King of the Hill: ACC Football Power Rankings (Week 7)

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 (6-0) - 45-14 win over Florida State
2. (2) Virginia (4-2) - Lost to Miami, 17-9
3. (3) Pitt (4-2) - Bye
4. (5) Florida State (3-3) - Lost to Clemson
5. (6) Louisville (4-2) - Beat Wake Forest, 62-59
6. (4) Wake Forest (5-1) - Lost to Louisville
7. (7) North Carolina (3-3) - Bye
8. (8) Duke (4-2) - Defeated Georgia Tech, 41-23
9. (13) North Carolina State (4-2) - Defeated Syracuse, 16-10
10. (10) Boston College (3-3) - Bye
11. (11) Virginia Tech (4-2) - Defeated Rhode Island, 34-17
12. (12) Miami (3-3) - Beat Virginia
13. (9) Syracuse (3-3) - Lost to North Carolina State
14. (14) Georgia Tech (1-5) - Lost to Duke

More craziness going on this week in the ACC. You wouldn’t know it by looking at my top eight teams, though. Those didn’t change much. One interesting footnote here is that Florida State moves up a spot, despite losing handily to Clemson. The reason for that? They need to remain ahead of Louisville, who they beat head to head. And Louisville obviously leapfrogged Wake Forest after beating them this weekend.

Virginia stays at No. 2 despite the Miami loss. The reason for that is simple since they beat No. 3 Pitt and have the same record. Virginia also beat No. 4 Florida State head to head and own a better record. The Cavaliers also played Notre Dame a wee bit closer than No. 5 Louisville did and they have the same record. I know there’s a rush to dethrone Virginia here but I don’t know who you rank above them at this point based on what’s happened so far this season.

With the exception of bottom feeder Georgia Tech and maybe Syracuse, you can make all kinds of changes to the No. 9-12 teams.

Do I really think Miami is the No. 12 team in the conference? Nah. While I’ll concede that it’s unfair that Miami doesn’t move up after knocking off Virginia, my hands are somewhat tied there because they lost head to head against Virginia Tech and Tech lost head to head against Boston College. Those teams basically have to stay in that order until more happens. More will and, as it is every year, this will be sorted out eventually.

Similarly, Syracuse’s drop seems a bit unfair after a relatively close loss to NC State. But Miami and and Virginia Tech have to stay in front of them for winning their games. After all, it would be hard to drop Miami after beating Virginia.

What about you? What does your ranking look like?

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