ACC Rankings Week Two

Atlantic

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1. Clemson Tigers: The Tigers faced off against the Furman Paladins. Clemson jumped out to a 28-9 lead by halftime when they took their foot off the throttle and started switching in back-ups. DJ Uigalelei looked accurate, completing 21 of 27 passes though he did toss one interception. Next week, Clemson has another get-well game against Conference USA’s Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, before a very interesting game against Wake.

2. NC State Wolfpack: NCST beat up on FCS foe, Charleston Southern, winning 55-3. Congratulations. This Saturday the Wolfpack have an exciting matchup when they host the Texas Tech Red Raiders. TT just unseated then No. 25 Houston.

3. Wake Forest Demon Deacons: QB Sam Hartman is back under center, and his absence does not seem to have slowed him. He completed 18 of 27 for 300 yards, four touchdowns, and zero interceptions. Hartman and the Deacons host the Liberty Flames this weekend.

4. Florida State Seminoles: FSU had the weekend off. They visit Louisville Friday night.

5. Syracuse Orange: Garrett Shrader completed 20 of 23 passes for 292 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He also ran for two more scores. Sean Tucker racked up another 100+ yard game, on the ground, and a TD. Last year Shrader only threw nine TDs and 1,445 yards, total. He only twice threw for more than 200 yards. During the first two games of this season, he has 523 yards, five TDs, and has thrown for 236 yards and 292 yards. The Orange might be a sleeper threat with the offensive duo of Shrader and Tucker, and a defense that shut down Malik Cunningham. Syracuse hosts the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday.

6. Louisville Cardinals: Cunningham looked more himself during the Cards’ 20-14 win over UCF. He had 201 yards, in the air and 121 yards and a TD on the ground. Their Friday night game against FSU is going to be fun.

7. Boston College Eagles: BC is not going to be competitive until their offensive line starts playing significantly better. VT mauled Jurkovec and held the Eagles to four yards rushing on 26 attempts (0.2-yard average). They have a get-well game against Maine this weekend, before heading to Tallahassee the following week.

Coastal

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1. Miami Hurricanes: The ‘Canes defeated the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, 30-7. Van Dyke wasn’t asked to do too much, and Miami didn’t really open much of the playbook for this fight. He still showed his accuracy completing 20 of 29 for 261-yards, a TD, and one INT. Their Saturday night games against No. 24 Texas A&M will be the first challenge for this hopeful Miami team.

2. North Carolina Tar Heels: UNC’s close call against Appalachian State sure looks a lot better after the Mountaineers unseated Texas A&M, in College Station, this past weekend. The Tar Heels defeated another Sun Belt Conference foe, Georgia State, 35-28. There are some serious questions surrounding the North Carolina defense, but it’s also entirely possible that these SBC teams are wholly underrated. UNC gets a breather this weekend but faces off against a wounded Notre Dame Fighting Irish in two weeks.

3. Pittsburgh Panthers: That was a close one, and if starting QB, Kedon Slovis, hadn’t been injured I think Pitt probably walks away with the win, but they didn’t and the Tennessee Volunteers grabbed victory, 34-27, during OT. Adding insult to injury, Panthers’ backup QB, Nick Patti, was also hurt, during regulation. Details regarding Slovis’ and Patti’s injuries are still being kept quiet, but behind them is redshirt freshman, Nate Yarnell, and FCS graduate transfer, Derek Kyler. Things could get difficult if both Slovis and Patti are sidelined for a significant portion of the season. Friday the Panthers face Western Michigan.

4. Duke Blue Devils: Honestly, at this point, I am not looking forward to VT’s game against Duke QB, Riley Leonard, and the team Coach Elko has put together. RBs, Jordan Waters and Jaylen Coleman, are nothing to blink at either. This weekend the Blue Devils are almost sure to pick up their third win of the season against NC A&T.

5. Virginia Tech Hokies: The Hokies looked much better against BC, during their home opener at Lane Stadium. VT only committed five penalties, for 25 yards, and turned the ball over zero times. Wells wasn’t asked to perform heroics, but he protected the ball and did what needed to be done to win the game. I still have concerns about the rushing attack and the offensive line’s ability to open running gaps. If you take away Keshawn King’s 65-yard TD run, then the Hokies would have run 44 times for only 79-yards (1.8 avg YPC). That isn’t great. The last “easy” game for VT is Friday against Wofford, then comes a nightmarish five game stint that starts with West Virginia.

6. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: QB, Jeff Sims, didn’t have to do much thanks to a GT rushing attack that scored five times, including TD runs of 51-yards and 40-yards against FCS foe, Western Carolina. The Jackets face off against the No. 20 Ole Miss Rebels on Friday.

7. Virginia Cavaliers: Just like the bottom team of the Atlantic, the Coastal bottom team is suffering from serious offensive line woes. Illinois mauled QB Brennan Armstrong (five sacks) and held the already questionable UVA ground attack to 42-yards on 29 attempts (1.4-yard average), 31 of which came on a single rush by backup QB, Jay Woolfolk. This weekend the Cavaliers host Old Dominion. UVA is favored, but…

Overall

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1. (No. 5 AP / No 4 Coaches) Clemson Tigers (2-0, 1-0 ACC) – Static

2. (No. 16 / No. 12) NC State Wolfpack (2-0, 0-0 ACC) – Static

3. (No. 13 / No. 13) Miami Hurricanes (2-0, 0-0 ACC) – Static

4. (No. 19 / No. 18) Wake Forest Demon Deacons (2-0, 0-0 ACC) – Static

5. Florida State Seminoles (2-0, 0-0 ACC) – Up One

6. (No. 23 / No. 25) Pittsburgh Panthers (1-1, 0-0 ACC) – Down One

7. Syracuse Orange (2-0, 1-0 ACC) – Static

8. North Carolina Tar Heels (3-0, 0-0 ACC) – Static

9. Duke Blue Devils (2-0, 0-0 ACC) – Up One

10. Louisville Cardinals (1-1, 0-1 ACC) – Up Two

11. Virginia Tech Hokies, (1-1, 1-0 ACC) – Up Three

12. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (1-1, 0-1 ACC) – Up One

13. Virginia Cavaliers, (1-1, 0-0 ACC) – Down Four

14. Boston College Eagles, (0-2, 0-1 ACC) – Down Three