With week three of the 2025 college football season in the books, we now have a pretty decent sample size for every team. There’s still plenty of time for teams to rally or fall apart, but most teams are now a quarter of the way through their seasons.
As we saw last year with Clemson, you can’t really eliminate any team from the conference race just yet, but we’re starting to figure out about what tier every team is in this year. Let’s check in on those tiers with this week’s power rankings.
1. Miami (3-0)
Last Week:
Beat South Florida 49-12
Especially in light of Clemson’s struggles, it’s hard to argue that the Hurricanes aren’t the cream of the ACC crop at the moment.
This Week: Saturday vs. Florida
2. Florida State (2-0)
Last Week: Bye
FSU had the weekend off and now should have a couple easy games ahead of a marquee matchup against Miami.
This Week: Saturday vs. Kent State
3. Georgia Tech (3-0, 1-0 ACC)
Last Week: Beat Clemson 24-21
Haynes King is a maniac and I respect and fear him.
This Week: Saturday vs. Temple
4. Clemson (1-2, 0-1 ACC)
Last Week: Lost to Georgia Tech 24-21
They have a losing record and they’re probably not the national title contender they seemingly had the potential to be, but they’re hardly out of the ACC race yet. However, one more loss or even iffy performance and they’ll have to fall way down on this list.
5. Cal (3-0)
Last Week: Beat Minnesota 27-14
Can’t say I was expecting Cal to beat a — seemingly — solid Minnesota team, but they did so by multiple scores over the weekend.
This Week: Saturday at San Diego State
6. Louisville (2-0)
Last Week: Bye
The Cardinals were off this past week, and theoretically should get back to action with a victory this week.
This Week: Saturday vs. Bowling Green
7. NC State (3-0, 1-0 ACC)
Last Week: Beat Wake Forest 34-24
The Wolfpack are undefeated and located near the top of the ACC standings thanks to having won one of the few conference games won so far, but they’ve hardly looked super impressive in any of their wins.
This Week: Saturday at Duke
8. SMU (2-1)
Last Week: Beat Missouri State 28-10
The Mustangs have a winning record with a not bad loss, but they haven’t looked quite like the playoff team they were last year.
This Week: Saturday at TCU
9. Pitt (2-1)
Last Week: Lost to West Virginia 31-21
Spare a thought for the Panthers, who blew a 10-point lead in the one game this year they probably least wanted to lose.
This Week: Bye
10. North Carolina (2-1)
Last Week: Beat Richmond 41-6
Score wise, that was by far UNC’s best game so far, but there’s still plenty they need to prove.
This Week: Saturday at UCF
11. Syracuse (2-1)
Last Week: Beat Colgate 66-24
The Orange won one of the weirdest games to have its own rivalry Wikipedia page.
This Week: Saturday at Clemson
12. Duke (1-2)
Last Week: Lost to Tulane 34-27
As a UNC fan who was in the “hire Jon Sumrall” camp, I’m going to go scream into a pillow now.
This Week: Saturday vs. NC State
13. Virginia (2-1)
Last Week: Beat William & Mary 55-16
UVA handled business in their FCS game last week.
This Week: Saturday vs. Stanford
14. Stanford (1-2, 1-0 ACC)
Last Week: Beat Boston College 30-20
Losing to Hawaii but then winning their first conference game is probably the weirdest résumé in the league so far.
This Week: Saturday at Virginia
15. Wake Forest (2-1, 0-1 ACC)
Last Week: Lost to NC State 34-24
The Deacs don’t have any bad losses yet, but their résumé isn’t especially impressive.
This Week: Bye
16. Boston College (1-2, 0-1 ACC)
Last Week: Lost to Stanford 30-20
Can’t be losing to 2025 Stanford!
This Week: Bye
17. Virginia Tech (0-3)
Last Week: Lost to Old Dominion 45-26
It was a bit of a tie with UCLA, but the Hokies “won” the coach firing race, canning Brent Pry after losing to Old Dominion. Which, to be fair, I get it.
This Week: Saturday vs. Wofford
