ACC Power Rankings: Week 3

It was another interesting week in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Georgia Tech pulled off what seems like their 347th upset of a ranked team under Brent Key with their 24-21 win over #12 Clemson at Bobby Dodd Stadium last Saturday afternoon. Miami handily beat USF in actual South Florida. On the other end, Duke and Pitt both lost on the road, while Virginia Tech’s home loss to Old Dominion got their coach fired.

Without further ado, let’s get to the rankings.

I was fired up after those first two touchdowns last Saturday. It was exactly the beginning to the game Canes fans hoped for. Coach Cristobal’s squad didn’t come close to overlooking a ranked USF team that had two top 25 wins under their belt. With the way Miami started, I wasn’t concerned with the weather delay. I knew Cristobal would have his team focused no matter how long the break was. I am still nervous for the Florida game, but not as much so now with how the Canes dominated last week. They are a focused football team.

The Seminoles played a solid team last week: no one. That victory was good enough to move them up from #10 to #7 in the new AP Top 25 Poll. Mike Norvell’s squad is going to cruise to another easy win at home against Kent State this Saturday (no jinx, I genuinely think that). Then they travel to Virginia before Miami comes to Tallahassee. I will be watching that Virginia game very closely like the uneducated college football scout I am.

Freaking Brent Key and Haynes King. The Yellow Jackets’ coach and quarterback duo are a perfect match. They’re both tough as hell, never give up, don’t get nervous, almost always call the right play, and come up big when it matters. Key didn’t want to risk putting the ball in the air with no timeouts and knew his kicker had a big leg. That special teams unit was so incredibly prepared and calm running onto the field. It was impressive to watch. GT is now ranked in the new AP Top 25 Poll at #18. Take a look at the rest of their schedule: vs Temple, at Wake Forest, bye, vs Va Tech, at Duke, vs Syracuse, at NC State, bye, at BC, vs Pitt, vs Georgia. The Yellow Jackets have a pretty good chance at being 11-0 going into their annual rivalry game with the Bulldogs.

The Cardinals beat no one almost as bad as FSU did last weekend. I am not as high on Louisville as I was going into the season. I watched a lot of the James Madison game. The Cardinals did not look good on offense besides running back Isaac Brown and wide receiver Chris Bell. Transfer quarterback Miller Moss missed several throws. I always judge quarterbacks (and players in general) by the “am I scared of them” metric. Miller Moss does not scare me. Isaac Brown does. The Canes need to focus on the running back for their matchup next month.

The Wolfpack ended up besting Wake Forest last Friday night, 34-24. NC State quarterback CJ Bailey looked good again, going 23-32 for 201 yards and 3 touchdowns with no turnovers. With a non-conference victory over Virginia, Dave Doeren has to be feeling good about his Wolfpack having two Power 4 wins under their belt. This Saturday’s game against Duke is big. The Blue Devils are desperate and will be throwing everything they have at NC State in this one. I think CJ makes enough plays to get it done and go to 4-0.

The Golden Bears passed their first test of the season, beating Minnesota 27-14 late Saturday night in Berkeley. Cal forced two turnovers, while not committing any themselves. Their quarterback, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, looked good again, going 24-38 for 279 yards and 3 touchdowns with no turnovers. The Golden Bears play at San Diego State this Saturday before taking their first east coast trip of the season to Boston College. These next two weeks are big for the boys from Berkeley.

Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik is another signal caller I am not scared of. He will absolutely make a few big plays during a game. His game-winning run at Pitt last season and touchdown throw to Bryant Wesco Jr. at Georgia Tech last Saturday are prime examples. Still, those plays are surrounded by bad decisions, missed throws, and unforced errors. Klubnik seems to always leave you wanting more. I think it’s an accurate sentiment for him. If he and Clemson’s offense make one more play against LSU and Georgia Tech, they win those games. Oh well.

