Now that the race for the ACC title has some new players in the lead positions, here are our Power Rankings after Week Five of the 2016 season.
For the past few weeks, the story in the ACC has been the men in red from the commonwealth of Kentucky, as the Louisville Cardinals quickly become the darlings of the college football world and looked ready to take over the ACC.
The men in orange from the Palmetto State had something to say about that, when Deshaun Watson and the Clemson Tigers took power back in a classic battle Saturday night.
The game in Clemson wasn’t the only exciting action this weekend – as one early season power is quickly treading water and the Coastal Division race is starting to look interesting.
Here’s a look at our power rankings following week five’s action.
I cannot support a program that gives up 50 points to a team that lost to Duke the week before. The Orange had every opportunity to come out on top in this one, but showed they aren’t ready for the spotlight and will be fighting with others for last place in the Atlantic Division.
Perhaps the only bright spot for the men from Western New York would be the play of quarterback Eric Dungey, until you realize he was the only person involved in every touchdown. No running game equals very few more wins.
Even after a loss the week before against the Clemson Tigers, there was a chance the Yellow Jackets could come out and give Miami a game this weekend. Heck, maybe even pull off the upset and make the Coastal Division interesting.
Instead, the men from Atlanta literally handed the ball to the Hurricanes on multiple occasions (two scoops and score fumble returns) and looked every bit of the outmanned team. What once was a promising start now appears headed for a 7-5 finish at best.
I’m done with the Blue Devils as well. One week, they go up to South Bend and give an early shock to the college football world with an upset win over the storied Notre Dame program; even during a down win for that program, it was still monumental.
How do they respond? By getting flat out beat down by a Virginia team that – you remember – lost to a FCS opponent to open the season. The Blue Devils had early season hopes of maybe taking the Coastal in a down year. Now, it may be time to start counting down to basketball season.
Speaking of those Wahoos, their move two spots up in our rankings has more to do with the fact they have started to turn things around after what might be the most embarrassing start to the season for any FBS program in 2016.
Kurt Benkert looked every bit the part of a solid quarterback in going for over 330 yards and three touchdowns in the winning effort. UVa isn’t going to beat teams like Miami, North Carolina and Virginia Tech on a consistent basis, but could easily ruin things for one of those teams by season’s end.
What to say about the Eagles’ big win over the Bulls? Ummm … at least they beat a FBS team this week? Maybe Boston College made the wrong move in joining the ACC; they should have gone to the Mid-American Conference if they want to win games.
It’s all fun and games, but until BC actually wins an ACC game, they will not get further than the first page of these rankings. Patrick Towles, even against sub-par teams, still threw for just a 56% completion percentage this week.