Because you can’t spell “elite” without #GoACC, each week we will provide conference-wide football power rankings.
I get it.
Virginia had the week off. The weather, sweltering as recently as a week ago, turned pristine as Charlottesville got a head start on its annual transformation into an autumnal paradise. No. 1 Alabama vanquished No. 6 Texas A&M, 49-42, in a heart palpitation-inducing offensive bonanza. (Coincidentally, “heart palpitations” sounds like an apt term for whatever A.J. McCarron inked on his chest). Ray Rice and Tom Brady imploded your fantasy team, Snape killed Keyzer Soze on “Breaking Bad” or something, and so on, and so forth.
In all likelihood, this cascade of distractions compelled you to shirk your solemn duty to absorb all things ACC football this weekend, rending your psyche into a chasm of despair and desolation. Fortunately for you and your ailing conscience, the conference took an off week of sorts, as well.
Four other ACC competitors joined the Cavaliers on bye, and to say nine conference teams were technically in action this weekend rather stretches the applicability of the word “action.” While teams such as No. 8 Florida State, Pittsburgh and Syracuse bit right to the center of their Tootsie Pop competition, the rest of the conference slogged through a series of bleak affairs, with some teams registering uninspiring wins and others enduring a Saturday that made Canelo Alvarez’s seem blissful by comparison. The week’s most entertaining affair involved a Sun Belt team thoroughly outplaying its ACC foe. You really didn’t miss very much.
Still, this week’s rankings experienced a few tremors, particularly in the lower half. And with the promise of tastier options on this week’s menu, the plot should thicken pretty consistently from here on out. At least, the action should improve enough to tune out all those pesky diversions from what truly matters. ACC on your chain, ACC on your watch. All ACC everything.
Without further ado, here are your #GoACC Power Rankings (change from last week in parentheses):
14. Wake Forest (down 1)
Record: 1-2, 0-0 ACC
Last Week: L 21-19 vs. Louisiana-Monroe
This Week: at Army
On one hand, Louisiana-Monroe is a solid team that beat Arkansas to open last season and features reigning Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year Kolton Browning, who has already joined the Kordell Stewart/Kliff Kingsbury Kwality Kollege Kwarterbacks Klub. On the other, 15 yards rushing at home against a middling Sun Belt foe… Someone needs to tell coach Jim Grobe that the last place team in the ACC does not get a shot at Jadeveon Clowney.
13. Syracuse (up 1)
Record: 1-1, 0-1 ACC
Last Week: W 54-0 vs. Wagner
This Week: vs. Tulane
Against all odds, the trifling scrimmage with Wagner might prove pivotal for the Orange. Sophomore quarterback Terrell Hunt, in relief of colossal disappointment Drew Allen, torched the Seahawks for 265 yards on 15-of-18 passing and will start Saturday against Tulane. Meanwhile, Syracuse held Wagner quarterbacks to 28.6 percent passing, a mark that would only count as a success for A-Rod in October.
12. Duke (down 2)
Record: 2-1, 0-1 ACC
Last Week: L 38-14 vs. Georgia Tech
This Week: vs. Pittsburgh
While most attentive observers here realize Virginia needs to make its hay during its next six, eminently winnable games, Duke actually faces a similar — if slightly more demanding — midseason scheduling wrinkle. If they can upend Pittsburgh this weekend as six-point underdogs, the Blue Devils get Troy and Navy at home before — you guessed it — they invade Charlottesville Oct. 19 needing one more win for bowl eligibility.
11. Boston College (down 4)
Record: 2-1, 0-0 ACC
Last Week: L 37-7 at Southern California
This Week: Bye
Hard to fault the Eagles for losing against an angry opponent on the West Coast, but after that anemic offensive performance, can you really see them beating most teams in the ACC? Incidentally, this line of reasoning applies equally to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
10. Pittsburgh (up 2)
Record: 1-1, 0-1 ACC
Last Week: W 49-27 vs. New Mexico
This Week: at Duke
At the stadium featured in the football scene in “The Dark Knight Rises,” the Panthers got the bounce-back performance they needed and deserved this past Saturday. Pittsburgh’s secondary, in particular, discovered a new lease on life, holding New Mexico to a measly 57 yards passing after its Week One debacle against Florida State stud Jameis Winston.
