ACC Power Rankings: THIS LEAGUE

1. Clemson (AP #6)

As expected, Clemson sliced through SC State with relative ease. The offense looked good at the beginning but sputtered. I’ll be interested in reading the film reviews and snap counts this week to see if the sputtering could partially be contributed to mixing and matching up front. Clemson got some bad news this week with reserve OL Dietrick Pennington tearing an ACL. Mason Trotter is back though. Very thin up on the line, but we must march on. Don’t expect Clemson to drop 73 on Georgia Tech again, but it should be a comfortable W.

2. Virginia Tech (AP #15)

Va Tech had a ho-hum win over MTSU. Not much to say. They get old rival West Virginia this week.

3. Pittsburgh

Pitt had an big win at Tennessee. Right now Pitt looks to be actually decent, and they should crack the rankings in the coming weeks as they get Western Michigan and New Hampshire the next two weeks before Georgia Tech and their open date.

4. North Carolina (AP #21)

Like Clemson, UNC rebounded by blasting an inferior opponent. This week they’ll host Virginia under the lights.

5. Miami (AP #24)

Miami needed a late field goal to beat App State and former Clemson QB Chase Brice. If you haven’t seen by now, the real excitement happened in the stands. Good awareness and teamwork from those Canes fans to save the cat.

6. Boston College

After spanking UMass, BC got bad news as starting QB Phil Jurkovec is out indefinitely with a broken wrist. BC looked to be a possible challenge to Clemson in the Atlantic but now that's unlikely. The Eagles head to Philly to face Temple this weekend.

7. NC State

Sheeeeesh. In a battle of the “Odd Couple” of coaches, NC State’s cantankerous Dave Doeren and Mississippi State’s sometimes nonsensical Mike Leach, the Wolfpack laid an egg against Mississippi State. NC State being a ranked team seems like a bit of a stretch now. The Pack hosts Furman Saturday night.

8. Wake Forest

Wake continued its early season cupcake feast by dispatching Norfolk State with ease. Wake now looks to hand FSU its third loss of the season.

9. Virginia

UVA stomped a hapless Illinois team (that beat Nebraska, but lost to UTSA). Now, they renew the South’s Oldest Rivalry with UNC.

10. Florida State

LET’S TALK ABOUT THE ‘NOLE! First, I’ll give you the clip in case you missed it.

If you didn’t know, the QB there is former Clemson backup Zerrick Cooper. In a funny turn of events, Cooper has the same number of wins in Tallahassee that Deshaun Watson did. The Noles are now 0-2 and face Wake Forest. But even if they avoid going 0-3, I don’t think they can recover from this.

11. Louisville

Louisville beat up on Eastern Kentucky. Now they face UCF in a Friday night game.

12. Georgia Tech

After an embarrassing opening night loss to Eastern Illinois, Georgia Tech had a good rebound against a Kennesaw State team that I legitimately thought would beat Tech. Tech looked much more competent, but still, Clemson will most likely cruise.

13. Syracuse

Cuse lost 17-7 to Rutgers in a very boring game. Cuse now hosts upstate New York foe Albany.

14. Duke

Duke also rebounded by dispatching a local FCS club. Devils get Northwestern on Saturday in a battle of the nerds.