The bye week could not have come at a better time for the Clemson Tigers. At 3-2 on the season and 2-1 in ACC play, Clemson had the great luxury of getting healthier and recalibrating, while the rest of the league beat itself up. Entering Week 7, Clemson might have more than just an outside shot at getting to Charlotte now. Its second-half schedule was breezy to begin with, and is now even easier.
Clemson has FCS Charleston Southern up next, followed by five ACC games in a row before the Palmetto Bowl. While South Carolina looked the part versus Florida, it will be next to impossible for the Gamecocks to be ranked heading into the final week of the regular season. Clemson's toughest remaining opponent is arguably Duke, who just lost on the road to a struggling Georgia Tech team.
How does this week's ACC power rankings stack up? Clemson is trending up even after a bye week.
17. Stanford Cardinal (2-4) (Last Week: 16)
The worst team in the ACC has fluctuated a bit during the first half of the season. While it had been Georgia Tech most recently, it might now be a team that beat the Yellow Jackets head-to-head in the lowly Stanford Cardinal. Tavita Pritchard's alma mater is 1-3 in ACC play, often getting skull-dragged by most conference foes it faces. This team is having a miserable time scoring points this season.
16. Syracuse Orange (2-3) (Last Week: 13)
The first ACC team to lose three conference games was the Syracuse Orange. While there was a chance Fran Brown's team could have been feisty this season, that no longer looks to be the case. Although the Orange are not losing by huge margins, they do not seem to play their best football when the moment requires it. Good teams thrive in winning time. Syracuse is anything but that now.
15. Boston College Eagles (2-3) (Last Week: 14)
Six weeks into the season, and Boston College has one again revealed its true colors. This is not a good football team. Bill O'Brien may be a strong head coach, but he has the least talented team in the ACC. While there is a chance BC may win a game or two it should not within the constructs of league play, it is so hard to see the Eagles winning four of their final seven games to achieve bowl eligibility.
14. Florida State Seminoles (3-3) (Last Week: 7)
We may have overreacted a bit by putting Florida State at No. 7 in last week's rankings. For as strong as Florida State looked versus Virginia, this team cannot win road games for the life of it. Mike Norvell is now back on the hottest seat in college football. While the Seminoles being 3-3 at the halfway point of their season is commendable, this is a program that has been going nowhere fast for quite a while.
13. North Carolina State Wolfpack (3-3) (Last Week: 10)
In a conference chock full of frustrating teams, North Carolina State might take the cake. At 3-3 on the season, this is who the Wolfpack are. They are a team that can play up to anyone, as well as lose to anyone in this league. Frankly, Dave Doeren is not on as much of a hot seat as he probably should be. There is absolutely no juice to this program. NC State needs to revamp this thing, but it never will.
12. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2-3) (Last Week: 17)
Georgia Tech shoots up five spots in this week's power rankings by simply beating undefeated Duke at home. While there is a chance Duke could have overlooked the Yellow Jackets, the Ramblin' Wreck still got an impressive win over their former ACC Coastal foe. No, Georgia Tech does not have any run defense whatsoever. However, Brent Key had Georgia Tech playing well enough to defeat Manny Diaz.
11. Virginia Tech Hokies (4-2) (Last Week: 6)
The James Franklin of it all has resurfaced in Blacksburg. After losing a heartbreaker at home last week to Pitt on a controversial missed field goal, the Virginia Tech Hokies backed it up by losing on the road to Cal in the final minute. Clearly, you cannot take mediocre Penn State players, put them onto Virginia Tech's roster, and it be the greatest thing since sliced bread. This team is disappointing.
10. California Golden Bears (3-3) (Last Week: 15)
Maybe the California Golden Bears are not dead just yet under Tosh Lupoi? It has not been easy for him in his first season leading his alma mater. After not looking the part versus Clemson or UNLV in recent weeks, Cal got a nice bounce-back win the program was in desperate need of. Virginia Tech may be the epitome of a paper tiger, but Cal is not in a position to take any win it can get for granted.
