While there is a non-zero chance that the Clemson Tigers receive some votes in this week's AP Top 25 Poll after winning a rain-soaked thriller over the North Carolina Tar Heels, do not count on it. Yes, this team is improving, but it not quite to the level of top-25 contention just yet. The good news is the Week 3 slate provided us some clarity on how the rest of the best ACC teams behind Miami stack up.
Here is what the latest AP Top 25 Poll could look like entering Week 4 after this weekend's results.
- Georgia Bulldogs (2)
- Texas Longhorns (1)
- Indiana Hoosiers (4)
- Miami Hurricanes (5)
- Ole Miss Rebels (8)
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3)
- Ohio State Buckeyes (6)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (10)
- BYU Cougars (11)
- Texas Tech Red Raiders (13)
- LSU Tigers (7)
- Penn State Nittany Lions (14)
- Tennessee Volunteers (15)
- USC Trojans (12)
- Utah Utes (17)
- Iowa Hawkeyes (18)
- Texas A&M Aggies (9)
- Michigan Wolverines (19)
- Missouri Tigers (20)
- Oregon Ducks (21)
- Louisville Cardinals (23)
- SMU Mustangs (16)
- Mississippi State Bulldogs (NR)
- Florida Gators (NR)
- Houston Cougars (22)
From purely a Clemson and ACC standpoint, Miami should be a top-five team this week. The Canes have been the strongest team in the conference by far. With Louisville beating SMU, the Cardinals are now in the passenger's seat of the car Miami is driving to Charlotte. SMU is still in the mix to get there, but we may have overstated Virginia just a bit. Keep an eye on Virginia Tech more than South Carolina.
Clemson should pay attention to Virginia Tech and Duke a little more now
Although the ACC could still be a two-team league, it may only end up being one if the rest of the teams behind Miami cannibalize themselves. While the Canes got pushed around at times by Wake Forest on Friday night, the better team prevailed. When it comes to Louisville owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over SMU, that could matter in the end for ACC conference title bout contention.
As far as who Clemson should be worried about on its schedule, Virginia Tech is probably another week or two away from cracking the top 25. The Hokies are trending up under James Franklin, but a probably not quite in the same breath as Louisville, SMU, or even Virginia for that matter. As far as the Gamecocks are concerned, they had their chance to be ranked, but lost to Mississippi State instead.
Even though they only beat lowly Stanford, let's also keep an eye on Duke as well. Manny Diaz has his team at 3-0. Clemson will be playing in Durham on a Friday night during the penultimate week of the season. Although Pitt is still undefeated three weeks in, the Blue Devils are the team we should be willing to trust more than the Panthers. Plus, they are the ones on Clemson's schedule for this season.
While getting a big win over North Carolina feels great, Clemson is still far from a top 25 team this fall.
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