Football

It’s week 8 of ACC football and we’re seeing some subtle movement but primarily in ‘The Muddle’. Among ‘The Contenders’ Miami maintains the top spot in the ACC and move up three spots in the latest AP Top 25 to grab the top spot nationally. The Canes had their hands fully with in-state rival Florida State and it’s the first time that any team has gotten closer than 13 points to them all season. The Seminoles made the most of the opportunity and pushed the game into double OT but couldn’t close the deal as they lost 43-35. Pitt visits on Saturday.

No change in the ACC football rankings this week for the Top 4 including Wake Forest who danced away with a 41-7 win at Cal, and their last two games add up to 79-21. We think that’s very noteworthy as the Deacons continue to fine-tune their offense. Their only loss is still Miami. Wake takes a break this week.

SMU continues to ride the rankings at No. 3. The Mustangs beat Virginia 23-13 without much drama. Cal comes to Dallas on Saturday.

Louisville holds steady at No. 4 after a 34-26 win at Syracuse. All three of the Cardinals losses were by 3 points, and they beat SMU by 10. This may be a bit of a contrarian pick but failure to examine this team closely can put an opponent at risk.

ACC Football Rankings Week 8

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Let’s talk about ‘The Muddle’. It starts with Clemson who defeated Charleston Southern 37-0 and it tells us nothing. The Tigers move up two spots this week because Duke let them in the back door after their loss. The Tigers are ahead of the Heels because they beat them head-to-head. Virginia Tech visits Saturday night.

Stepping to the side for a moment. If the Hokies win in Death Valley, the 5-8 range will resemble the eggs you order at Waffle House at 2:00 am on a Sunday morning. Bring your favorite hot sauce.

North Carolina moves up two spots following a 24-20 win at Duke and have now won at Pitt and Duke in back-to-back road games. Clemson stays above the Heels only because of the earlier win as noted above.

Duke drops two this week. The Blue Devils have lost two straight by 3 and 4 points. One could argue they are good losses but keep in mind they are losses nonetheless. They play at Virginia on Friday.

Virginia Tech is up 4 spots in this week’s football rankings following a 34-24 win over Georgia Tech. They have two losses, both of which were close: by 2 to Pitt and by 5 to Cal. This is the week’s biggest jump.

Pitt drops 3. First, let’s address the 600lb gorilla in the room that surely Pitt fans will be screaming over. Why is Virginia Tech ahead of us? Yes, you beat the Hokies (by 2) and with the services of Heintschel at quarterback. His loss changed this team and the loss to Boston College, 27-21 confirms it.

Florida State drops 1 spot in this week’s rankings. The Seminoles lost to Miami 43-35 and that’s the best anyone has played the Canes thus far. The Noles still have the 38-7 win over Virginia as well.

Virginia is down one spot after losing to SMU, 23-13. Look, we know the Wahoo faithful don’t want to hear this but it was a respectable game. The Cavaliers record keeps running ahead of how they’ve played.

Cal comes in at No. 12 dropping one notch after losing at home against Wake Forest, 41-7. It’s a rough way to stay in ‘The Muddle’ of ACC football.

Football – ‘The Strugglers’

Boston College moves up 3 and have a shot of hitting ‘The Muddle’ before all is said and done in this season. With a win over Pitt, 27-21 and single digit or close to it losses to Cincinnati, Virginia Tech and SMU, the Eagles continue to demonstrate how a little faith can take you a long way.

NC State slips a spot not because of how they played this week as they were on a bye. Rather, it was Boston College picking up steam and taking advantage of the situation. Pack fans are taking a very close look at their football program.

Georgia Tech is also down one notch in the rankings after a loss to that ‘other Tech’, 34-24. Unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets, the win over Duke is starting to look like an outlier.

Syracuse also regresses after their loss to Louisville, 34-26. Even though it was competitive, the Orange are still winless in the conference. Will this storied football program ever return to the glory days?

Stanford rounds out the weekly rankings at No. 17. The Cardinal defeated Elon 34-7 but it doesn’t undo losing by a combined 115-10 to Wake and Notre Dame. Ouch.

Football Thoughts And Movement

Everyone, including us have pointed out just how important the Wake Forest at SMU game on Saturday, November 14 will be in determining the ‘other team’ in the ACC Championship Game. There are a number of other critical football games that could very well throw a monkey wrench into rankings on a national level and we should point these out.

Saturday, November 7 Miami @ Notre Dame
Saturday, November 21 SMU @ Notre Dame
Friday, November 27 Florida @ Florida State
Saturday, November 28 Louisville @ Kentucky

As it stands today, the AP Top 25 has Miami at No. 1, Notre Dame at No. 4, Wake Forest at No. 17, SMU at No. 23, Florida at No. 20 and Kentucky at No. 12. Based upon how teams are currently playing, Notre Dame is not a lock against Miami and SMU will give them a run for the money. After seeing what Florida State can do against Miami would it be unreasonable to believe they could knock off Florida? Let’s take that same mindset and apply it to Louisville against Kentucky.

There are some in sports media that believe Wake Forest is underrated and you can count us among that group. If they get by SMU and make it a game in the ACC Championship this is a team that will deserve a playoff spot.