Another great week of ACC football began on Friday when Pitt went to Virginia Tech for what turned into a last second thriller and ended when Miami clashed with Clemson in Death Valley.
17. Stanford (Prev 13): Stanford lost 58-7 at Notre Dame and did not score in the first half.
16. Boston College (Prev 16): BC was off this week and plays at home vs. Pittsburgh next weekend. The Panthers lost this week without Mason Heintschel so that could be intriguing.
15. Syracuse (Prev 15): The Orange went to Virginia
and had the Cavs in a bind but couldn’t stop the run allowing 4.8 YPC. Leading by 10 at halftime, Syracuse surrendered 17 points before their next score and lost 28-25.
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14. Georgia Tech (Prev 17): The Yellow Jackets were only 1-3 but didn’t blink when the defending ACC Champions came into town. They’d beaten Duke four times in a row, despite Duke being the better program over that span and they found a way to extend the streak with some late heroics. Albert Mendoza connected on a key pass to bring them to the 1-yard line and Trelain Maddox ran it in around the edge for a TD. Duke missed a mid-range field goal with a freshman kicker (their starting kicker was injured) as time expired.
13. California (Prev 14): The Golden Bears were reeling coming off back-to-back losses to Clemson and UNLV. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele did not start this week vs. Virginia Tech after leaving the previous game with a concussion. Back-up QB Jackson Brousseau threw for 321 yards while the Cal defense plugged the Hokies run game keeping them to 3.5 YPC. VT went up 20-19 with 1:18 remaining, but Cal countered with a game-winning TD with 0:18 remaining and the Golden Bears won 25-20.
12. NC State (Prev 11): After upsetting Louisville, we thought maybe the Wolfpack had something cooking. It may have had more to do with Louisville having their annual let down moment (or two). NC State had no answers for Gio Lopez and were blown out by Wake Forest in Raleigh.
11. Virginia (Prev 10): It wasn’t pretty, but Coach Elliott isn’t going to apologize for an ACC win. Nonetheless, it really, really wasn’t pretty. Virginia has taken a major step back from last season. The passing game is just not where it needs to be to compete at the top of this conference.
10. Florida State (Prev 5): Florida State rolled into Louisville and ran the ball, controlled the game, and built a 14-0. FSU QB Ashton Daniels looked excellent as they drove down to make it a three-score lead. With an opportunity to kick a field goal, and go up 17-0, they instead went for it on fourth down imagining themselves delivering the knockout punch. Instead, their quick pass to the outside came up short. On the next play Isaac Brown of Louisville ran for a 97-yard TD. It was the longest TD allowed in FSU history. It flipped the momentum and FSU lost control. Louisville scored 35-straight points and won 44-20.
9. Virginia Tech (Prev 8): QB Ethan Grunkemeter was excellent, but the run game wasn’t productive at Cal and the defense allowed a back-up QB eclipse 300 yards passing. I like the coach and QB, but we may have gotten ahead of ourselves anointing them ACC contenders.
8. Pittsburgh (Prev 2): I knew Pitt needed to be lower after losing QB Mason Heintschel, but I had hoped to reward them for their gritty win over Virginia Tech with the #2 spot in these rankings. Surely, it wouldn’t bite me this week. They only had UNC coming to their home field. I couldn’t lower them slowly if new QB Holden Geriner struggled. Unfortunately, he missed several key throws late and finished with 2 INTs. The defense gave them several tries to escape with a win, but they fell short, 21-17. After a 5-0 start and reaching no. 25 in the AP poll, they could have a rough finish.
7. North Carolina (Prev 9): The win at Pitt was the first ranked win of the Bill Belicick era. Of course, it came against no. 25 who just lost their star QB so there’s quite the asterisk on it, but they go to Duke next week. A win there would be an even bigger statement.
6. Louisville (Prev 12): Isaac Brown had the type of game that made him a household name in ACC circles. He ran for 235 as Louisville blew out the Seminoles in a game they trailed early. The Cardinals have now beaten SMU and Florida State. The loss to NC State isn’t great, but the other two losses (Wake Forest and Ole Miss) are somewhat excusable.
5. Clemson (Prev 7): Clemson had an open date this weekend and we also learned they have open positions for Director of Athlete Compensation and Director of Roster Strategy and Analytics. Neither will report to Coach Swinney. We had hoped for an empowerment of Clemson’s GM role that would allow Coach Swinney to focus where he is still great, and this seems like a baby step toward that concept. The hope now is that a more analytical approach can be taken so Clemson can be as efficient as possible with their roster investment. Clemson may not have the same roster investment as Miami or LSU (who lost to Kentucky on Saturday), but they have enough to be competitive with them, be ranked, and fight for a playoff spot. We’ll see if this helps.
In the short-term, they get Charleston Southern next and then Virginia Tech. The Hokies lost to Cal this week. The two presumed landmines remaining on the schedule — FSU and Duke — both look more workable after each opponent picked up a loss. 10-2 should be the goal.
4. Duke (Prev 4): The Blue Devils wasted an incredible performance from RB Nate Shepard who had 99 rushing yards with 2 TDs and another 91 receiving. Playing through an injured ankle, his burst turned check downs into big gains on Duke’s final drive which set up what should have been the game-tying field goal. It went wide and they lost 28-25 in Atlanta, their fifth straight loss to Georgia Tech.
3. SMU (Prev 6): The Mustangs had an open date this week. Their best wins came against FSU and Boston College. Neither seems great right now and their loss to Louisville doesn’t as acceptable either after they went and lost to NC State last week.
2. Wake Forest (Prev 3): Wake Forest trailed early, then something clicked and QB Gio Lopez absolutely shredded the NC State secondary. Meanwhile, Wake Forest’s D-line looked excellent and dominated an injury-riddled Wolfpack offensive line. Gio Lopez threw for 303 yards and 3 TD in a 38-14 rout in Raleigh.
1. Miami (Prev 1): Miami was off this weekend and host Florida State next Saturday. With Arch Manning throwing two late INTs in a loss to Oklahoma, I’m ready to declare Darian Mensah the best QB in the country and Miami the best team in the country.
