ACC Power Rankings Post-Week 13

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Pittsburgh earned the biggest win of the weekend giving themselves a real chance to win another ACC Championship. SMU dominated and is poised to return to the ACC Championship game if they can win out West.

No Bowl for You!

17. Syracuse (3-8 [1-6] Prev 17): Syracuse has not won a game since their early season win against Clemson, still their only ACC win. Since losing QB Steve Angeli to an Achilles injury, they’ve been the worst team in the conference. They play Boston College in the final week which will give a declaration on the worst team in the ACC.

16. Boston College (1-10 [0-7] Prev 16): The Eagles Mercifully had the weekend off.

15. Virginia Tech(3-8 [2-5] Prev 14): VT was beaten handily by Miami this weekend and will end their season as underdogs at Virginia. With James Franklin coming in as the new head coach, VT has a ton of optimism despite this total failure of a season.

14. Stanford (4-7 [3-5] Prev 15): Stanford bullied Cal en route to a surprising 31-10 rivalry win. The Cardinal held the Bears to just 0.5 YPC on the ground which put way too much on the shoulders of Cal’s young QB, JKS, as he threw the ball 49 times.

13. North Carolina (4-7 [2-5] Prev 13): The Tar Heels held a late lead, but their defense couldn’t get the big stop and Duke escaped Chapel Hill with a win.

12. Florida State (5-6 [1-7] Prev 11): It was a Friday night slog in the ACC, as neither the Seminoles nor the Wolfpack looked great. FSU probably should have won, but special teams killed them. Not only did they miss two field goals, but a short punt hit an unsuspecting FSU player in the helmet and led to a turnover. After a defensive stop, Squirrel White muffed the next punt which gave NC State the ball deep in the red zone. FSU nearly held them again, but a gutsy decision to go for it on 4th-and-6 led to the game-sealing TD.

Florida State is the only ACC team that is playing for bowl eligibility next weekend. Regardless of if they make a bowl, they’ve announced Coach Norvell will be back for 2026.

Bowl Teams

11. California (6-5 [3-4] Prev 7): “The Big Game” against Stanford didn’t go as planned. Cal got crushed in the trenches which was too much to overcome even as Jacob De Jesus had 14 receptions for 96 yards. He is a star.

10.NC State (6-5 [3-4] Prev 12): It required a bevy of FSU special teams gaffes, but NC State beat FSU in Raleigh to become bowl eligible. They’ll likely give Coach Doeren another year, but the hot seat will be turned up next season.

9. Duke (6-5 [5-2] Prev 9): It is really remarkable we held such a high view of Duke just before they hosted Georgia Tech a few weeks ago. We were talking about them as a potential playoff team, but they have lost three of five and their two wins came with a win expectancy of 6% vs. Clemson (extremely lucky) and 22% vs. UNC (fairly lucky). They won, so kudos for the win, but I predict Wake Forest to go win in Durham and Duke to finish just 6-6.

8. Louisville (7-4 [4-4] Prev 8): Louisville has collapsed, suffering their third straight loss and falling to .500 in conference play. Louisville vs. SMU should have been the marquee game of the noon slot, but Kevin Jennings and the Mustangs made quick work of Jeff Brohm’s Cardinals. Miller Moss did not play for Louisville due to a foot injury, and his replacements combined for only 100 passing yards.

During the Clemson game, the TV commentators noted that Brohm has been mentioned as a candidate for the Penn State job. If true, it would be hiring the opposite of James Franklin. Brohm can win the big game, but his teams have constant let downs and inconsistencies. I was extremely high on Louisville before the season and even just a few weeks ago. Boy was I wrong.

7. Clemson (6-5 [4-4] Prev 10): Clemson easily handled Furman for a 45-10 senior day win, but when we peel back the layers, there is a lot more to it than just that. Two major contributors left with injuries, TE Olson Patt-Henry and DE Jaheim Lawson. Both have been bright spots in a gloomy season and exited with injuries. Lawson could be back for the Palmetto Bowl, but Patt-Henry has already been ruled out with a knee injury.

With injuries to Walker Parks and Brayden Jacobs on the O-line, the Tigers were back to starting Harris Sewell and Collin Sadler at guard. Both have struggled and entered the contest with PFF grades of just 56.0, but I didn’t see any glaring mistakes from them in this contest. Clemson still struggled to establish a traditional run game though which I put more so on the entire O-line than just the guards this time. Coming on in relief at guard were redshirt freshman Ronan O’Connell and true freshman Gavin Blanchard who both looked solid. Evaluating line play against FCS opponents is probably folly, but it was a small encouragement to see the young guards come in and look competent. With Jacobs and Thurmon injured, depth at tackle was more limited.

