ACC Power Rankings: Week 2

#1 Clemson (2-0) (LW:#1)

After a lot of talk, the Clemson-Texas A&M game was a fairly low stress game for Tiger fans. I feel for some of those Aggies, though. Obviously they were super banged up after a tough opening weekend against checks notes Texas State. I’ve never seen a team with so many injuries before. Either they were faking to slow down Clemson’s offense, or the TAMU medical & training staff has some real problems. Hopefully Jimbo’s boys will do better with that light SEC load.

#2 Notre Dame (1-0) (LW: #2)

The Irish had the weekend off. They’ll host New Mexico this weekend.

#3 Virginia (2-0) (LW:#4)

UVA beat up on William & Mary. Now personally I don’t know Bill or Mary, but I can’t imagine that poor couple deserved a 52-10 drubbing in Charlottesville. The Hoos are ranked now and the Zima (or maybe it’s White Claw now) will be flowing as Florida State comes into town.

#4 North Carolina (2-0) (LW: #5)

UNC holds off Miami 28-25 to meet their win total from last year. Mack Brown and company head to Winston-Salem for a Friday night trist with the Demon Deacons.

#5 NC State (2-0) (LW: #6)

NC State shutout Western Carolina 41-0. They play in a interesting non-conference game at West Virginia Saturday. They cancelled their game last year due to inclement weather, but will head to Morgantown as 7-point favorites this week.

#6 Boston College (2-0) (LW:#7)

BC squashed the Richmond Spiders 45-13. Now they’ll host Kansas on Friday, which raises a legitimate question. Will the Jayhawks be the best football team from Kansas playing Friday night or could some 6A high school team beat them? In case you missed it, Coastal Carolina “upset” the Jayhawks in Lawrence on Saturday.

#7 Wake Forest (2-0) (LW:#8)

The Deacs easily dismantled Rice, and now will host UNC on Friday night.

#8 Syracuse (1-1) (LW:#3)

HAHAHAHAAHHAHA

‘Cuse was absolutely destroyed by MARYLAND. Yes, former ACC team, middling B1G member, basketball school Maryland beat the Orangemen 63-20. As hilarious as this is, I’m a bit salty that we now won’t he playing a ranked ‘Cuse this week. Regardless, I’m really hoping there’s no Carrier Dome voodoo working because the past two Clemson-Cuse games have aged me about 15 years, so a nice, easy win would be welcomed.

Tied #9 Duke (1-1) (LW:#10)

Duke got an easy 45-13 win over NC A&T. Now they turn their attention to the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders for a Saturday night game in Murfreesboro.

Tied #9 Louisville (1-1) (LW:9)

The Cards blanked EKU 42-0 - encouraging. Now they’ll host the WKU Hilltoppers on Saturday.

#11 Va Tech (1-1) (LW:#11)

The Hokies survived against rival Old Dominion with a 31-17 win, getting revenge on the Monarchs after ODU’s upset them last season. Virginia Tech hosts Furman on Saturday.

#12 Ga Tech (1-1) (LW:#15)

Georgia Tech got their first win in the Geoff Collins by beating the geographically challenged University of South Florida. Besides the fact that a school called SOUTH Florida is located in Tampa, but they also apparently don’t know where Atlanta is.

This would have them flying to somewhere around Rome, Georgia. It’s not like Atlanta is the biggest city in Georgia or anything. Anyway, GT will get to test their new fancy transitional option offense against the Citadel’s classic option offense on Saturday.

#13 Pitt (1-1) (LW:#14)

Pitt beat Ohio in a very meh 20-10 victory that kicked off at 11:00 AM because who nothing pairs with brunch quite as well as Pitt football. Now Pitt gets to travel to Penn State for a high noon rivalry game in State College that’s either going to be a painfully boring blowout or will result in Pitt happening and may be a fun game.*

*Author’s note: it will most likely not be a fun game. However the third quarter of a Big Ten game noon game tends to be the best time to squeeze in a nap.

#14 Miami (0-2) (LW:#12)

Miami falls to 0-2 after losing to Mack Brown’s rejuvenated UNC Tar Heels. This could be a long year for the Canes, but good news is on the horizon. Bethune-Cookman is next on the schedule, so maybe the U can avoid 0-3.

#15 Florida State (1-1) (LW:#13)

Technically Florida State won this weekend. I mean, they finished the game with more points than their opponent. But if you’re a Noles fan you probably aren’t feeling to great right now. FSU edged out UL Monroe in overtime due to the Warhawks’ kicker missing a PAT that would’ve sent it to double OT. The seat for Taggart is smoldering at the moment despite being only year two. Also, this happened:

The thing here is that it didn’t appear that the backwards player did anything to make this play happen, other than maybe cause some confusion for ULM presnap. Someone has to ask Taggart to elaborate on this during the week because I’m sure he has some logical reason for this play, I just don’t see it. The Noles head to Charlottesville this week to play #25 UVA.