It might have came a week too late, but Clemson certainly looked the part on Saturday night. The Tigers' impressive 36-24 win on the road at Florida State has the team heading in the right direction. In order to beat Florida State, the Tigers needed to score at least 30 points and be opportunistic on defense. They did just that, as well as getting a few clutch kicks off the big right leg of Nolan Hauser.
In the extended aftermath of Clemson's great win over Florida State, Mike Norvell has been let go. Florida State is now 3-5 on the season and will be looking for a new head coach. Despite being so strapped for cash, this loss to Clemson was the straw that finally broke the camel's back. With this win, so much pressure has been taken off Dabo Swinney. He has his team playing with confidence.
Let us now take a look and see how this conference game impacted this week's ACC power rankings.
17. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2-6) (Last Week: 17)
It is looking more and more likely that Georgia Tech's win over Duke was a total fluke. Since beating the Blue Devils in the final seconds at home, the Yellow Jackets have lost three in a row. They are now one loss away from failing to achieve bowl eligibility. The only other ACC team that can claim this is Cal. With Louisville, Clemson, Wake Forest, and Georgia left on the schedule, this may be a 2-10 team.
16. California Golden Bears (3-6) (Last Week: 15)
No, the California Golden Bears are not much better than Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Only Tosh Lupoi could lose to a North Carolina State team without a head coach. While Cal does have a pair of ACC wins on its resume, it also lost to UNLV in the non-conference. Simply put, Lupoi will be given another year to lead his alma mater, strictly because firing him after one season is horrible optics.
15. Florida State Seminoles (3-5) (Last Week: 13)
Florida State has now joined Maryland, North Carolina State, and Baylor as Power Four teams looking for a head coach next year. Despite being a 5.5-point favorite coming in, the Seminoles' defense let Mike Norvell down in the end. It did not help that Ashton Daniels was a turnover machine either. That being said, the Norvell era needed to end, but it is still shocking that Clemson delivered the final blow.
14. North Carolina State Wolfpack (4-4) (Last Week: 16)
North Carolina State's season ended the moment it lost to Stanford on a Friday night two weeks ago. By moving on from Dave Doeren, the Wolfpack's coaching search has opened up a can of worms that should not be explored. That is bringing Philip Rivers back to Raleigh. Even if his son Gunner is a big prospect, one would think Boo Corrigan would know better than to go in an incredibly risky direction.
13. Virginia Cavaliers (4-5) (Last Week: 11)
No, the Virginia Cavaliers are not the least bit good. We all clearly overstated what they did versus North Carolina State in Week 0. This was a team that was one series away from making the College Football Playoff last season. Now, they are two losses away from not even getting to a bowl game. It is starting to get to the point if Tony Elliott caught lightning in a bottle a season ago leading these Hoos.
12. Stanford Cardinal (4-5) (Last Week: 10)
Fact: Nobody loses like Stanford. When Stanford wins, the Cardinal look like a halfway decent ACC team. When they do not, they lose in multi-score laughers. While they did put up a few points on the Louisville Cardinals last week, it puts Tavita Pritchard's team in a position to where it needs to split with Virginia Tech and SMU to have any shot of going to a bowl game, assuming that they do beat Cal.
11. Boston College Eagles (4-4) (Last Week: 7)
Last week's road loss at Duke was an absolute splattering. The Boston College Eagles lost to the Blue Devils to the tune of 47-2. In fact, the only points BC scored came on a failed two-point attempt by Manny Diaz's offense. While Bill O'Brien has been a strong head coach for the Eagles this season, they are running out of chances to get to a bowl game. They still have to play Notre Dame and Miami.
10. North Carolina Tar Heels (4-4) (Last Week: 9)
What we are seeing out of North Carolina is fairly plain and simple. The Tar Heels are so well-coached under Bill Belichick now, but they are at a talent disadvantage in most of the games they have played. While they have not lost a bad game yet, the wins have been fewer to come by. After stumbling to Syracuse in overtime, UNC gave its all versus Miami. Unfortunately, the Canes finally upended them.
