blown out by Pittsburgh and
benched QB Alberto Mendoza once the game was out of reach. With Louisville, Clemson, Wake Forest, and Georgia remaining, the odds of them losing out and finishing 2-10 are very high. I was a bit low on them entering the season, but certainly didn’t expect this.
16. California (Prev 14): Cal lost by 21 to the team we had in 16th last week, NC State. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele only averaged 4.4 YPA while the Cal run game averaged just 2.4 YPC. The Bears’ experiment in the ACC seems like a failure. This can’t continue. Will Sagapolutele transfer? Is Clemson interested? They should be.
15. NC State (Prev 16): The week after firing Dave Doeren, the Wolfpack shut down the Golden Bears in a 31-10 victory. It was 10-10 at halftime before NC State outscored them by 21 in the second half. The coaching search there will be very interesting. It is about the 40th best coaching job in America which isn’t bad, but also isn’t going to attract the biggest name. Kentucky pulling Will Stein from Oregon this past offseason has to be encouraging and they’ll hope for a similar instant impact. They haven’t had the money to retain the key players that Doeren’s staff has developed. That’ll be necessary for any coach to be successful there.
14. Virginia (Prev 11): As expected, Virginia was completely blown out by Wake Forest. They trailed 20-0 at halftime and 44-0 before a garbage-time TD. They averaged a mind-blowing 0.8 YPC. That’s right, they had more carries (19) than rushing yards (16). Their Week 0 win over NC State seemed so good at the time, but now we see it for what it is, their best game against a bad team. Now in his fifth season at Virginia, Coach Tony Elliott has won 3, 3, 5, 11, and, so far this year, just 4 games.
13. Pittsburgh (Prev 13): QB Holden Geriner was only 13/30, but they had 281 rushing yards and 3 rushing TDs in a comfortable 34-11 home win over Georgia Tech. At 6-3 with FSU, Louisville, and Cal remaining on the schedule, they should get one or two more wins. That isn’t anything special, but considering they lost their star quarterback, it is a nice job avoiding disaster.
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12. Boston College (Prev 10): I thought Boston College had really turned the corner! They were competitive with Virginia Tech and SMU and then beat Pitt and Georgia Tech. This week, they lost 47-2 to Duke. Mason McKenzie only had 87 yards passing. They couldn’t run the ball and had 2 fumbles lost.
11. Stanford (Prev 12): The Cardinal faced the Cardinals of Louisville and had the game tied at 17-17 as halftime approached. Louisville outscored Stanford by 35 the rest of the way to a final score of 52-24. QB Davis Warren posted 270 passing yards and 3 TDs and 0 INTs, but Louisville ran the ball at will. Isaac Brown had 139 rushing yards and 3 TDs as the Cardinals averaged 9.0 YPC on the ground. Tre Richardson had 140 receiving yards and Stanford drops to 4-5 (2-4).
10. Florida State (Prev 6): Florida State had a few exciting, explosive passes, but generally looked incompetent. I’ve given them far too much credit in these rankings. They battled Alabama and Miami well, but they are an inconsistent group that commits costly penalties and gives up key plays way too often. After having just 1 TD pass all season, Tait Reynolds had 2 against Florida State. They did a good job stopping the run, except for allowing Tait Reynolds to break off the game-clinching 79-yard QB run. You see flashes, but then you also see them average 2.2 YPC. Clemson’s defensive tackles have improved a lot, but LSU and UNC ran all over this group. The Seminoles are dangerous, but not good.
It was also notable and hilarious that Coach Swinney — while nearing hot seat status himself — blasted the folks who are begging for a new coach at Florida State. Imagine his reaction to a “Fire Sweeney” sign. His comments defending Norvell served as a massive multiplier to the awareness and reach of the banner that flew over FSU and read “Fire Mike Novell.” Should they make the decision to move on from Norvell, which would be understandable, it will be an interesting job search to watch. Their standing is likely similar to Clemson. I’d expect they could pull someone like Jake Dickert (Wake Forest), Rhett Lashlee (SMU), or Manny Diaz (Duke). All would be reasonable hires.
9. Syracuse (Prev 15): With Steve Angeli back at QB, Syracuse is rolling. After upsetting UNC last week, they upped the ante by beating the SMU Mustangs. They held SMU to 70 rushing yards and made several clutch plays down the stretch including a fourth-and-inches completion and a 2nd-and-goal passing TD on the final drive. Suddenly that noon game vs. Clemson feels a lot more like a toss-up than it did before.
