College Football Conference Power Rankings: Week 14

3. ACC

The ACC moves ahead of the SEC thanks to the head-to-head results between the conferences in Week 13, but still has some work to do to move into the top two.

Even with the three victories, Louisville’s loss hurts the ACC’s national standing slightly. The Cardinals, who were in the playoff mix for almost the entire season, have now lost back-to-back non-conference games to a G5 team in Houston and 7-5 Kentucky, which raises a few questions about how good the conference is as a whole.

Florida State helped make up for the Cardinals’ loss with a 31-13 beatdown of Florida, one of the better teams in the SEC. While the Seminoles had playoff expectations to open the season and will be disappointed to finish with three losses, they should still be heading to the New Year’s Six.

Virginia Tech rolled Virginia, 52-10, to claim the Coastal Division crown and spot in the title game against No. 4 Clemson. The Hokies have the ability to knock the ACC completely out of the playoff, as the Tigers were looking vulnerable against weaker competition up until Saturday’s 56-7 destruction of South Carolina.

While Clemson is a national title threat and there are a few decent teams elsewhere, the ACC just doesn’t have the strength at the top to match the Pac-12 or Big Ten. North Carolina, the second place team in the Coastal, suffered one of the more underrated upsets of the week at the hands of NC State on Friday, which clinched a postseason spot for the Wolfpack and likely saved Dave Doeren’s job.

The other notable result of the week was Pittsburgh moving to 8-4 by taking down Syracuse, 76-61, in a game that somewhat resembled football. Pat Narduzzi looks to be building something special, as the Panthers have wins against Clemson and Penn State, and also played Oklahoma State tough on the road.

The ACC’s non-conference results shouldn’t be ignored, but it features quite a few middling teams compared to the Pac-12 or Big Ten.