9. North Carolina Tar Heels (3-2) (Last week: 12)
Give the North Carolina Tar Heels some props! After losing a close one to Clemson a few weeks back, UNC responded by giving Notre Dame a scare two weeks ago, only to knock off a Pittsburgh Panthers team in Week 6. Yes, Pitt was without Mason Heintschel, but Bill Belichick's team improved to 3-2 on the season with a win over a ranked opponent. This team is not bad and could be bowl-bound soon.
8. Louisville Cardinals (3-3) (Last Week: 11)
Louisville has now become the hardest team to assess in the ACC. Jeff Brohm's Cardinals are 3-3 overall, but two of its losses have come to top-25 teams: Ole Miss and Wake Forest. The latter of two did come at home, but maybe U of L is not as bad as we thought the Cardinals were only a week ago? They beat Florida State like a drum to send a message to the rest of the league: they are not out of it.
7. Virginia Cavaliers (4-2) (Last Week: 9)
Virginia might be the team that best encapsulates the current state of ACC football. Whenever the Cavaliers are at their best, they can look like a top-25 team. When they are not, they have it in them to lose to every team in their conference. While they did get a nice bounce-back victory over Syracuse, the Hoos' two losses on the year to West Virginia and Florida State are still fresh in everyone's minds.
6. Clemson Tigers (3-2) (Last Week: 8)
Clemson did not play a game this past week and moved up two spots in these rankings. It is a direct result of teams previously ranked of them in Florida State and Virginia Tech losing. Their two league wins over UNC and Cal look better after this past weekend. While the tough road loss to LSU looks worse, Clemson has a navigable pathway in front of it to win eight, nine, or even 10 games this year.
5. Pittsburgh Panthers (5-1) (Last Week: 5)
Despite losing to North Carolina to fall out of the top 25, Pittsburgh holds steady at No. 5 here for three reasons. One, Pat Narduzzi can still coach up a defense. Two, the ACC is too chaotic for even flailing Pitt to trust. And three, there was no better option to have a team ranked inside the top five of the ACC than Pitt! We know this team can do at least one thing extraordinairly well. That has to count!
4. Duke Blue Devils (4-1) (Last Week: 2)
Duke drops two spots from No. 2 to No. 4 after blowing it versus Georgia Tech. While its in-state rival Wake Forest was poised to overtake Duke anyway, it did fall victim to the proverbial trap game. The Yellow Jackets always play Duke well, but that is a tough road loss that could come back to haunt the Blue Devils later on. Frankly, it may have cost them a legitimate shot at being ranked later this season.
3. SMU Mustangs (4-1) (Last Week: 4)
The SMU Mustangs have been a fixture inside the AP Top 25 Poll throughout this season. They rarely go up, but never stumble out of those rankings. This is a team with a high floor and a relatively high ceiling from an ACC perspective. However, any expectations of this team going from good to great may be too farfetched right now. The Ponies could get to Charlotte, but they are not beating Miami.
2. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (5-1) (Last Week: 3)
It took half the season, but the answer was in front of us the whole time. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are the second-best team in the ACC, behind only Miami. While they did lose the head-to-head matchup at home on a Friday night nearly a month ago, Jake Dickert's did put forth the best effort Miami has gotten out of an opponent this season. Wake might not win the rematch, though.
1. Miami Hurricanes (5-0) (Last Week: 1)
The gap between Miami and Wake Forest is arguably larger than the gap between Wake Forest and Stanford. The fact you even had to contemplate that in your head speaks volumes about where the Hurricanes are at when compared to the rest of the ACC. Even if the Hurricanes were to somehow lose the ACC Championship Game to Wake Forest, SMU, or someone else, they are still getting in.
The ACC looks to be only a one-team league when it comes to the playoffs, and that team is Miami.
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