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Week 8 of ACC play is in the books.
It was another strong week for the ACC, particularly for the teams at the top of the league. Miami, Clemson and SMU all won in convincing fashion this weekend and thus retained their hold on the top 3 spots in this ranking. However, there’s still plenty of movement in the middle of these power rankings following an eventful Week 8.
Here’s Saturday Down South’s updated ACC Week 8 power rankings:
17. Florida State (Previously: 15)
NC State and Wake Forest both won and Florida State endured its first-ever loss to Duke. There’s no choice but to put the 1-6 Noles in the basement.
16. Stanford (Previously: 14)
Stanford continues to be abysmal, this time losing by 4+ scores to SMU. There’s not much reason for optimism, either — at least not in 2024.
15. Wake Forest (Previously: 16)
Wake Forest narrowly escaped UConn with a victory this weekend.
14. North Carolina (Previously: 13)
North Carolina was off this weekend.
13. NC State (Previously: 17)
NC State needed a little bit of luck, but the Wolfpack got back to .500 with a road win at Cal. As bad as it’s been for NC State at times this season, the Wolfpack are now 2 wins away from bowl eligibility and have a freshman QB who just threw for over 300 yards on a Justin Wilcox-led defense. Rock bottom is whole heckuva lot lower than that.
12. Boston College (Previously: 11)
Tough loss against Virginia Tech this weekend for the Eagles, but Thomas Castellanos continues to put up good numbers. BC hosts Louisville on Friday in an important game for both teams.
11. Virginia (Previously: 10)
Virginia put up a good fight but was ultimately out-matched against Clemson on Saturday. Next week’s game against North Carolina is a must-win for Tony Elliott’s team if they want to make a bowl.
10. Duke (Previously: 12)
Duke gained just 180 total yards, went 3-for-17 on third down and allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown against Florida State. Despite all of that, the Blue Devils won anyways. They are improbably 6-1 on the season. I still don’t think this team is very good, hence why Duke shows up on the back half of this list. The schedule gets a lot tougher from here on out, so we’re about to find out a lot about what this Duke team is made of.
9. Cal (Previously: 8)
Cal has lost 4 ACC games — including 2 to teams ranked higher on this list — by a combined 9 points. That’s about as brutal as it gets, particularly when you factor in all the cross-country travel. I think the Golden Bears are a good team and a bowl game is still very much within reach, though.
8. Georgia Tech (Previously: 7)
Georgia Tech fell at home vs. Notre Dame on Saturday.
7. Syracuse (Previously: 6)
Syracuse did not play in Week 8.
6. Virginia Tech (Previously: 9)
Big win for the Hokies earlier this weekend against Boston College. That Vanderbilt loss isn’t looking nearly as bad these days, either.
5. Louisville (Previously: 5)
Louisville lost by 7 against Miami this weekend, but I’m not going to drop the Cardinals down the board here. Louisville’s offense is extremely formidable with Tyler Shough at quarterback.
4. Pitt (Previously: 4)
Pitt was idle this weekend.
3. SMU (Previously 3)
SMU continued its run of dominance with another big win over Stanford on Saturday. The Mustangs look like heavy favorites in most of their remaining games, although a top-25 matchup against Pitt is looming in Week 10.
2. Clemson (Previously: 2)
Clemson fell behind early against Virginia, but ultimately cruised to a win over the Cavaliers. Cade Klubnik is quietly having a career-year.
1. Miami (Previously: 1)
Miami picked up a huge road win over Louisville in Week 8. It wasn’t perfect — and I do have some questions about Miami’s defense moving forward — but the Canes’ offense seems to be firing on all cylinders.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
