King of the Hill: ACC Football Power Rankings (Week 5)

Here’s how I rank the conference teams based on what we’ve seen so far. Number in parentheses is the team’s ranking last week.

1. (1) Clemson (5-0) - Beat North Carolina, 21-20
2. (2) Virginia (4-1) - Lost 35-20 to Notre Dame
3. (4) Wake Forest (5-0) - 27-24 win over Boston College
4. (3) Pitt (3-2) - 17-14 win over Delaware
5. (5) Florida State (3-2) - 31-13 win over NC State
6. (13) Duke (3-1) - 45-10 win over Virginia Tech
7. (7) North Carolina (2-3) - Narrow loss to Clemson
8. (6) Louisville (2-2) - Bye
9. (8) Miami (2-2) - Bye
10. (12) Syracuse (3-2) - Defeated Holy Cross, 41-3
11. (10) Boston College (3-2) - Lost to Wake Forest
12. (9) North Carolina State (3-2) - Lost to Florida State
13. (11) Virginia Tech (2-2) - Lost to Duke
14. (14) Georgia Tech (1-3) - Lost to Temple, 24-2

I had a tough time trying to decide what to do with Pitt. But while their win was not impressive in the slightest, they were also playing with a backup quarterback and several other backups as well. Ultimately, I dropped them one spot as Wake Forest had a solid win and continues to roll.

Duke is the biggest mover. I was not real convinced by what they had done to the point in the season before last week’s game but they looked great in crushing Virginia Tech at home. That game gave me much more concern for them than I previously had. Tech doesn’t look good at all but that, coupled with some teams in front of them with legitimately bad losses was enough for me to make their ranking significantly better.

And Georgia Tech. Woof.

What about you? What does your ranking look like?

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