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ACC Football

ACC power rankings after Week 6: SMU, Pitt enter the contenders tier, but Miami stays king

Spenser Davis

By Spenser Davis

Published:


Week 6 of ACC action is in the books.

It was a wild week all around the country, with 4 top-10 teams going down. However, the ACC was mostly able to avoid the carnage. Miami pulled off a massive comeback victory over Cal while Clemson took care of business against Florida State. Louisville, who entered the week ranked No. 22, did fall to SMU on Saturday night.

Here’s Saturday Down South’s updated ACC Week 5 power rankings:

17. NC State (Previously: 16)

NC State loses at home to Wake Forest. The Wolfpack also lost Grayson McCall to another concerning injury. A bad year gets worse for Dave Doeren and NC State.

16. Florida State (Previously: 15)

Florida State ended up losing by a couple scores, but the Noles were more competitive vs. Clemson than they have been in some of their other losses this season. The defense kept the game from getting out hand, but Brock Glenn played the best ball of his collegiate career so far as well. No moral victories, but progress is progress.

15. Wake Forest (Previously: 17)

Wake Forest moves up a couple spots this week by virtue of its narrow win in Raleigh. Demond Claiborne scored 3 times in the win.

14. Stanford (Previously: 14)

Stanford stays in this spot mostly on the strength of its win vs. Syracuse a couple of weeks ago. The Cardinal have been largely uncompetitive since then in losses to Clemson and Virginia Tech.

13. North Carolina (Previously: 13)

North Carolina has lost 3 in a row, but I don’t think the Tar Heels have quit — not yet at least. They played hard in a close loss to Pitt on Saturday. The offense is making legitimate strides under Jacolby Criswell.

12. Duke (Previously: 9)

Duke finally goes down. The Blue Devils had a good run to start the year, but Georgia Tech was too much. Duke still is just 1 win away from bowl eligibility.

11. Boston College (Previously: 6)

Boston College’s offense couldn’t get anything going in the second half vs. Virginia. The Eagles might be underdogs the rest of the way, but still need 2 more wins to earn bowl eligibility.

10. Virginia Tech (Previously: 12)

Virginia Tech took care of business on Saturday against Stanford. The Hokies are 3-3, but they could easily be 6-0. They have an overtime loss to Vanderbilt, a 3-point loss to Rutgers and a very controversial defeat against Miami on their résumé. None of those losses are particularly embarrassing. This is a borderline top-40 team in my opinion.

9. Virginia (Previously: 11)

Virginia pulled of a big comeback of its own on Saturday vs. Boston College, outscoring the Eagles 18-0 in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers’ defense shutout BC in the second half.

8. Cal (Previously: 8)

Oh, Cal. So close, and yet so far away. Welcome to the ACC.

7. Georgia Tech (Previously: 10)

Good win for Georgia Tech against Duke on Saturday night. The Yellow Jackets out-scored Duke 14-0 in the 4th quarter to earn the victory.

6. Louisville (Previously: 3)

Louisville’s defense couldn’t get a stop vs. SMU on Saturday. I still think the Cardinals have a decent team this year — especially as long as Tyler Shough is healthy — but that was a disappointing performance.

5. Syracuse (Previously: 5)

Syracuse won an absolutely insane game on Friday night against a ranked UNLV team. The Orange now have 2 top-25 wins on the season, but I have some concerns about their defense moving forward. Kyle McCord’s decision-making also nearly cost Syracuse a chance to win on Friday night.

4. SMU (Previously 7)

Suddenly SMU is firmly into the second tier of ACC title contenders. The Mustangs have won 3 in a row since their QB change and are still undefeated in ACC play. The schedule is soft the rest of the way, so SMU could very well end up in Charlotte for the first weekend in December.

3.  Pitt (Previously: 4)

It’s hasn’t always been pretty, but Pitt is 5-0. With Louisville losing, Pitt looks like a real threat to compete in the ACC. The Panthers could be ranked in the AP Top 25 this week for the first time since 2022.

2. Clemson (Previously: 2)

The Tigers have now won 4 consecutive games by double-digits since their season-opening loss to Georgia in Atlanta. Clemson might not face a ranked team again until it goes on the road to play Pitt on Nov. 16.

1. Miami (Previously: 1)

Miami hangs on to the No. 1 spot this week by the slimmest of margins, as it needed 21 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to beat Cal on Saturday night (err, Sunday morning). That improbable comeback means the Canes are 6-0 this season and still perfect in ACC play.

Spenser Davis

Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.

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