Streaking the Lawn’s Week 2 ACC Football Power Rankings

We’ve finally entered the college football season! Yes, some teams have played two games already, but UVA gets to play this weekend!

After those first two weekends, everything has worked out like we thought they would. Here’s how we see the ACC ranked thus far:

1. Clemson Tigers (2-0, 1-0)
Last game: win 49-0 vs. The Citadel. This week: BYE

The Tigers got another practice game under their belt by scrimmaging poor Citadel. Trevor Lawrence probably should not have played at all and to be honest, nobody on the first team should have. Tigers get a bye week this week to prepare mentally for probably their toughest test of the season next weekend when the ACC Coastal Champions, Virginia, travels to South Carolina.

2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-0, 1-0)
Last game: win 52-0 vs. USF. This week: POSTPONED at Wake.

Corona strikes again and postpones another ACC game. The Irish dominated the Bulls last weekend but had to postpone this weekend after an outbreak of the virus on the team. Their game against Wake has been rescheduled to December 12 and the ACC is rapidly running out of extra weekends to play makeup games.

3. Miami Hurricanes (2-0, 1-0)
Last game: win 47-34 at Louisville. This week: vs. FSU

D’Eriq King was electric for the Canes throwing for 325 yards and 3 TDs on 18 completions. Junior RB Cam’ron Harris added extra depth on the ground running for 134 yards and a TD on just 9 carries. The defense bent against Louisville’s stout offense, allowing 516 total yards, but ultimately forced 3 turnovers to seal it.

4. North Carolina Tar Heels (1-0, 1-0)
Last game: vs. Charlotte, Cancelled. This week: BYE

The Tar Heels have to wait another week to play a game after their game last week against Charlotte was canceled and a bye this week. They’ll travel to Boston next weekend to play a decent (?) BC team, which could give us a better idea about Mack Brown’s team.

5. Pittsburgh Panthers (2-0, 1-0)
Last game: win 21-10 vs. Syracuse. This week: vs. Louisville

Pitt’s defense is going to have to carry them this season for them to challenge the ACC. They did that last week against the Orange, holding them to just 171 yards and just 51 on the ground. Louisville’s offense is on one or two better levels than Cuse’s though. We’ll see if Pitt can contain Malik Cunningham.

6. Louisville Cardinals ( 1-1, 0-1)
Last game: loss 47-34 vs. Miami. This week: at Pitt

The foil to Pitt is clearly Louisville. The Cardinals have an excellent offensive attack lead by Cunningham, Tutu Atwell, and Javian Hawkins. The question will be if their offense can put up enough points and stay on the field long enough to counteract what their defense is going to give up.

7. Virginia Cavaliers (0-0, 0-0).
Last game: vs. VT postponed. This week: vs. Duke

The defense should be good. Will the offense be any good? Will Ronnie Walker ever get to play? Who knows if UVA will ever actually get to play.

8. Virginia Tech Hokies (0-0, 0-0)
Last game: vs. UVA postponed. This week: vs. NC State

The ACC is going to have to come down hard on the Hokies soon. Justin Fuente’s press conference didn’t go well this week when asked about the health of his team. At some point they have to be held accountable and forfeit games against teams that are ready to play.

9. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (1-1, 1-0)
Last game: loss 49-21 vs. UCF. This week: at Syracuse

For all that is holy, do not watch GT-Syracuse. Go outside. Do literally anything else. Yes, the Jackets beat FSU in amazingly ugly fashion, but neither of these teams makes anyone want to turn the TV on.

10. Florida State Seminoles (0-1, 0-1)
Last game: BYE. This week: at Miami

Things have gone from bad to worse for first year head coach Mike Norvell. After a tumultuous offseason, he loses to Georgia Tech at home to open the season, then over the bye week it was announced he had contracted Corona, and now his team gets to travel to rolling Miami. Luckily the FSU fanbase is really rational and understanding the rebuilding process.

11. Boston College Eagles (1-0, 1-0)
Last game: win 26-6 at Duke. This week: vs. Texas State

Looking at the box score, this should not have been an easy win for the Eagles. They only outgained Duke by 33 yards and had one less penalty. The reason for the easy win? Three fumbles and two interceptions by Duke. BC’s defense could be good, but they probably aren’t that good.

12. N.C. State Wolfpack (1-0, 1-0)
Last game: win 45-42 vs. Wake. This week: at VT.

A win is a win when it comes to NC State who is coming off a abysmal 2019, but allowing 42 points to Wake can’t give much hope. They have a two-headed monster on the ground with Ricky Person Jr. and Zonovan Knight who combined for 196 yards and 3 touchdowns against Wake last weekend. We’ll see if they can be successful against a better defense this weekend at Lane Stadium.

13. Duke Blue Devils (0-2, 0-2)
Last game: loss 26-6 vs. BC. This week: at UVA

The magic had to run out eventually for Head Coach David Cutcliffe. The season might not be fully lost since Clemson, Miami, and Louisville aren’t on the Blue Devils’ schedule, but UVA, VT, and UNC still remain. Duke would be hard pressed to find a better coach than Cutcliffe, so he can probably survive an awful year.

14. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (0-2, 0-2)
Last game: loss 45-42 at NC State. This week: vs. ND postponed

The Deacs will at least get to lick their wounds and recover from opening the season with two straight losses thanks to their game with ND being postponed. They get to play FCS Campbell next weekend, so a win is certainly on the horizon. With the ND game moving to the end of the season they now end the season: at UNC, at Duke, vs Miami, at Louisville, vs ND. Yikes.

15. Syracuse Orange (0-2, 0-2)
Last game: loss at Pitt 21-10. This week: vs. GT

At least the first two games were on the road and now out of the way. Playing GT at home could get the Cuse back on track, but open up as an 8 point underdog. Dino Babers is now a long way from 2018.