Not a great week for the conference
1. Clemson (last week: 40-14 W vs Stanford)
It certainly wasn’t the dominating performance of their prior two games, but hard to quibble about a 26-point conference win. Cade Klubnik tossed 4 TDs and ran for another, but was very inefficient passing (15-of-31). The defense was the big differentiator, forcing 3 turnovers and holding Stanford’s passing attack to just 4.6 yards/attempt. The Tigers hit the road for a contest at Florida State next Saturday evening, a game that has lost a lot of luster from the preseason.
2. Miami (last week: 38-34 W vs Virginia Tech)
I hate to toot my own horn, but dang if I didn’t call it that this would be Miami’s toughest test yet. If not for a questionable overturn of a Virginia Tech Hail Mary as time expired, we’d be talking about how the Hurricanes playoffs hopes took a ding. I don’t think that last play was a catch on the part of the Hokies, but I also don’t know how you overturn the call on the field. Regardless, the bigger issue was that Virginia Tech went toe-to-toe with the Hurricanes and had the opportunity to come out with the win. Nothing against the Hokies, but if Miami has national title aspirations like the fanbase is talking about, then they shouldn’t need to be holding their breath on the final play of the game. The Canes travel to Cal this week for a late night affair.
3. SMU (last week: 42-16 W vs Florida State)
I’m probably falling back into the trap of assessing too much value to a win over Florida State, but in a week where the conference as a whole looked pretty weak, SMU at least looked the part in pulling away from the Seminoles in the second half. Sophomore QB Kevin Jennings had his best game in a Mustangs uniform while Miami transfer RB Brashard Smith went for a career-high 179 yards from scrimmage. After winning their first ever ACC game, SMU heads to Louisville this week.
4. Pittsburgh (last week: Bye)
The 4-0 Panthers head to Chapel Hill this Saturday. Alabama transfer QB Eli Holstein and Western Carolina transfer RB Desmond Reid have helped to provide some punch to an offense that topped 24 points only twice all of last year. They’ve done that all four times out so far this year.
5. Louisville (last week: 24-31 L @ Notre Dame)
Frustrating for Cardinals fans, for sure, Louisville outgained the Fighting Irish 437 yards to 283 and were even in turnover margin. This was a pretty evenly matched game, so hard to ding Louisville too much for losing on the road to a high quality opponent. The loss was the first of the year for the Cardinals, but doesn’t hurt their playoff chances as it was of the non-conference variety. SMU comes to town this weekend, followed by a trip to Virginia.
6. Duke (last week: 21-20 W vs North Carolina)
This one looked all but lost for the Blue Devils, who had to punt on six of their seven full first half drives against a defense that gave up 70 points to James Madison last week. Down 20-0 midway through the 3rd quarter, Duke finally got going by putting touchdown drives on three of their next four possessions to take the lead. From there, Duke forced a punt and an interception to seal the win and move to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in ACC play. The Blue Devils offense has been very suspect, but Manny Diaz has the group just one win away from bowl eligibility in his first season in Durham. Kudos to him.
7. Syracuse (last week: 42-14 W vs Holy Cross)
Things got a little dicey there for Cuse in the 2nd quarter when Holy Cross mounted back-to-back drives of 75 and 74 yards, respectively, to cut it to a one score game, but that would be the last time the Crusaders threatened as the Orange put the clamps down on the win. Outside of those two long Holy Cross TD drives, Syracuse allowed just 54 yards of offense on the day and held their opponent to 2-of-14 on 3rd downs. Syracuse’s offense put up 541 yards in the win, although the 58-to-34 pass-to-run play-calling is a bit suspect and allowing 5 sacks to an FCS team is alarming. The Orange head out west to take on 4-0 UNLV on Friday night.
8. Boston College (last week: 21-20 W vs Western Kentucky)
Last week I had BC ranked 4th in these power rankings and I mentioned that I didn’t feel like they were really the 4th best team in the conference. Well, the Eagles tried to prove me right immediately, needing a 14-point 4th quarter to avoid being upset at home by the Hilltoppers. Granted, BC was without starting QB Thomas Castellanos, and that’s a huge loss for them. Still, it was surprising to see the Eagles team we’ve seen thus far in 2024 struggle with a Western Kentucky squad that needed a 2nd half rally last week to top Toledo. Thankfully for BC, the injury to Castellanos doesn’t appear to be serious and he could be back as soon as this weekend’s game at Virginia.