9. Syracuse Orange (4-4) (Last Week: 14)
Syracuse skyrockets up these power rankings for two reasons. One, they have won back-to-back games over North Carolina and SMU, two good, but not great ACC teams this year. The second would have to be the return of Steve Angeli at quarterback. Whenever the Notre Dame transfer is out there for the Orange, they look like a totally different team. This team is feisty, so Clemson better be ready.
8. Pittsburgh Panthers (6-3) (Last Week: 12)
Here is to being wrong! The Pittsburgh Panthers finally won another game to stop the bleeding and get to being bowl-eligible. To be fair, the only reason this happened is because Pat Narduzzi's team drew hapless Georgia Tech on the schedule. With Pitt always being the hardest team to ever forecast for solely Pitt reasons, it remains to be seen how much better they will be after getting their sixth win.
7. Clemson Tigers (5-3) (Last Week: 8)
Clemson moves up ever so slightly in these ACC power rankings after taking it to Florida State. While the win was so fantastic, there are still a handful of tough losses to overlook for the Tigers. Had they beaten Virginia Tech, we could seriously be looking at a top-three or -four team in the ACC. Clemson is not in the same class at Miami or Wake Forest, but it is in the stratosphere of the other pretenders.
6. SMU Mustangs (6-2) (Last Week: 3)
The true paper tiger of the ACC finally fell again over the weekend. SMU losing to Syracuse was a bit of an indictment on Rhett Lashlee's Mustangs. Entering this season, the Ponies were widely seen as the biggest threat to Miami in the ACC. For the first two-thirds of the year, they played with their food and got burnt when they were least expected to. They still have to play Notre Dame and Wake Forest.
5. Virginia Tech Hokies (6-2) (Last Week: 4)
Virginia Tech was on a bye this past week. While the Hokies are probably still riding high after beating Clemson in Death Valley, this is a football team that can only be good, and never great. In short, the Hokies can hang with anyone in the conference, but also lose to any team. It is a result of Virginia Tech struggling to keep its foot on the gas after halftime. The team is a work in progress, but is improving.
4. Duke Blue Devils (6-2) (Last Week: 6)
After a two-game stumble versus Georgia Tech and North Carolina, Duke is back to being Duke. The Blue Devils embarrassed a respectable Boston College team in Durham over the weekend. While the chances of them getting back to Charlotte to repeat in the ACC feel rather slim, we could be looking at a team that can win nine games for the third season in a row. No. 9 might have to come in a bowl.
3. Louisville Cardinals (5-3) (Last Week: 5)
The gap between No. 2 and No. 3 might as well be the Grand Canyon. However, Louisville is playing its best football of the season to possibly keep things interesting. While it may not be able to overcome the Wake Forest defeat suffered earlier in the year, Jeff Brohm's team has won three ACC games in a row. It might have only been over Florida State, Syracuse, and Stanford, but it has found momentum.
2. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (7-1) (Last Week: 2)
Follow along with this. If Wake Forest gets to Charlotte with wins over Merrimack, SMU, Georgia Tech, and Duke, the Demon Deacons should make the College Football Playoff, regardless of how they play in a rematch with Miami. Wake Forest could be this year's version of 2024 SMU. While they do have a win over Louisville as a potential resume booster, Miami better not overlook Wake Forest next time.
1. Miami Hurricanes (8-0) (Last Week: 1)
Give Mario Cristobal's team credit for finally beating their perpetual nemesis in the North Carolina Tar Heels over the weekend. Prior to the narrow escape over Bill Belichick's team, UNC had won five in a row over the Canes. While Miami is the No. 1 team in the land for another week, they may be exposed when they take on Notre Dame in South Bend next weekend. That is a critical measuring stick game.
If Miami beats Notre Dame, the Hurricanes will be on a shortlist of serious national title contenders.
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