We’re one week (and some change) into the season, so we’ve seen all ACC teams in action now – and a few twice (lol, Florida State). Let’s throw some crazy small-sample-size power rankings out there!

Since I don’t care about being right, these are going to change dramatically from week to week. Yell at me in the comments; I don’t care.

1. Miami (last week: 41-17 W @ Florida)

Hard to find a more impressive win last week than what the Hurricanes did the Gators. Just one game into the season and Florida fans are already talking about when – not if – Billy Napier gets fired. Cam Ward looked as good as advertised in his debut for Mario Cristobal’s squad. We won’t learn much more about Miami for a while as their next three games are against Florida A&M, Ball State, and South Florida.

2. Boston College (last week: 28-13 W @ Florida State)

As impressive as Georgia Tech’s win over Florida State was, Boston College’s was even better. In Tallahassee in the first game under a new coach and the Eagles dominated the Seminoles in every facet of the game. Bill O’Brien was a great hire for BC but it looks like he’s going to pay dividends sooner than expected. Next up is a home game against Duquesne before a road trip to Missouri.

3. Georgia Tech (last week: 35-12 @ vs Georgia State)

The Yellow Jackets didn’t stomp the Panthers straight out of the gate, but they were never really threatened in their follow-up to the huge season-opening win over Florida State in Ireland. The offense is going to live and die by Haynes King, and limiting the hits he takes while running is going to be key to the team outpacing expectations this year. Next up is a road trip to Syracuse.

4. Louisville (last week: 62-0 W vs Austin Peay)

Austin Peay managed to barely break the century mark in total yards as Louisville rolled to an easy win over the Governors. Texas Tech transfer QB Tyler Shough looked fantastic in his debut while the running game looks to have a lot of threats. Another layup against Jacksonville State is up next before a big showdown with Georgia Tech to open ACC play for the Cardinals.

5. Pittsburgh (last week: 55-24 W vs Kent State)

Last year’s Pitt squad was atrociously bad, which almost cost Pat Narduzzi his job, but in their season opener this year the Panthers looked the part. Under first-year offensive coordinator Kade Bell (son of Western Carolina head coach Kerwin Bell), the Pitt offense hummed to 567 yards. The defense is going to be solid per the norm under Narduzzi, so Pitt, but the schedule isn’t very easy so getting to bowl eligibility could still be a battle. Next week features a road trip to Cincinnati

6. North Carolina (19-17 W @ Minnesota)

A road win over a Big Ten team has to hold some value, but Minnesota did about everything it could to lose that game, missing two field goals and fumbling deep in their own territory to set up an easy UNC field goal. The big item coming out of the game is the loss of starting QB Max Johnson for the remainder of the season with a broken leg. The Texas A&M transfer wasn’t the sharpest, but was starting to get into a groove when the injury occurred in the 2nd half. Before you put too much into the Tar Heels defensive performance, keep in mind that Minnesota averaged just over 18 points/game last year against P5 teams. The schedule is super forgiving for working in a new QB as the next two games are against Charlotte, NC Central, and James Madison.

7. SMU (59-7 W vs Houston Christian)

The Mustangs dominated a team that I didn’t know previously existed in the exact manner that you’d expect them to, but SMU struggled mightily the week prior against a Nevada squad that tallied all of four total wins over the two prior seasons. For that reason, they’re here. The good news for SMU is that it looks like they shored up their faults in the week-plus since that game at the Wolf Pack (hopefully the Wolfpack can make that same adjustment). The bad news is that you can’t really learn much from a game against the… checks notes… Huskies. The schedule gets very unforgiving with BYU and TCU up next.

