Well, that got messy in a hurry!
Week 0 and Week 1 are in the books and now it’s time to overact to early season results! Unless it’s Florida State where we have two data points of absolute agony for the Seminole faithful. All that’s left for FSU to play for is a bowl game and their pride as a trip to the ACC Championship and a playoff spot are all but vanished.
Things didn’t go great for the other ACC stalwart Clemson who got dismantled by Georgia. Clemson didn’t manage a single touchdown as their offense again looks inept. Things aren’t looking great for the two teams trying to bounce for more money in a more competitive conference. Maybe they are trying to get a head start on their 7-6 campaigns.
Ah, but let’s hear for Da U is back baby! In all seriousness, Miami looked like the team they were supposed to be on paper. Cam Ward sliced right through the Gator defense and dealt a small conference blow to the SEC on the weekend.
Let’s also give some credit to the rest of the ACC for taking care of business against teams they were supposed to beat. Stanford did give a good effort in a loss to TCU, but the Horned Frogs were favored in that matchup so while the win would have been nice for the conference it isn’t a game-changer.
Hold on, wait, oh boy I missed one…Virginia Tech. When it comes to stealing a win against the SEC all you had to do was beat Vanderbilt. You couldn’t even do that? Is this the same Virginia Tech who had 5 first-place votes among the ACC Media?
Power Rankings
- Miami – The jury is still out on what Florida should be this season but Miami took care of them in a convincing fashion. Miami churned out 529 yards behind Cam Ward’s 385 through the air and the defense allowed only 261 yards to Florida. Their schedule is very favorable with FSU falling into the pit of misery. I really can’t see them not making the ACC Championship…if they don’t do something stupid.
- Georgia Tech – The Yellow Jackets get a little boost from having two weeks of play and being 2-0. The FSU win doesn’t look quite as big now, but they didn’t slip up to Georgia State in a potential trap coming off the trip from Ireland. The defense did give up some yards in this one but they locked down in the red zone forcing two field goals from inside the 5-yard line.
- Louisville – It may have been a win over FCS Austin Peay, but it was a 62-0 drubbing. Despite the opponent, holding a team to 106 yards of total offense is difficult. QB Tyler Shough threw four touchdowns on 18 attempts and RB Isaac Brown tallied 123 yards on 5 carries. Louisville should meet more resistance against Jacksonville State next week even if they should still win big.
- Boston College – With most of the conference playing FCS or struggling this week Boston College makes a good jump. There was speculation if FSU would get focused after the Georgia Tech loss and bounce back with a few extra days of rest. They did not. Boston College left little doubt who the better team was as they jumped to a quick 14-0 lead that forced FSU to rely on DJ Uiagalelei’s arm.
- Pittsburgh – The Panthers were just ugly on offense last year, but against Kent State the Panthers nearly reached 600 yards total. There was a little sloppiness with Kent State picking up a fumble and returning it for a touchdown. Still, for a team that last year could never get going this was an encouraging game.
- North Carolina – I don’t expect this ranking to hold very long but the Tar Heels did manage a win on the road against a Big Ten team. Minnesota just couldn’t kick field goals, and that was UNC’s saving grace. They also took a big blow as QB Max Johnson is out for the year with a broken leg. Omarion Hampton proved to be the bright spot on offense that he was last year, but Carolina is going to have to find some help if they want to make it through the ACC.
- North Carolina State – Wolfpack fans probably didn’t enjoy how close FCS Western Carolina played them. The offense finally pulled away to start the 4th quarter with three touchdowns but Western Carolina held the lead to end the 3rd quarter. NC State also put the ball on the ground three times but managed to recover them all. The defense had a rough time containing WCU’s dual-threat QB.
- Syracuse – The Orange for the most part looked pretty put together on offense in their debut under Fran Brown. Kyle McCord was able to get the ball out quickly to his TE Gadsden who towered over Ohio DBs. The biggest concern will be how they handle the run game as they allowed 203 yards to Anthony Tyus on only 16 carriers.
- SMU – Newcomer SMU looked shaky out the gate in Week 0 with a come-from-behind victory over the Nevada Wolfpack. They took care of business against Houston Christian but much was made about Preston Stone being a premier QB in the ACC and he has split time with Kevin Jennings. They’ll need to resolve that soon as better defenses lay on the horizon.
- Wake Forest – The Demon Deacons got an easy win over North Carolina A&T 45-13. They did allow some chunk yardage on the ground but Hank Bachmeier appears to be an upgrade for them at QB.
- Clemson – Ok, they’ve dropped far enough for losing to the number-one team in the nation. Still, we expected to see some growth from Cade Klubniak at QB and it just wasn’t there. Clemson’s defense played well for a half but was ground down by Georgia when the offense couldn’t stay on the field.
- Virginia Tech – The Hokies were a dark horse and a media darling for the ACC during the preseason. Now maybe Vanderbilt is a little more put together this year, but this isn’t the way the Hokies wanted to roll into the season. It’s not unusual for Virginia Tech to drop one early but it was a gut punch to come back from 17-0 and drop the game in OT.
- Virginia – Virginia settled on Colandria as their new starting QB and it worked out well against Richmond where he threw for 294 yards and 2 touchdowns. They might want to hope he stays healthy though as former starter Tony Muskett came in and went 0/3 with an INT.
- Duke – The defense played fine against Elon but the offense was very inconsistent and QB Malik Murphy missed on just as many throws as he made. The run game never got going either with Jaquez Moore only leading with 24 yards.
- Stanford – Despite the loss Stanford showed some glimmers of hope early in the game before TCU managed to pull away. QB Ashton Daniels was most of the offense for Stanford so he will need to find help to improve their chances. The defense could use some work in defending the pass.
- California – The Bears were outplayed by Cal Davis in most aspects of the game save for the turnover category. QB Miles Hastings threw 3 INTs to the Bears which kept Cal in good field position to put the game away.
- Florida State – It was over before it even started for the Seminoles. Two weeks of stagnant offense and horrible run defense has them at 0-2 on the year and ACC. The media favorite to win the conference and represent the ACC in the playoffs have crashed hard and it doesn’t look like the portal additions are going to make much progress with Miami and Clemson still on the ACC docket. If it even matters when they play them.