ACC Power Rankings - Week 9

[Horizontal red lines indicate tiers]

1. Clemson (last week: 59-7 W vs Boston College)

Previous Rankings: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

Demolished BC, with WR Diondre Overton going for TDs on all three of his receptions. Already sitting at 6-0 in ACC play with games against NC State and Wake Forest remaining (as well as OOC games against Wofford this week and South Carolina in the last week of the regular season). Since their close call against North Carolina a few weeks ago, the Tigers have outscored their last three opponents by a total score of 149-31.

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2. Wake Forest (last week: Bye)

Previous Rankings: 5, 3, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2

At this point, pretty much just sitting on their own as the #2 team in the conference.

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3. Florida State (last week: 35-17 W vs Syracuse)

Previous Rankings: 10, 12, 9, 7, 9, 5, 4, 5

Even though they beat a Syracuse team that is super awful, the Seminoles are playing the best football they’ve played under Willie Taggart. The offense right now is basically just Cam Akers, but when you have a RB doing what Akers is doing (20 carries, 144 yards, 4 TDs), you might as well just roll with that hand... err, those feet. The FSU defense racked up 12 TFL and 7 sacks.

4. Louisville (last week: 28-21 W vs Virginia)

Previous Rankings: 11, 7, 10, 11, 11, 6, 2, 6

If there was any question which division is better, Louisville put that question to rest last weekend. After getting torched by Clemson, the Cardinals bounced right back with a win over Coastal Division front-runner Virginia. Congratulations to Scott Satterfield, your 2019 ACC Coach of the Year.

5. Virginia (last week: 21-28 L @ Louisville)

Previous Rankings: 3, 2, 2, 5, 5, 3, 13, 4

Still don’t quite understand what happened to Virginia’s offense and, in particular, Bryce Perkins. They still control their path to an ACC Championship Game appearance with games remaining against North Carolina, Georgia Tech, and...

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6. Virginia Tech (last week: Bye)

Previous Rankings: 7, 11, 11, 12, 13, 12, 10, 8

Still not buying VT as legit, but they are playing better of late. Coming off their bye week, they’ll head to Notre Dame.

7. Miami (last week: 16-12 W @ Pittsburgh)

Previous Rankings: 9, 10, 6, 13, 6, 13, 12, 14

Lost to last place Georgia Tech one week, turned around and beat first place Pittsburgh the next. Miami is the true embodiment of everything that is the Coastal Division in 2019 ever.

8. Pittsburgh (last week: 12-16 L vs Miami)

Previous Rankings: 12, 9, 7, 3, 10, 7, 8, 3

Held Miami to 208 total yards of offense... and lost. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

9. North Carolina (last week: 20-17 W vs Duke)

Previous Rankings: 8, 6, 4, 9, 4, 4, 9, 10

If Mack Brown has a power, it’s getting opponents to crap their pants against him, allowing his team to win ugly games that they shouldn’t have won. Kudos to UNC, though, for wearing Duke’s colors and confusing the Blue Devils’ RB to throw the ball to them with the game on the line.

10. Duke (last week: 17-20 L @ North Carolina)

Previous Rankings: 13, 8, 5, 4, 2, 8, 11, 9

As much as State fans have rightfully criticized the red zone playcalling for the Wolfpack this year, at least they know they won’t win the award for Dumbest Playcall of the Year. David Cutcliffe gets that honor with this stupid call (hint: Duke is in the white jerseys, UNC in the Duke blue jerseys):

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11. Boston College (last week: 7-59 L @ Clemson)

Previous Rankings: 4, 5, 13, 10, 8, 11, 7, 7

I mean, their punter had a good game...?

12. NC State (last week: Bye)

Previous Rankings: 2, 4, 8, 8, 12, 10, 5, 11

Another bye week to break in another starting QB.

13. Georgia Tech (last week: Bye)

Previous Ranking: 14, 13, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 13

The Yellow Jackets got a bye week so they could take an extra long soak-in of their first ACC win, which is one more conference win than...

14. Syracuse (last week: 17-35 L @ Florida State)

Previous Ranking: 6, 14, 12, 6, 7, 9, 6, 12

This game was not nearly as close as the score indicated. This team has all sorts of issues. Bet Dino Babers wishes he had cashed in on that 10-win season last year and bolted to another job.