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ACC power rankings after Week 9: Miami headlines group of 4 undefeated teams in ACC play
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Week 9 of ACC play is complete.
The top teams in the ACC all remained undefeated this weekend. Miami, SMU and Pitt all won while Clemson was idle. However, there’s still some movement this week throughout the rankings.
Here’s Saturday Down South’s updated ACC Week 9 power rankings:
17. Florida State (Previously: 17)
Florida State was largely uncompetitive in a blowout loss to Miami, as expected. After going undefeated in league play a year ago, the Noles are the first ACC team to 7 losses in 2024.
16. Stanford (Previously: 16)
Stanford’s nightmare debut season in the ACC continues. The Cardinal are 2-6 overall and 1-4 in ACC play. A trip to Raleigh is on deck.
15. Wake Forest (Previously: 15)
Wake Forest defeated Stanford on Saturday, 27-24. Hank Bachmeier threw 3 touchdowns in perhaps his best game in a Wake Forest jersey.
14. Boston College (Previously: 12)
Boston College built a big lead against Louisville, but couldn’t finish things off. It’s been a frustrating Year 1 in a lot of ways for Bill O’Brien.
13. Virginia (Previously: 11)
Tough loss for Virginia on Saturday against North Carolina. The Cavaliers’ offense just never got going against the Tar Heels.
12. NC State (Previously: 13)
NC State was idle in Week 9.
11. North Carolina (Previously: 14)
North Carolina completely dominated Virginia on Saturday. Jacolby Criswell played perhaps his best game of the season and Omarion Hampton went over 100 yards again as well. The win snapped a 4-game losing streak.
10. Syracuse (Previously: 7)
Incredibly tough night for Syracuse as Kyle McCord was picked off 5 times. Those sorts of nights are possible for McCord, although he had done well to avoid them up to this point in the season. Syracuse still needs 1 more win to earn bowl eligibility.
9. Georgia Tech (Previously: 8)
Georgia Tech fought hard without Haynes King, but to no avail. The Yellow Jackets have a tough slate of games remaining, but they do get to host NC State in November. That game will likely determine whether or not Georgia Tech goes to a bowl game this season.
8. Duke (Previously: 10)
Duke lost this week, but the Blue Devils were much more impressive than Syracuse or Georgia Tech so I’m moving them up anyways. The Duke defense is legit under Manny Diaz. We’ll see if the offense can take a step forward in 2025.
7. Cal (Previously: 9)
Cal thrashed Oregon State 44-7 on Saturday. After playing in so many close games recently, it must’ve felt good for the Golden Bears to get ahead early and never look back.
6. Louisville (Previously: 5)
Louisville nearly lost to Boston College on Friday night, but the Cardinals were able to mount a late comeback to earn the win. Louisville was -3 in turnover margin, so scraping out a road win under those circumstances is impressive.
5. Virginia Tech (Previously: 6)
It was another convincing win for Virginia Tech this weekend against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets were without their starting QB, but it was still a good performance for the Hokies.
4. SMU (Previously 3)
That was close, SMU. The Mustangs needed overtime to win in Durham. This was the worst SMU has played since its loss to BYU back in Week 2. Kevin Jennings struggled mightily, throwing 3 interceptions. The good news is that SMU’s defense played well, which is why the Mustangs were ultimately able to survive this test against Duke.
3. Pitt (Previously: 4)
Pitt moves up a spot after it trounced Syracuse earlier in the week. The Panthers didn’t play particularly well on offense, but they didn’t need to because of 5 Kyle McCord interceptions. Pitt will go on the road to face a fellow undefeated team in SMU in Week 10.
2. Clemson (Previously: 2)
Clemson was idle this week.
1. Miami (Previously: 1)
After how the past couple of seasons went, it probably felt very good for Mario Cristobal and company to win in that fashion against Florida State. Miami is cruising toward an undefeated regular season.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
