ACC Football: Week 13 power rankings

Now that the race for the ACC title has some new players fighting for lead positions, here are our Power Rankings after Week 12 and heading into Week 13 of the 2016 season.

With one week to go in the 2016 regular season, we know one of the teams who will be in Orlando for the ACC Championship Game. The Clemson Tigers punched their ticket with a big win last weekend and now wait for either the Virginia Tech Hokies or North Carolina Tar Heels to figure out which team wants to play them.

Along the way, two more teams lost their chance at a postseason bowl game – leaving the conference in jeopardy of not being able to fill all their slots. It’s been a wild season in the ACC and the Week 13 finales should be more of the same.

Here’s a look at our power rankings following Week 12’s action.

The Wahoos have been in the cellar for so long that they should start paying rent. Yet again, it’s not so much that they lost another game – it’s the fact that they were yet leading at one point and decided that winning isn’t fun at all.

Against the Yellow Jackets, UVA had the leading passing and rusher for both teams, but watched their halftime lead go bye bye when GaTech outscored them 24-7 in the second half. The season mercifully ends this week against Virginia Tech, so it’s almost over.

Lets be completely honest…and this may be brutal for fans of the Orange to hear, but the score from Saturday’s loss doesn’t justify just how bad the ‘Cuse played. We’re talking 37 rushing yards total and one touchdown being on a Hail Mary at the end of the first half – which seemed to anger FSU even more.

Again, the season is almost over for the men from Western New York. There is plenty of stuff for first year head coach Dino Babers to build on and I firmly believe they won’t be at the bottom of the board for much longer – if they can stay healthy for a full season.

It wasn’t that long ago that the men from Winston-Salem were 5-1 and having legit thoughts about making some noise in the ACC, particularly in the Atlantic Division. Fast forward five games and the Deacs are fighting to stay above .500 when the year is over.

It’s amazing how things can go bad when you have no offense and your second half schedule includes games against the conference’s top three teams (Clemson, Louisville and FSU). A season finale against Boston College might be just what the doctor ordered.

Much like their in-state friends, the Wolfpack were looking like a team that was going to make things interesting in the ACC. They were one field goal away from upsetting Clemson and a defensive stop from defeating Florida State.

Now, they’ve dropped five of their last six games and need to upset North Carolina just to head to a bowl game this season. Playing on the road in Chapel Hill against a team with a shot at winning their division means the Pack will be home this bowl season.

Yes, the Blue Devils are officially out of the bowl hunt and have an even worse record than the immediate teams behind them. That being said, Duke has been in so many games this season that their record is not truly representative of what their season has been.

Oh wait…let me look at last week’s scores for a second. A 42 point loss to the Pitt Panthers?!?!?! I take back every single thing I just said.