The first full week of ACC play is complete.
Miami looks like the clear dominant team in this league this year, while incumbents Florida State are in free fall. Clemson, the other preseason favorite in the ACC, was also a disaster. Virginia Tech wasn’t much better, either.
There’s plenty of movement this week — here’s a look at Saturday Down South’s updated ACC power rankings after Week 1:
17. Duke (Previously: 17)
I was pessimistic about Duke heading into the year and its performance against Elon (10-0 at halftime) didn’t exactly do anything to change my mind on that front.
16. Wake Forest (Previously: 16)
Solid first game for Hank Bachmeier, but beating North Carolina A&T doesn’t get you moved up this list.
15. Florida State (Previously: 6)
This feels like the right place to slot in Florida State after its’ absolute meltdown to start the year. After rattling off 19 straight wins with little drama to speak of in 2022-23, Florida State has now lost to Georgia by a thousand points and to Georgia Tech and Boston College to start 2024. Some hard conversations are going to be had in Tallahassee this week. This season is virtually over, but the Noles need to make sure they can still somewhat put the pieces back together — or risk losing all the progress they’ve made in the Mike Norvell era before now.
14. Stanford (Previously: 15)
Stanford gave TCU all it wanted in Week 1, and very nearly pulled off a huge upset. Ashton Daniels needs to be more efficient as a passer for Stanford to really win a game like this, though.
13. Virginia (Previously: 14)
No-nonsense game for Anthony Colandrea against FCS Richmond: 297 yards and 2 touchdowns on 23 attempts. Virginia ran the ball extremely well, too. Next up is Wake Forest.
12. Pitt (Previously: 12)
Pitt debuted a new offense this week, and it went spectacularly against Kent State. The Panthers face Cincinnati and West Virginia in their next 2 games, so we’ll have a lot more data soon.
11. Cal (Previously: 11)
No drama for Cal in its first ACC game. We’ll know a lot more about the Golden Bears after their trip to Auburn in Week 2.
10. Syracuse (Previously: 10)
Solid — but not perfect — Syracuse debut for Kyle McCord. The Orange took care of business against Ohio in Fran Brown’s first game. McCord did have an alarmingly-high turnover-worthy play rate in the opener, so that’s something to keep an eye on moving forward.
9. SMU (Previously 9)
It sure seems like SMU is just going to use 2 quarterbacks for the foreseeable future. Preston Stone and Kevin Jennings both put up big numbers against Houston Christian in Week 1, as you’d expect.
8. Boston College (Previously: 13)
Boston College more-or-less ended Florida State’s season on Monday night. Second time so far this season that the Noles have lost as double-digit favorites in Vegas. This looks like a great win, but we’ll see if it holds up over time. In any case, good for BC — this was its first win in Tallahassee since 2008.
7. Virginia Tech (Previously: 4)
I struggled with how much to penalize Virginia Tech for its overtime loss to Vanderbilt in Week 1. The Hokies showed a lot of fight in battling back from a 17-0 deficit, but losing as a near-2-touchdown favorite is still painful.
6. Louisville (Previously: 7)
Louisville smoked Austin Peay in Week 1. We’ll learn a lot more about the Cardinals in about 3 weeks when they face Georgia Tech at home.
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5. North Carolina (Previously: 8)
North Carolina moves up a couple spots after handing the Big Ten its only loss of Week 1. The Tar Heels played a very un-Tar Heel like game against Minnesota. They ran the ball consistently, took time off the clock and played solid defense. Losing Max Johnson for the year hurts some of the upside for this team, though. Still, it was an impressive start to the year for UNC and it deserves to move up.
4. NC State (Previously: 5)
NC State was in a dog fight with Western Carolina for way too long. I think it was probably a function of the Wolfpack looking ahead to their Week 2 matchup with Tennessee, but we’ll see if that idea holds any water after next week.
3. Georgia Tech (Previously: 3)
Georgia Tech did well to avoid any slip-ups after in Week 1 after its big win over Florida State in Dublin. Haynes King did throw an interception against Georgia State, but was otherwise pretty accurate. It was a dominant performance overall, so the Yellow Jackets hold onto the No. 3 spot for another week.
2. Clemson (Previously: 1)
There’s probably an argument to be made for dropping Clemson further than this, but for now I’m holding with Clemson at No. 2. There’s too much talent on this roster for the Tigers to be down for too long. Just because they couldn’t compete with Georgia doesn’t mean they’re not still one of the best teams in the ACC.
1. Miami (Previously: 2)
Miami is the clear choice for No. 1 this week after it picked up a blowout victory over rival Florida in Gainesville in Week 1. Miami will have to prove it can sustain its success over a full season — something it didn’t do last year after a strong start to nonconference play — but things are off to a good start in Coral Gables.