Digging into the depth in the secondary, S Noah Dixon got burnt for a touchdown while CB Braden Strozier had both good and not so good moments. On offense, TE Logan Brooking finally got some snaps. He missed a block that nearly led to a pick-six and later committed a blindside block. Another TE Ian Schieffelin got his first reception to rousing applause from the fans.

The biggest story though was the backup quarterbacks. Christopher Vizzina was 9/15 for 52 yards (3.5 yards per attempt). Trent Pearman then came in and was 1/4 for 2 yards. The most interesting and exciting part of the game came late when true freshman Chris Denson entered the game. He was 4/4 with a passing touchdown (55 yards) while running for 106 yards and a TD on just 6 carries for a ridiculous 17.7 YPC. He already flashed in the Spring game and now I consider myself a full-blown believer. Clemson could have an Oregon situation where they bring in a veteran for a year like (Dillon Gabriel for Oregon, perhaps Sam Leavitt for Clemson?) and then turn it over to a promising QB like Chris Denson (Donte Moore for Oregon).

Finally, as I watched this game and thought about the 9-game conference schedule coming in the next year or two, I couldn’t help but think how this game should be a spring scrimmage. Finally, at number seven, Clemson has finally gotten back to the top half of these rankings.

6. Wake Forest (8-3 [4-3] Prev 5): Wake Forest dominated Delaware from the start, running for 7.7 YPC while QB Robby Ashford threw for 292 with 3 TDs and 1 INT in their 52-14 win. They now have 8 wins and can beat Duke and win a bowl to reach double-digit victories.

ACC’s Top Tier

5. Georgia Tech (9-2 [6-2] Prev 2): Georgia Tech has been winning games in large part because they have the better QB and an incredible will to win. In this contest, Pitt QB Mason Heintschel was the better signal caller.

GT QB Haynes King made some great plays but also had two INTs and several missed connections. The Yellow Jackets did in fact show their incredible will to win after falling down 28-0 and battling back, but two plays loom large. With a chance to pull within a touchdown, Haynes King threw a horrific interception at the goal line that was returned to 100-yards for a TD. Later, with just under three minutes left in the contest, the Yellow Jackets had finally chipped the lead down to seven points and needed a big defensive stop to get the ball back. Instead, they surrendered a 56-yard game-sealing TD run.

4. Pittsburgh (8-3 [6-1] Prev 6): Pittsburgh jumped all over the Yellow Jackets building a shocking 28-point lead. From that point on, they looked like the lesser team but didn’t make the huge mistakes Georgia Tech did. The only vexing moment was Coach Narduzzi’s decision to fake a punt from their own side of the field with a 14-point lead late in the fourth quarter. It led to a quick GT TD, but the Panther offense responded with the game-clinching score. If Pitt wins the ACC, they’ll have won two of the last five (2021, 2025) which is sneaky impressive. They have to beat Miami first.

3. Miami (9-2 [5-2] Prev 4): Miami got the good version of Carson Beck again. When you combine that with their excellence in the trenches, you can see why they’re the highest ranked ACC team by the CFP committee. Weirdly, in their 17-point win at Virginia Tech on Saturday, they didn’t run the ball well. They held QB Kyron Drones to only 124 yards passing though, and that allowed them to avoid any real drama. As an aside, Drones may be one of the QBs I was most wrong about. After his 176-rushing yard performance against Tulane in the 2023 Military Bowl, I thought he would be the next star in the ACC.

2. SMU (8-3 [6-1] Prev 3): Kevin Jennings threw for 3 TDs and ran for another while SMU’s defense kept Louisville out of the end zone. Lashlee is a great coach and has them peaking at the right time.

1. Virginia (9-2 [6-1] Prev 1): Virginia expanded their lead in these Power Rankings since the formerly #2 Yellow Jackets lost and they had the week off. Virginia Tech typically wins the rivalry matchup, but Virginia is at home and is the much better team. It would register as “blowing it” if they can’t close and beat the rival Hokies. If they win, they’ll earn an ACC Championship appearance and very likely an ACC Coach of the Year award for Tony Elliott. If they lose, the winner of Pittsburgh vs. Miami will take their spot.

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