ACC Power Rankings Week 2

Two weeks are in the books on the young season but the ACC looks to be its usual clouded mess once again. Sure, you have a 3-0 UNC team but they’ve looked ugly getting those three wins. Miami seems solid but has yet to play a challenging foe. Clemson hasn’t lost either though their performances were lackluster against the easiest teams on their schedule.

The middle and bottom of the conference will probably shift around each week as VT climbed out of the cellar by knocking Boston College down to 0-2. Louisville got things going with a win over UCF after a bad loss to Syracuse. Meanwhile, Duke who kicked off the season last in the rankings could be one of the better teams and might push for a top finish in the Coastal.

Power Rankings

1. Miami - Miami has done what it needed to do against weaker competition. QB Tyler Van Dyke has looked great and RB Henry Parrish has put up back-to-back 100-yard games. The Hurricanes travel to College Station next for a Top 25 match-up with Texas A&M. The Aggies suffered a serious blow after losing at home to Appalachian State. Expect Miami to continue to roll and stay atop the rankings.
2. Florida State - The Seminoles got an early bye and took this week off. The win over LSU keeps them near the top and should be able to handle traveling to Louisville this week despite the Cards picking up a road win.
3. Wake Forest - QB Sam Hartman returned to service this week and picked up right where he left off last year by trouncing Vanderbilt on the road 45-25. He threw for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns on the day. Liberty might be a better opponent than Vandy but Wake Forest is a sound team that should take care of most of their schedule.
4. Clemson - Maybe they were playing vanilla against an FCS foe but Clemson has to get going on offense if they want to stay relevant. Scoring 35 against Furman isn’t much to cheer about and right now defensive talent alone keeps Clemson in the top 5 of the ACC. Louisiana Tech is next and that might be a tougher task than their last two.
5. North Carolina State - The Wolfpack remains static after taking care of Charleston Southern 55-3. After getting up early there wasn’t a lot to learn from this mismatch as CSU looks to be at the bottom in the FCS ranks. Texas Tech comes to Raleigh this week and that should be a fun matchup with plenty of scoring. A good defensive performance from NC State could raise their stock.
6. Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh lost a tough game in OT against Tennessee who looks to finally be turning a corner. Pitt has played the toughest schedule so far of all the teams in the ACC against two Power 5 teams. It’s been inconsistent and starting QB Slovis went down with an injury against Tennessee. They’ll step down the competition level against Western Michigan this week.
7. Syracuse - Sean Tucker keeps turning out yards on the ground for Syracuse and it looks like the passing game is starting to back him up this year. If that is the case then Syracuse is going to make some serious improvements going forward. Purdue will visit them this week and that will be a great gauge of where The Organe truly stand.
8. Duke - It feels almost wrong to keep Duke this low after taking down Temple and Northwestern in back-to-back weeks. They got off to a good lead against Northwestern but had to fight to maintain it late in the game. NC A&T shouldn't be a problem this week and Duke’s got a favorable schedule to make a run this year.
9. North Carolina - This is another team that feels like they should be higher with a 3-0 record but they have struggled to get there. The offense comes and goes in spurts and the defense has been pretty bad in the process. Plus, it’s not been the greatest competition they are beating either. Notre Dame visits next but the Irish suffered a bad loss to Marshall so maybe the Tar Heels keep it moving.
10. Louisville - Louisville got a tough win down in Orlando against UCF and it was all thanks to QB Malik Cunnigham on offense who accounted for 321 of Louisville's 427 yards. The defense did just enough by snagging an interception in the endzone. Penalties were awful for both teams though. FSU is next and Louisville will want to provide more offensive help if they want to stay in the win column.
11. Virginia Tech - After kicking off the season with a loss to Old Dominion the Hokies come back and do just enough to claim an ACC win against Boston College. The defense played better but that might not be saying much against Boston College. The offense didn’t look great but still managed 27 points despite only 284 yards of offense. Wofford is up next so Virginia Tech can maybe pick up some momentum from that.
12. Georgia Tech - A win is a win but when an FCS opponent hands you 4 turnovers you should probably win. Still, Western Carolina had 390 yards of offense with 14 points. Getting LB Charlie Thomas back in the second half helped slow the Catamounts down but special teams looked bad again. Ole Miss comes in with a high-octane offense, so Georgia Tech better get prepared for Lane Kiffin’s fast pace.
13. Virginia - The Cavaliers got punched in the mouth by Illinois’ defense and were held to only a field goal despite getting four turnovers in this game. It didn’t help that Virginia gave the ball back three times. Old Dominion is up next and the Monarchs may claim a second win over an ACC team from Virginia this year.
14. Boston College - When it rains it pours and that is exactly what is happening to the offenses at the bottom of these rankings. Boston College is setting the standard though with some horrible offensive line play. They couldn’t get anything going against VT with only 155 yards of offense and their leading rush having 15 yards total. The Eagles should pick up a win against Maine next but don’t expect too many more.