8. Duke (Prev 9): After edging Virginia last week, QB Walker Eget and RB Nate Sheppard were excellent in a 47-2 win over Boston College. Eget had 201 passing yards with a cool 11.2 YPA and 1 TD. Nate Sheppard had 97 rushing yards plus another 32 receiving.
7. North Carolina (Prev 8): Despite losing, I’m scooting UNC up a slot for pushing Miami to the brink. Miami needed two consecutive onside kicks to get called back on penalties to clinch the win. Billy Edwards Jr threw for 341 yards and 4 TDs against a Miami secondary that was also torched by Wake Forest earlier in the year. A major vulnerability has been exposed.
6. Clemson (Prev 7): It’s a shame Clemson couldn’t take advantage of Miami or Virginia Tech’s weak secondary, but at least they could vs. Florida State. Tait Reynolds was effective as a runner and looked good throwing outside the pocket. His star receivers failed to come up with catches on throws that weren’t no bad. With a little more help he could have posted better than his 189 yards 2 TDs and 0 INT stat line. I thought this was his best game after struggling against Virginia Tech. Tyler Brown was his best receiver posting 74 receiving yards. He is second on the team with 332 receiving yards.
RB Gideon Davidson couldn’t get anything going on the ground averaging 3.0 YPC, but QB Tait Reynolds had the best run of his career to seal the win:
Elyjah Thurmon left with an injury as a defender racing up from deep in FSU’s secondary accidentally hit him helmet to helmet. Harris Sewell was also banged up (seemingly less serious). Grant Wise and Gavin Blanchard stepped in with Wise delivering snaps at center.
The real assessment for just how bright Clemson’s future is will come this offseason when AD Graham Neff and Coach Swinney decide if they make real change in roster construction strategy, but winning now is more enjoyable than the alternative and can help retain the incoming high school recruiting class. A road trip to Syracuse up next is tough, but this team is much better on the road.
5. SMU (Prev 3): The Mustangs trailed early but took a 27-20 lead in the 4th quarter at Syracuse. After allowing a field goal to cut their lead to 27-23, SMU’s tight end dropped a perfect pass that would have gone for 40+ yards. SMU punted, then allowed Syracuse to convert a 4th and inches to sustain their drive. The Orange punched it in with seconds remaining to win. SMU is eliminated from an at-large bid to the College Football Playoff and needs a lot to go their way to get into the ACC Championship. The next three weeks are incredibly tough with VT, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame consecutively. They’re still a top 5 team in the ACC, but largely because the conference is experiencing a major down year.
4. Virginia Tech (Prev 5): Hokie faithful… you’ve waited me out and won. After weeks of complaining about being ranked too low (you lost to Cal!), I have nobody better to put in the fourth slot. The Hokies had the week off but improved their positioning thanks to SMU’s loss and Clemson’s win. Virginia losing also has to be sweet for the VT faithful.
3. Louisville (Prev 4): The Cardinals don’t go away, do they? Despite three losses, they find themselves back to 3rd in the power rankings. Their ground game is stellar and QB Lincoln Kienholz was a transfer portal win. They ran all over Stanford to improve to 5-3 (4-2). Interestingly, Clemson is also 5-3, but because Louisville is much better offensively with weaknesses on defense they look much better. Since their losses were much more competitive, they deserve to be ranked above the Tigers, but it is closer than it may seem.
2. Wake Forest (Prev 2): As we predicted, Wake Forest blew out Virginia to the tune of 51-7. Wake Forest’s rush defense is outstanding. They rank 6th nationally allowing just 82.9 rushing yards per game. Meanwhile on offense, QB Gio Lopez averaged 10.9 yards per attempt. I am fully a believer in this team. Jake Dickert may be the best coach in the ACC. Holy cow!
1. Miami (Prev 1): Miami escaped Chapel Hill with a win despite a poor performance defensively. They allowed 10 YPA passing despite largely shutting down the UNC ground game. Darian Mensah was efficient, completing 22/29 passes for 274 yards and 3 TDs. The offense is fantastic, but the defense is a weakness. We’ll see if they are true National Championship contenders this weekend when they go to South Bend to face Notre Dame at 7:30 on NBC.
