ACC power rankings – Week 13: Playoff committee needs to put respect on Miami’s name
Syracuse Orange 4-7
Last week: Lost 56-10 to Louisville
Last rank: 11
I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to Syracuse on this list, as I said it’d be tough for them to move at all from the 11 spot on these rankings for the rest of the year. Now, here we are with the Orange sitting at 12 with one week to go.
The Orange got crushed by the Louisville Cardinals in a 56-10 blowout loss last week and moved to 4-7 on the year in the process. Their win over Clemson from earlier in the year gives them plenty of wiggle room when it comes to any head-to-heads in rankings with Pittsburgh, but a win to wrap up the year would be huge for Syracuse on these rankings.
Duke Blue Devils 5-6
Last week: Won 43-20 over Georgia Tech
Last rank: 12
Finally, after all of this time, the Duke Blue Devils returned to the form I was used to seeing towards the start of the year. However, it, unfortunately, took them 11 weeks to finally get a statement win over a decent team, and their opponent wasn’t even as tough as they once were.
The Blue Devils blew out the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets with their 43-20 victory, but the win was too little, too late. It hurt Georgia Tech’s ranking, but it wasn’t big enough for Duke to move up more than one spot on the list this late in the season. If they had done this back around Week 5, maybe this conversation would be a lot different.