In the extended aftermath of Week 5, the Associated Press has decided who the second-best team is in the ACC after Miami. After seeing Miami wipe the floor with Clemson, the Hurricanes held the No. 4 spot in this week's AP Top 25 Poll. They secured 1,524 points and two first-place votes. While it was expected, what was interesting is seeing who the AP voters viewed as the league's next best option.
Despite not playing all that well versus Boston College, the SMU Mustangs are the second-highest-ranked team in the ACC once again with 167 points. The Ponies dropped three spots in the rankings from No. 21 to No. 24. Right on their tail would be the No. 25 Pittsburgh Panthers. Although Pitt will be without Mason Heintschel for the rest of the year, the Panthers were only five points off SMU's trail.
While the slimmest of margins exist between No. 24 SMU and No. 25 Pitt, the ACC had two other teams receiving votes. Wake Forest was the second team out of the top 25 with 142 points, and Duke was fourth with 83. Given that the Blue Devils were on their bye week, some AP voters might have overlooked them. As expected, Clemson, Louisville, Virginia, and Virginia Tech did not receive votes.
Duke is the only team Clemson may face with a number next to its name
Looking at Clemson's upcoming schedule, the Tigers will be on a bye in Week 6 before hosting FCS Charleston Southern in Week 7. After that, Clemson will welcome Virginia Tech to Death Valley in the latter part of October, before playing at Florida State on Halloween. The November slate for Clemson features games at Clemson, home versus Georgia Tech, at Duke, and home versus South Carolina.
Although there is a non-zero chance Virginia Tech could be ranked ahead of the Hokies' Oct. 24 meeting at Clemson, that would require them to win at Cal and at home versus Georgia Tech. It would probably help their cause if Pitt holds steady without Heintschel to get to 7-0 with two more league wins over North Carolina and at Boston College before potentially a massive road game at Miami.
While SMU and Wake Forest may hang in and around the top 25 for the duration of the season, the only way Clemson will face either of them is in Charlotte. Given that Miami is a total buzzsaw, do not count on that happening. And that leaves us with Duke... The Blue Devils are 4-0 coming off their bye. With the way their schedule breaks down, it would not be shocking to see Duke get off to a 9-0 start.
Duke hosts arch rival North Carolina before playing a trap game at Virginia ahead of a Boston College home date on Halloween. North Carolina State is nothing to write home about, even if that Nov. 7 date is in Raleigh. Assuming the Blue Devils do not slip up, they could be undefeated at 9-0 with six ACC wins ahead of another huge road game at Miami. Manny Diaz will be wanting revenge against The U.
Ultimately, Clemson has the schedule the rest of the way to be as good as 10-2 (7-1), assuming the Tigers can win out. If they were to hand Duke its first or second loss of the season, that may be enough to get the Tigers in position to potentially get to Charlotte. It all starts with them taking care of business every week moving forward. This is a team that could win eight, nine, or even 10 games.
Just because Clemson's season eases up does not mean their future wins are any less meaningful.
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