Another week of ACC football, another slate of games that prove Clemson has no rival for the conference crown this season.
While week 2 was a relatively eventful one for the Atlantic Coast Conference, it continued to provide support for the theory that the conference still doesn’t have another team that can rival Clemson this season.
Syracuse, who was supposed to be the next best team in the ACC, was completely demolished by Maryland, a team that likely won’t finish in the top half of the Big Ten. Meanwhile, the Tigers welcomed Texas A&M to Death Valley and managed to dispatch of the Aggies, winning by two touchdowns.
Miami fell short yet again, but this time it was to Mack Brown and the North Carolina Tar Heels and not a top ten ranked team from the SEC. But speaking of Brown, he has certainly surprised many with how his team is succeeding at the moment.
Here’s what the ACC power rankings look like this week:
Geoff Collins and Georgia Tech got a win over USF in what is arguably the dullest game played up to this point in the season. Offenses were lacking and sloppy. Neither the Bulls or the Yellow Jackets were able to get close to gaining 300 yards in the game. But, a win is a win for Georgia Tech and Collins and his team will certainly take whatever they can get right now.
The Louisville Cardinals came out and crushed Eastern Kentucky to get their first win of the season. This game was really never in doubt and this win isn’t necessarily something that will miraculously make Louisville better, but every program has to start somewhere as it rebuilds. Georgia Tech has USF. Louisville has Eastern Kentucky.
FSU is a mess right now. The Noles won, but I don’t think this game is going to make many people associated with Florida State proud of where this program is. FSU was in a position to win with ease, up 24-7 at the half, but ULM made a remarkable comeback, tying things up at 38-38 at the end of regulation. Florida State won after a missed extra point attempt in overtime and Willie Taggart got to celebrate a win. Things are still a mess in Tallahassee and Taggart needs to make some changes if he wants to rebuild this program.
The Duke Blue Devils are chugging along right now. After getting demolished by Alabama to start the season (there’s no shame in that, by the way), Duke responded by demolishing North Carolina A&T. The win doesn’t mean or do much for Duke in the long run, but it is a win and a step in the right direction for the Blue Devils to possibly make it to a bowl this season.
Pitt won a football game. It wasn’t spectacular or dominant or particularly impressive in any way, but Duke won a football game. The Panthers, who previously looked pathetic to start the season, found a way to beat Ohio. Pitt might be in for a bumpy season if the Panthers can’t find a way to consistently score this year.
Against one of the weaker teams in the Big Ten, the Syracuse Orange looked completely and totally inept and confused. Maryland’s offense is legit, but in this game, Syracuse essentially didn’t exist on defense Saturday afternoon. Simply losing would have been one thing, but losing by 43 points is another thing entirely. Maryland scored more points in the first quarter than Syracuse scored throughout the entire game. But, on the bright side, Tommy DeVito looked to be pretty good on Saturday, throwing for 330 yards and 3 touchdowns against an interception.
Miami is winless on the year and yet has come close two times now. The Hurricanes had the perfect opportunity to get their first win of the season against a North Carolina team that is still building, but Miami blew it. The Hurricanes couldn’t take advantage of an efficient and respectable performance from quarterback Jarren Williams, who completed nearly 77 percent of his passes for 309 yards and a couple of scores.
Virginia Tech beat Old Dominion by a couple of touchdowns on Saturday. The win wasn’t all that great, but this game was better for the Hokies than the 2018 version of this game in which the Monarchs won by a couple of touchdowns. Nothing of real importance happened here, but Virginia Tech won, and the Hokies could use some wins.
Boston College probably didn’t need to run for 346 yards to be able to beat the Richmond Spiders, but the Eagles did it anyway. BC’s passing offense isn’t all that great, but throwing the ball is overrated anyways. I, for one, commend BC’s strategy of running the ball as often as possible and winning by over 30 points in the process.
There was never a point on Saturday in which NC State’s game was in doubt. The Wolfpack cruised to an easy, efficient win over Western Carolina and looked very good doing it. Like Boston College, NC State ran for over 300 yards while the passing attack did enough to make this blowout look even better.
I’m not totally sure of what to make of North Carolina right now. I’m still not totally convinced that this success is sustainable, but the Tar Heels clearly don’t care about what I think, and they keep winning, and that’s all that really matters. North Carolina opened the season up by knocking down the South Carolina Gamecocks and then came out and took down the Miami Hurricanes. Shoutout to Mack Brown for somehow making North Carolina an improbable winner that is a chaotic and fun team to keep up with.
Wake Forest’s offense is still really good. Sure, it helps that the Demon Deacons faced a Rice team that isn’t any good, but Wake Forest gained over 500 yards while on the road on Friday. The Demon Deacons could probably stand to work a bit on their defense, giving up 14 points in the first quarter to Rice doesn’t exactly inspire a ton of confidence in that unit. Still, this defense will probably do enough for Wake Forest to win a decent amount of games this year as long as this offense keeps clicking.
The Virginia Cavaliers have moved up and taken the No. 2 spot in the ACC. The Cavaliers aren’t even close to challenging the Clemson Tigers for the No. 1 spot, but to be fair, nobody in this conference can really challenge Clemson unless the Tigers slip up.
Speaking of Clemson, the Tigers took down Texas A&M on a national stage on Saturday. The Aggies and the Tigers didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard, as both teams relied on their respective defenses to carry them in this contest. However, Trevor Lawrence and the Tigers were more efficient than A&M’s offense and did more than enough for Clemson to come out on top by two touchdowns.