College Football ACC power rankings entering Week 3
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The ACC: The Always Chaos Conference! It’s early in the college football season, but never too early to start thinking about the CFP picture. While half of the ACC was playing either an FCS team, a G6 team, or Rutgers, there were a few non-conference Power-4 victories that have to help the conference’s standing among the group and have to help their chances at getting multiple bids to the CFP.
MORE:College Football risers & fallers after Week 2
10. Cal
The Golden Bears enter the countdown this week as Clemson falls out (that’s just a bad football team until they prove otherwise). Jaron Keawe-Sagapolutele was great in a cross-country road trip to Syracuse that saw Cal get to 1-0 in conference play.
9. North Carolina
North Carolina gets to stay here for this week because no one behind did enough to move ahead of them, and no one ahead looked bad enough to move behind them. A 35-3 win over ETSU keeps the train on the tracks for Belichick’s second season, an improvement after an opening win against TCU.
8. Wake Forest
The Week 2 game at Purdue is one that the Wake Forest teams of old would find a way to lose. But this is not the Wake Forest of old. This is the Jake Dickert, Gio Lopez Wake Forest. Thanks to an incredible effort from Carlos Hernandez to convert 4th and 15 in the second overtime, the Deacs start 2-0.
7. Virginia Tech
The Hokies got revenge on their 2025 loss to Old Dominion by beating them 44-21 in Week 2. The overall winning margins have been impressive, but they haven’t played a Power-4 opponent yet.
6. Pitt
Pitt was one of the teams that carried the ACC’s water by beating UCF 12-7. Mason Heintschel couldn’t repeat the same offensive success that he had in Week 1 against Miami (Ohio), but a win is a win.
5. Duke
Can anyone stop Nate Sheppard? Not Illinois! The star running back ran wild against the Illini for 147 yards and 3 total touchdowns. This was the type of marquee non-conference win, on the road, that will give the ACC more credibility. Can Nate Sheppard carry the Blue Devils on his back all the way to Charlotte?
4. Virginia
The ‘Hoos stay unbeaten by romping Norfolk State 59-3 in Week 2. Beau Pribula was not nearly as impressive as he was in Week Zero, but he also seemed to be load-managed — he only had 1 designed run. And running is kind of his specialty, so no wonder he didn’t play as well.
3. SMU
Kevin Jennings threw for 5 TDs in a 56-10 victory over UC Davis. It was the exact tune-up the Mustangs needed, as they play one of the biggest games of the ACC season next week against Louisville. The winner will be one of the favorites to play in the ACC Championship game.
2. Louisville
Lincoln Kienholz continued to look dynamic, and Tre Richardson continued to look like a WR1 in a 59-13 win over Villanova Friday night. The showdown against SMU in Week 3 is certainly going to be a game worth watching in the 3:30 window.
1. Miami
Why in the world is Miami even playing Florida A&M? This game was over before it started and was not a fair fight. I’d like to propose a rule change: if you end the season top-12 in the final AP poll, you can’t schedule new FCS opponents for the next 10 years. Yes, I’m aware a lot of these games are scheduled way in advance; that’s why I added the word “new.” But the bottom line is these games between top-10 teams and FCS schools just do not need to be played.
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