ACC Power rankings, Week 11: Clemson has no peers, Pitt leads Coastal

ACC Power rankings, Week 11: Clemson embarrasses Louisville, Pitt leads Coastal

CLEMSON, SC - NOVEMBER 03: Teammates Tee Higgins #5 and Milan Richard #80 of the Clemson Tigers react after a touchdown against the Louisville Cardinals during their game at Clemson Memorial Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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RALEIGH, NC – NOVEMBER 03: James Blackman #1 of the Florida State Seminoles drops back to pass against the North Carolina State Wolfpack at Carter-Finley Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /

This year can’t end soon enough for Willie Taggart. On Saturday, the offensive line was the biggest culprit for the Seminoles. They were completely overmatched by NC State’s defensive line at the point of attack. The end result was 24 rushing yards on 20 carries.

The only potential bright spot was the play of James Blackman at quarterback. He did a really nice job pushing the ball down the field against the Wolfpack secondary. His final stat line of 421 yards passing and four touchdowns on the day might be enough to keep Deondre Francois on the bench. Frankly, that’s the only thing interesting about Florida State at the moment.

The Jackets only managed to win this game by 10, but they played better than that. Losing three fumbles on the afternoon certainly helped keep North Carolina within hailing distance.

Then again, Georgia Tech’s secondary forced three interceptions of their own. That gave Tobias Oliver the ball enough to get his team a valuable ACC win. The freshman quarterback completed both of his passes for 104 yards and led the team with 120 rushing yards. This was a classic win for Paul Johnson’s team.

Pittsburgh got the ACC schedule kicked off on Friday night with a big road win at Virginia. The Panthers have struggled mightily outside of conference play this year, but they now sport an impressive 4-1 mark inside ACC play.

Darrin Hall was dominant against the Cavaliers front seven. He rushed for 229 yards and three touchdowns on just 19 carries. Their rushing defense was also really good against Bryce Perkins. Holding UVA’s star signal caller to negative rushing yards was a huge factor in the big win.

Virginia’s dream season came crashing back down to Earth a little bit on Friday night. Bryce Perkins just couldn’t get the magic going for Bronco Mendenhall’s offense. He threw the ball for a respectable total of 205 yards but rushing for -7 killed his team’s chances at keeping big drives alive.

Giving up 245 yards on the ground to the Panthers didn’t help Virginia either. In the end, they just got dominated at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The Cavaliers don’t have enough skill players to win a game when that happens.

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