ACC Power Rankings: Where does Louisville stand after the bye?

Where does Louisville stand in the ACC power rankings after week 8?

Louisville is coming off a bye week while the rest of the ACC was still in play and a lot happened this weekend to shake up the conference this week. As of right now here are how my rankings look:

#1 Florida State Seminoles

#2 North Carolina Tar Heels

#3 Louisville Cardinals

#4 Duke Blue Devils

#5 Miami Hurricanes

#6 Clemson Tigers

#7 Virginia Tech

#8 Boston College

#9 NC State

#10 Wake Forest

#11 Georgia Tech

#12 Syracuse

#13 Virginia

#14 Pitt

The main stories for the ACC this weekend was Virginia upsetting #10 North Carolina 31-27 and Miami beating Clemson 28-20 Miami. While Boston College beat Georgia Tech on the road 38-23, which is an impressive win for a team that looked to be the punching bag of the ACC just a few weeks ago. Wake Forest beat Pitt 21-17, and Duke lost at Florida State 38-20 in a close game going into the 4th quarter until the Seminoles blew it open.

Duke was leading Florida State 20-17 at the start of the 4th, but without their starting quarterback they couldn’t keep up with the Seminole offense that was bound to break out eventually. A huge game between the Cardinals and the Blue Devils will take place this weekend, and Louisville has to be carefull with a dangerous Duke team. Especially if Riley Leonard returns.

Pitt also looked bad against Wake Forest, and it’s looking like their win against Louisville was a fluke and they are a bad football team. Boston College decimated Georgia Tech in the 2nd half proving Georgia Tech is the most flip flop team in the conference, and that BC is better than we thought. While the Eagles were seen as the worst team in the ACC a few weeks ago, they have turned it around and may even make a bowl game with a 4-3 record now.

Dabo Swinney also looks to be falling from the graces of college football as Miami won in overtime. While Mario Cristobal looked to prove he can actually coach again, after last weeks coaching debacle against Georgia Tech. Miami looks to be improving at 5-2, while Clemson needs to figure out what’s happening in Death Valley soon before things get worse.

Virginia had the biggest win of the week, when they took down #10 North Carolina in a stunning finish. The Cavaliers picked off Drake Maye in UNC’s final drive and it was a defining win for Tony Elliot and this Virginia program, as it is their first top ten win on the road in program history. They are 2-5 and while a bowl game seems out of reach, they can still manage to salvage the season a little bit if they keep playing like this. It’s hard to put North Carolina under Louisville or Duke just based on the season they have had so far this year. Next week’s performance against Georgia Tech will tell us a lot on how this team can handle adversity.

Louisville went up from #4 to #3 after Duke lost this weekend, and they have a chance to move up based on how well they play this weekend too. Seeing how the teams that won and lost last weekend and how they will carry over to this upcoming saturday will be interesting.

For now Louisville remains at #3, Florida State remains a top dog at #1, and Pitt falls back down to #14 where they belong.