The Mustangs went down 10-0 to the Bears of Missouri State in the first quarter. That was not the start coach Lashlee wanted after their tough home loss to Baylor last Saturday afternoon. SMU did score two touchdowns to take the lead at halftime, then two more in the second half to put the game away, 28-10. Still, this is not the same team from a year ago. Good for Miami and their November road trip to Dallas.

The Panthers had a ten-point lead with 9:23 left in the fourth quarter. They then let the Mountaineers score the game-tying touchdown with only seven seconds to play. After a West Virginia touchdown to begin overtime, a third down sack of Pitt quarterback Eli Rothstein put the Panthers in a 4th and 24 situation that they couldn’t convert. Pitt has a much-needed bye week before a six-week-conference-game-stretch.

The Tar Heels handled their second inferior opponent in a row, this time beating Richmond 41-6 in Chapel Hill. These are the types of games Bill Belichick will win convincingly. This Saturday at UCF should be a fight. Then it’s all conference play from there on out, starting with Clemson at home after a Week 5 bye. UNC’s schedule is very manageable after their matchup with the Tigers. They avoid Miami, FSU, Georgia Tech, and SMU. Maybe the Tar Heels aren’t as bad as TCU made them look a couple Mondays ago.

The Orange had a much less stressful game last Saturday at home vs Colgate, cruising to a 66-24 win. I am sure that was a welcome result for coach Fran Brown after the crazy UConn game the week prior. Syracuse quarterback Steve Angeli looked awesome, going 24-32 for 417 yards and 5 touchdowns. He ran for a score as well. Syracuse is at Clemson this week, so we’ll see how they look against a competent defense.

The Cavaliers took care of business against William & Mary last Saturday, 55-16. Tony Elliott’s squad put up 700 yards of offense. Whoa! I did not know that until I looked at the box score. That output included 379 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns on 52 attempts, a 7.3 yards per rush average. Virginia faces another team with a strong running game in Stanford this Saturday night in primetime.

The Cardinal put a hurting on Boston College on the ground, running for 213 yards on 37 carriers, for an average of 5.8 yards per rush. The ground game was led by Micah Ford, who put up 157 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. Huge win for the Cardinal. This has to be a big confidence builder for their program. With their trip to Virginia this Saturday night, they have a chance at a winning streak this season. Exciting.

I feel okay putting the Demon Deacons here. Granted, they probably wouldn’t be favored against BC or Duke on a neutral field, but they haven’t been as disappointing as those two teams either. Wake put up a good fight against NC State last Saturday. The Demon Deacons get a bye this week before hosting #18 Georgia Tech, so they better draw up their best schemes possible the next 13 days to have a chance to pull off the upset.

Oh Bill. Coach O’Brien’s Eagles couldn’t overcome the travel and Stanford’s running game late last Saturday night. Combine that with BC’s inability to run the ball themselves, and you had the perfect recipe for an upset by a double-digit home underdog. The Eagles did have a good passing game, with Dylan Lonergan throwing for 333 yards and a touchdown. Their ground game was truly putrid though, only rushing for 56 yards on 23 attempts, for 2.4 yards per rush.

Dang. I know the Blue Devils were an underdog to Tulane, but that loss has to sting Manny Diaz, his team, and Duke football fans. I only saw some highlights, but the game had a constant theme to it. Tulane would get ahead by two or more scores, Duke would mount somewhat of a comeback, then Tulane would score again to put the game out of reach. An even bigger issue was quarterback play. Former Tulane quarterback Darian Mensah was outplayed by his replacement, BYU transfer Jake Retzlaff, who had 245 passing yards, 111 rushing yard, and 4 rushing touchdowns. Damn!

The Hokies got dominated by Old Dominion at home last Saturday. They trailed 28-0 at halftime, then lost 45-26. Va Tech coach Brent Pry was fired the next day. I did a double take when I saw the score; did not expect it. Who will be the next coach of the Hokies? Any chance Shane Beamer comes to Blacksburg to continue his father’s legacy? Is South Carolina a better job? I honestly don’t know, but am interested to see how this all plays out.

See you next week!

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