9. Georgia Tech (last week: Bye)
The Yellow Jackets, who are 3-0 at home this year, will host Duke this weekend. GT needs more consistency, as well as to find some offensive identity that doesn’t live and die by the arm – and legs – of Haynes King. The defense, too, needs to be able to create more disruptive plays (only 5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 0 interceptions in their first 5 games).
10. California (last week: Bye)
With an extra week to stew in the should-have-been-a-win loss at Florida State, Cal welcomes Miami to town this weekend. Virginia Tech at least provided a blueprint on how to potentially beat the Hurricanes. We’ll see how this one plays out as it’s strength-on-strength with Miami’s high octane offense (49.4 points/game) against the Golden Bears stingy defense (12.8 points/game).
11. Virginia Tech (last week: 34-38 L @ Miami)
Man, what a tough break for the Hokies. As mentioned in the Miami section, it kinda felt like robbery to overturn that call. That final play wasn’t the real stinger, though. Early in the 3rd quarter, up 10 and following an interception of Miami, VT elected to run a fake field goal on 4th & 3 at the Miami 10 rather than kick the short field goal and go up 13. Had the Hokies taken the 3 points there, that final play of the game could have been a 47-yard field goal attempt instead of a Hail Mary. Sometimes you have to think ahead instead of being greedy and coming up without points on a bonus possession. The Hokies three losses on the year have come by a combined 10 points. They’ll skip across the country this week to take on…
12. Stanford (last week: 14-40 L @ Clemson)
Considering each of Stanford’s first three possessions resulted in turnovers, the Cardinal put up a pretty good fight, keeping it to a 17-7 game at half. The contest officially turned on a 3rd quarter interception that set up Clemson for a quick TD and 27-7 lead. The game was officially over at that point. If not for the deficit, Stanford could have leaned on a running game that worked really well (255 yards on 40 carries, adjusted for sacks). Freshman Micah Ford ran 15 times for 122 yards. Stanford heads back to the west coast to host Virginia Tech this coming Saturday.
13. Virginia (last week: Bye)
The Wahoos will look to carry forward the momentum from their pre-bye week win at Coastal Carolina as they host Boston College this weekend. Consistently creating more pressure (7 sacks in 4 games) will be key to Virginia’s success.
14. NC State (last week: 24-17 W vs Northern Illinois)
The Wolfpack secured the win over their MAC opponent thanks to consistently solid efforts from the defense and special teams units, but State is going to struggle to win many games if the offense can’t hit the 200 yard mark. The team can’t live on a +4 turnover margin every time out, either, and the schedule gets much tougher as only ACC games remain. Wake Forest comes to town this weekend, followed by better than expected Syracuse, California, Stanford, Duke, and Georgia Tech teams.
15. Wake Forest (last week: 38-41 L vs Louisiana)
I mean, yeah, State looked not great against NIU, but at least the Pack came away with the win. The Ragin’ Cajuns are by no means a bad team – they’re likely to be among the favorites in the Sun Belt – but that’s still a home game against a G5 program that an ACC team should win. Who do you think you are? UNC? Can’t be giving up season-best offensive performances like that to Sun Belt teams on your home turf! The good news for the Deacs is that the game was the 3rd time this year their offense has topped 30 points in a game. The bad news is it was also the 3rd time this year their defense has given up 40 ore more in a game. Next up is a trip to NC State
16. Florida State (last week: 16-42 L @ SMU)
Things are rough in Tallahassee and the seat under Mike Norvell’s rear end has to be getting really heated. FSU’s offense went for just 295 yards while D.J. Uiagalelei completed just 40% of his 30 pass attempts and tossed 3 interceptions. Backup QB Brock Glenn came in late to try and do something – anything – but he went 0-for-4 passing with his lone completion being wiped off via a holding penalty. FSU’s defense will keep them in games just as they did in this one, but there’s only so much that unit can do when continually put in disadvantaged situations. Next up for the 1-4 Seminoles is a home tilt against Clemson.
17. North Carolina (last week: 20-21 L @ Duke)
Give credit to the UNC defense for not looking like a complete bag of hot garbage like they did a week ago. That unit did an admirable job in containing Duke’s offense and allowing the Tar Heels to get out to a 20-0 3rd quarter lead. Unfortunately for them – but fortunately for the rest of us – that lead didn’t last as the offense dried up for the Heels and the defense wore down. UNC gets to stay home the next two weeks as the welcome Pitt and GT to town before getting a bye week.