9. Virginia Tech (up 2)
Record: 2-1, 0-0 ACC
Last Week: W 15-10 vs. ECU
This Week: vs. Marshall
Tempted as I am to ridicule the Hokies here, that defense deserves as much credit as Logan Thomas and the offense deserve derision. That they rank second in total defense with 199.3 yards against is especially impressive in light of the fact that they held the Crimson Tide, the team who just dropped 49 on Texas A&M, to 206 yards of offense in the opener. The over/under for the Commonwealth Cup might drop into the single digits if this continues.
8. NC State (up 1)
Record: 2-0, 0-0 ACC
Last Week: Bye
This Week: vs. No. 3 Clemson
The opportunity for a second victory against a third-ranked opponent in as many years beckons for the Wolfpack, who host the Tigers Thursday night before a national audience. Unfortunately, NC State also yielded 300 passing yards to Richmond’s Michael Strauss in a home contest it nearly lost. With all due respect to Strauss, comparing him to Heisman hopeful Tajh Boyd would be like equating a driver’s ed class with a graduate school seminar. You do the math.
7. Virginia (up 1)
Record: 1-1, 0-0 ACC
Last Week: Bye
This Week: vs. VMI
Sneaky huge week for David Watford. If he can establish a rhythm and gain some confidence against a lackluster VMI defense, the Cavaliers can get the wins they need before Georgia Tech visits Oct. 26.
6. North Carolina (no change)
Record: 1-1, 0-0 ACC
Last Week: Bye
This Week: at Georgia Tech
North Carolina’s sojourn to Georgia Tech should represent the conference’s game of the week, as it pits Larry Fedora’s whirling dervish offense against the 60-year-old scrunched up piece of paper from which Paul Johnson calls the triple-option every play. The last time they played, they combined for 118 points in a 68-50 Yellow Jacket victory. The two Virginia schools may not combine for that many points this season.
5. Maryland (no change)
Record: 2-0, 0-0 ACC
Last Week: W 32-21 at Connecticut
This Week: vs. West Virginia (M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore)
Fresh off a victory in the Randy Edsall bowl against the coach’s former team, ACC-leading passer C.J. Brown and the Terps are starting to garner a little more attention ahead of their showdown with West Virginia this weekend. The NCAA even ranked the Terrapins third in its power rankings, which should make them proud — even if those rankings seem to be based on a combination of uniform eccentricity and monkeys throwing darts at a wall.
4. Georgia Tech (no change)
Record: 2-0, 1-0 ACC
Last Week: W 38-14 at Duke
This Week: vs. North Carolina
Kudos to Lavaedeay “Vad” Lee, who romped over Duke in his native Durham, N.C. last week for five total touchdowns and enters Saturday’s game as a slight favorite over Bryn Renner for “catchiest quarterback name.” Lee’s name edges Renner’s because it could double as an adverb.
3. No. 16 Miami (no change)
Record: 2-0, 0-0 ACC
Last Week: Bye
This Week: vs. Savannah State
Anyone else remember the team that only covered a 70-point spread against Florida State last season because the game was stopped due to lightning with 8:59 remaining in the third quarter, with the score 55-0? That’s who Miami gets to play this week. Duke Johnson’s touchdown to non-touchdown carry ratio might resemble Bo Pelini’s curse word to actual word ratio by the time this ends.
2. No. 10 Florida State (no change)
Record: 2-0, 1-0 ACC
Last Result: W 62-7 vs. Nevada
This Week: vs. Bethune-Cookman
Florida State sputtered through the opening stages of Saturday’s game against Nevada, trailing 7-3 for the majority of the second quarter before flipping the nitrous switch for a game-ending 59-0 run. It likely won’t matter for another month, but that represents the kind of lapse that has crippled the Seminoles in the past and could cost them again this year if they’re not careful.
1. No. 3 Clemson (no change)
Record: 2-0, 0-0 ACC
Last Week: Bye
This Week: at NC State
Backup quarterback Cole Stoudt finished 19-of-20 for 195 yards against South Carolina State two weeks back. IMPEACH BOYD.
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