8. Virginia (34-13 W vs Richmond)

A prove-it year for Tony Elliott in Charlottesville started out by jumping out to a 20-0 lead on Richmond and cruising to an easy victory. Can’t ask for much more. The offense was great and the defense did what it needed to. ACC play starts this week for the Wahoos at…

9. Wake Forest (45-13 W vs NC A&T)

Like Pat Narduzzi and Pitt, Wake’s 2023 season also went off the rails in a surprising fashion. And like the Panthers, the Deacs opened up 2024 looking like they’re ready to remove themselves rapidly from last season’s debacle. Former Boise State and Louisiana Tech QB Hank Bachmeier is at the helm of the offense now, leading that group to over 500 yards in the win over the Aggies. The game against the Cavaliers this week is going to tell us a lot about both squads… or maybe not.

10. NC State (38-21 W vs Western Carolina)

Not much to discuss here. NC State looked primed for upset much of the night against the Catamounts before pulling away late. As discussed in these parts, the Pack’s performance was better than the score indicated, but there’s a lot to clean up before taking on Tennessee in Charlotte this coming Saturday night.

11. Duke (26-3 W vs Elon)

Game One under new coach and old friend Manny Diaz was a win. The game was never in doubt as the Duke defense held the Phoenix to 140 total yards, but I’m sure there were hopes the Blue Devils would muster a better offensive showing (350 yards). Elon kicked the sad field – a 39-yarder with 14 seconds left – to avoid the shutout. The Nerd Bowl is up next with a matchup against Northwestern, followed by games against UConn and Middle Tennessee State. Diaz’s team should be 4-0 heading into their game against North Carolina.

12. Syracuse (38-22 W vs Ohio)

It was a slog for much of the game for the Orange, but Fran Brown’s debut resulted in a win. Still, allowing 436 yards to Ohio is not a great look. The good news for Syracuse is that it still has LeQuint Allen and Oronde Gadsden, both of whom are still studs. New QB Kyle McCord looked like a huge upgrade over what Syracuse had last year, but that defense is going to have to get it together if bowl hopes are to be realized. There aren’t any more warm ups as ACC play starts this week with a game against Georgia Tech.

13. California (31-13 W vs UC-Davis)

The Golden Bears won, but getting outgained by an FCS team while your offensive line couldn’t do anything against the UC-Davis defensive line – even with Jaydn Ott there to mask the woes – isn’t a good omen. Making matters worse, Ott left the game in the 3rd quarter with an ankle injury, although it doesn’t appear to be serious. Cal heads to Auburn this week.

14. Virginia Tech (27-34 L @ Vanderbilt)

Oh, man. VT got jumped out of the gate by the Fightin’ Lionel Richies, falling behind 17-0 in the 2nd quarter before finally managing to get on the scoreboard with a field goal just before halftime. To the Hokies credit, they mounted a rally and actually took the lead 27-20 with under five minutes to play in the game. Unfortunately for VT fans, Vandy immediately put together a 70-yard TD drive to tie the game and then won the game in overtime. The Hokies can’t afford to be that slow out of the starting blocks the rest of the year, and the running game needs to do something to help out Kyron Drones. Marshall comes to town this week.

15. Stanford (27-34 L vs TCU)

I should probably rank Stanford higher here since they far exceeded my expectations, but this spot feels right for now, especially considering they were outgained by 171 yards. What I figured would be a pretty bad game turned into a pretty entertaining one, and that was much appreciated on what was a pretty drab Friday night schedule. The Cardinal won’t figure to win many games if their QB can’t complete 50% of his passes and the defense gives up over 450 yards, but the running game had its moments and the team was competitive, which is more than can be said of much of the last few years of Stanford football. A chance for Win #1 comes this weekend at home against Cal Poly before hitting the road for an east coast ACC trip (kinda sounds obvious, but these are the times we live in) against Syracuse and Clemson.

16. Clemson (3-34 L vs Georgia)

Is Clemson really the second worst team in the ACC? Absolutely not, but the Tigers got throttled in the second half by the Bulldogs, so I’m going to overreact because it’s fun. It’s hard to dissect too much about Clemson’s performance since Georgia would make most of the college football world look even worse than what they did in Atlanta. We’ll know much more about the Tigers over the next two weeks with home games against Appalachian State and NC State up next.

17. Florida State (last week: 13-28 L vs Boston College)