A Friday night shocker in Miami and a late night upset in Palo Alto sends the ACC Power Rankings into chaos and makes for a fun time ranking this wacky conference.
TIER: Among the Worst in the Power Four
17. North Carolina (2-4 [0-2] Prev 17): The Tar Heels headed out to California for a 10:30pm game against the Cal Bears. After a bad start, they battled back and had a chance to win late. On what would have been the go-ahead touchdown, UNC fumbled at the goal line and the ball trickled into the end
zone for a touchback resulting a close loss. Honestly, the collective evaluation on the Tar Heels was so bad that a close loss to Cal might have improved my perception of them. I almost moved them out of last place, but alas, the Heels remain entrenched.
16. Boston College (1-6 [0-4] Prev 16): As a Clemson graduate, I’m not really one to throw stones about embarrassing home losses, but Boston College allowed 38 points and 362 passing yards to UConn in a 38-23 loss.
15. Virginia Tech (2-5 [1-2] Prev 15): The Hokies had an open date as they essentially wait for their real fun, the coaching carousel.
14. Florida State (3-4 [0-4] Prev 9): Florida State has not won an ACC game since September 21 of 2024 – not this September, but the year before. Their ACC losing streak is now up to nine games. It is wild that this team beat Alabama in the season-opener and a reminder to take those big game openers with a grain of salt. Much like with Clemson, it isn’t a talent issue, at least not entirely, as they certainly have more talent on the field than Stanford. They totaled 444 total yards compared to Stanford’s 293. FSU also had zero turnovers, but they had 13 penalties and missed a field goal en route to a 20-13 loss in Palo Alto.
TIER: Not good, but not a national embarrassment
13. California (5-2 [2-1] Prev 13): As Clemson proved, beating UNC really doesn’t mean a whole lot so no upgrade for the Cal Bears after their win against UNC.
12. Clemson (3-4 [2-3] Prev 8): The wins over UNC and Boston College gave us false hope. Unfortunately, Clemson is still just a slightly below average ACC team. Cade Klubnik was out, and backup Christopher Vizzina got the start. He was a little shaky at the start but settled in and had his fair share of clutch throws. Vizzina finished with 3 TDs, 0 INTs, and 317 passing yards. That comes despite a drop by Bryant Wesco on a 50+ yard touchdown pass, and that is emblematic of this team. Whatever the exact opposite of complementary football is, that’s what they do.
The defense looked sharp early, but the offense sputtered with every opportunity they were given. Once Vizzina settled in, the receivers stopped making plays (except TJ Moore) and the offensive line let him get battered. After a clutch touchdown to make it a one possession game in the fourth quarter, the defense surrendered a long, slow, painful touchdown drive.
Clemson’s decline was slow and then it happened all at once. They’re more than a few plays or a few players away.
11. Syracuse (3-4 [1-3] Prev 11): QB Rickie Collins threw 3 interceptions and the Orange surrendered a punt return TD in a 30-13 loss where the defense only gave up 260 yards.
10. Stanford (3-4 [2-2] Prev 14):In another 10:30pm contest, Stanford matched their season win total from last year by holding Florida State to 13 points. It came down to the final play on an untimed down following a pass interference and the Cardinal stopped FSU at the goal line.
9. Wake Forest (4-2 [1-2] Prev 12): Wake Forest had an open date this weekend. Next, they host SMU who their defense may struggle to slow down.
8. NC State (4-3 [1-2] Prev 10): The Wolfpack had off this week. They go to Pitt next week which will be a tough road game to win.
TIER: Teams with lower expectations putting together good seasons
7. Duke (4-3 [3-1] Prev 4): Georgia Tech went to Durham and took control of their ACC destiny. I thought Duke had the QB and coaching to knock off Georgia Tech and I wasn’t totally off base. Darien Mensah threw for 373 yards with 2 TDs and no picks, but somehow Haynes King willed the Yellow Jackets to another win with 120 QB rushing yards. Duke went from ACC Championship hopefuls to looking at an 8-4 season really fast.
6. Pittsburgh (5-2 [3-1] Prev 6): The offense was stymied for the first time since switching to the freshman Mason Heintschel at QB, but the defense and special teams stepped up to lead them to a 30-13 road win at Syracuse. That’s complementary football!
TIER: The top tier
5. Virginia (6-1 [3-0] Prev 3): Virginia trailed Washington State at home by 10 in the fourth quarter but scored 12 points in the final quarter including a game-winning safety to escape with a 22-20 win. Tony Elliott’s group, a roster he built heavily through the portal to win now, is delivering.
4. SMU (5-2 [3-0] Prev 5): The Mustangs had a tough start to the season with two losses to Big 12 teams, then like Clemson they picked up wins over some of the weakest team in the ACC. We didn’t know if the “get right” was real. In their case, it was. Their pass defense was still susceptible, but the SMU offense casually strolled into Death Valley and put up an easy 35 points. They ran for 139 yards on 5.0 YPC while Kevin Jennings threw for 290 yards. They outrushed Clemson by 104 yards and won on special teams as kicker, Sam Keltner, went 3/3 on field goals all of which came from 48+ yards out. The bottom line is they won the battle in the trenches against Clemson. They remain undefeated in the ACC.
3. Miami (5-1 [1-1] Prev 1): Welcome back bad vibes Beck. Carson Beck threw four interceptions and then told the media the receiver ran the wrong route on the last one so we’ll call it 3.5 interceptions. Louisville Coach Jeff Brohm put the Miami defense in a blender early, but Miami seemed poised to come back until too many of their drives ended in interceptions. The Hurricanes may be fine, but this is a stark reminder that it is still Miami and they can never be trusted in the second half of a season and especially not in the postseason.
2. Louisville (5-1 [2-1] Prev 7): I was extremely high on Louisville entering the season and thought they’d beat Virginia a week ago, but they kept disappointing. On Friday, they looked like the team I was expecting all year. They went into Miami and beat the no. 2 Hurricanes in a contest they led from start to finish. With 10 wins in his inaugural season, nine last year, and five so far in 2025, Coach Brohm leads all ACC coaches since 2023 with 24 wins. His team came out swinging with crazy formations, multiple quarterbacks, and aggressive blitz packages. This helped them jump out to a 14-0 start. Miami countered and seemed to have the upper hand for much of the remaining game, but the Cardinals picked off QB Carson Beck four times stopping Miami whenever they got some win in their sails.
WR Chris Bell was the star of the game. His acceleration and ability to sneak through the tiniest of creases in the defense was reminiscent of Sammy Watkins a decade ago. He finished with 136 yards and 2 TDs.
Louisville lost to Virginia and Georgia Tech may go 8-0 in ACC play, so they don’t control their own destiny, but their remaining schedule is fairly weak. A road trip to SMU is their only tricky spot. Would an 11-1 Cardinals squad make the playoff as I predicted in the preseason? I’d hope so.
1. Georgia Tech (7-0 [4-0] Prev 2): The Yellow Jackets are 7-0 and are officially the class of the ACC. I can’t imagine a more fun to be a fan of than this edition of Georgia Tech. When I watch them, I’m not blown away by their talent, but they are so tough and slippery. They run the ball 100 different ways so you can’t hone in on it and they keep pounding. Then they fully unleash the QB run in key moments and you just can’t stop it. They have a will to win that I haven’t seen since Clemson in 2016-2018 and maybe this year’s Georgia team that always finds a way.
