Just one more win for the Pack is all we’re asking for
I don’t even know why I bother with this anymore, but let’s humor ourselves for a bit. Here’s my kneejerk reaction power rankings with about a single minute of thought put into it.
1. SMU (last week: 33-7 W @ Virginia)
SMU slowly pulled away from Virginia, but this game was never really in doubt. The total yards in this one slanted 434 to 173 in SMU’s favor. The Mustangs clinched a spot in the ACC title game and are just a home win against Cal away from going undefeated in their first ever foray through the ACC. Impressive stuff.
2. Miami (last week: 42-14 W vs Wake Forest)
As they’ve done for much of the season, the Hurricanes struggled to put away an inferior opponent. Although at this point with so many close games, maybe these opponents aren’t as much inferior as they are on par with Miami. Either way, it took until the latter half of the game’s final quarter for Miami to pull away from a bad Wake team. If the Canes can top Syracuse on the road this weekend – not an easy feat – then they’ll face off with SMU in the ACC title game. Slip up, and in will slide…
3. Clemson (last week: 51-14 W vs The Citadel)
Predictable results from a lopsided matchup. Clemson racked up 562 yards of offense. The surprising aspect of this game was that The Citadel put up 387 yards of their own. Clemson still has an outside shot at the CFP if they can take down South Carolina at home this weekend. Finish 10-2 with a win over a surging SEC team and you have yourself a pretty good shot.
4. Louisville (last week: 37-9 W vs Pittsburgh)
Heck of a bounce-back effort from the Cardinals after losing in laughingly funny fashion last week. Louisville thoroughly handled Pitt, leading 27-0 at half and not allowing the Panthers to scratch the scoreboard until late in the 3rd quarter when the game was already well over. The Cards finish ACC play at 5-3 and will now look for their third straight season of 8+ wins when they take on rival Kentucky in Lexington this weekend.
5. Duke (last week: 31-28 W vs Virginia Tech)
If you forgot that the Duke-VT game was happening last weekend, you’re probably not alone. You also missed a really fun game out of the gate. The two teams combined for three scoring plays of 65-plus yards in the first quarter. Things got more traditional from there, with Duke moving to a 14-point lead heading into the 4th quarter and then holding on late. Contrary to their season M.O., the Blue Devils won despite losing the turnover battle (-2 for the game). WR Eli Pancol had a monster game with 188 yards receiving and 3 TDs on just 5 receptions. With Wake up this week and a likely decent bowl matchup afterwards, there’s a chance for a 10-win campaign in Manny Diaz’s inaugural run in Durham. If they manage to do so, it would be just the second such season in school history, with the other being the 2013 season under David Cutcliffe.
6. Boston College (last week: 41-21 W vs North Carolina)
Maybe Thomas Castellanos really was the issue. Since his demotion from the starting gig – and subsequent quitting of the team – BC had SMU on the ropes and then thoroughly dismantled the Tar Heels. Don’t let the late window dressing fool you; this was a 41-7 game until under 2:30 to play when the Eagles completely took their foot off the pedal and allowed this one to coast to the finish line. BC tallied 7 sacks in the game while producing three turnovers (all picks), including a pick-six. Now bowl eligible, they’ll finish off the regular season at home with Pitt this weekend.
7. Syracuse (last week: 31-24 W vs UConn)
Three different receivers topped 100 yards in the game for Cuse as Kyle McCord threw for 470 yards and Syracuse hit 8 wins in a season for the first time since their 10-win 2018 season. They could theoretically hit 10 wins this year, but it’ll take an upset over Miami and a bowl win to do so. If McCord – who will go over 4,000 yards on the season in his next game – plays as well as he did against UConn, the chance for that upset of the Canes increases significantly. Cuse is 6-2 in one-possession games this year; I feel I should point that out.
8. Georgia Tech (last week: 30-29 W vs NC State)
The Yellow Jackets without Haynes King are a pretty bad team. What had been a lethal running attack was bottled up all night until NC State’s defensive philosophy changed to see if Aaron Philo would trip over his own feet (he did not). Georgia Tech finishes ACC play at 5-3, assured of a 4th place finish in the conference, and will now head to Athens to take on rival Georgia. The Bulldogs are playing for a CFP berth, so my money’s on the Dawgs in this one – especially if King is still banged up and unable to throw the ball.
9. Virginia Tech (last week: 28-31 L @ Duke)
Playing without starting QB Kyron Drones was always going to be a tall task, but VT hung tight and had their chance late to pull off the upset of the Blue Devils. In the end, it wasn’t to be. A loss to Virginia this week would mark the 4th time in the last five years that the Hokies have finished the season with a losing record. If that happens, will Brent Pry survive the year? I think he deserves one more season, but maybe the brass (and the donors) in Blacksburg feel differently. Hopefully complacency isn’t setting in for a once-proud program.
10. Pittsburgh (last week: 9-37 L @ Louisville)
Remember when Pitt was 7-0 and we were talking about Pat Narduzzi looking like the ACC Coach of the Year? Well, they’re 7-4 now following an embarrassing loss to Louisville. The Panthers got nearly doubled up in total yards, 507 to 265. Yeah, a lot of the issues stem from the loss of QB Eli Holstein, but the defense has had some major issues during this stretch, too. It’s probably a different story had Pitt pulled out wins against Virginia and Clemson in their previous two, but that didn’t happen. A trip to BC looms before bowl season.
11. North Carolina (last week: 21-41 L @ Boston College)
The Tar Heels offense was held to just 212 yards of offense, with 109 of those yards coming on their final two drives of the game after trailing 41-7 (that earlier touchdown was thanks to a kickoff return touchdown). That was a thorough butt whooping. This weekend, UNC will host…
12. NC State (last week: 29-30 L @ Georgia Tech)
Looking listless offensively for most of the evening, the Wolfpack surprisingly sprung to life to take a late lead, only for the defense to decide that allowing a freshman QB – one who hadn’t really done a thing through the air – to run for the game winning score was the best option to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The defense turned in a fantastic performance until that final drive, while the offense continues to start games by putting points on the board for the other team. This is not a good State team, but if they could give us just one more win then I’d happily forgive them.
13. California (last week: 24-21 W vs Stanford)
The Bears snagged just their second close win of the season (they’re 2-5 now in one-score games), but it was a sweet one with a come-from-behind victory over their rival, Stanford. Fernando Mendoza led Cal to scores on each of their final three possessions to turn a 14-point 4th quarter deficit into a 3-point win. The Golden Bears head to SMU to try and play spoiler to the Mustangs perfect ACC season.
14. Virginia (last week: 7-33 L vs SMU)
This is probably too harsh of a ranking for the Wahoos. Yes, they’ve lost five of their last six, but they’ve played four ranked opponents over that span, as well as a strong (at times) Louisville squad. Still, when your offense puts up a paltry 173 yards despite not turning the ball over, you deserve to get dinged hard in these power rankings – especially when you keep running with your second best QB despite loads of evidence that a change should be made. The Cavs need a win against rival VT to reach bowl eligibility, and that may be hard with Brent Pry potentially coaching for his job. At a certain point, maybe Tony Elliott should be coaching for his job.
15. Wake Forest (last week: 14-42 L @ Miami)
Wake’s three FBS wins this season have come by a combined 10 points. To be fair, they also have three one-possession losses, but this is a flawed Deacs team. With the loss to Miami, they’ll officially be home for the holidays. They host Duke for their final game of the year.
16. Stanford (last week: 21-24 L @ California)
Stanford led 14-0 after the first quarter and had a 21-7 lead midway through the 3rd quarter, but squandered that to lose the first ever ACC meeting between these two long-time rivals. The Cardinal had an 84.9% chance of winning with just over 5:00 to play… and lost. Ouch. Stanford will look to finish the season on a high note this weekend when they host 6-5 San Jose State.
17. Florida State (last week: 41-7 W vs Charleston Southern)
A 34-point win over a 1-win FCS team?
Hilariously, Charleston Southern took the opening drive of the game down to the FSU 35 yardline, but for some reason punted on 4th & 7 from there. They deserved to lose at that point. FSU led 3-0 after the first six total possessions of the game, which resulted in four punts, a made field goal, and a missed field goal. Anyone without a direct rooting interest for these two teams who continued to watch this game from there needs to question their life choices and seek professional help.