From the looks of it, the ACC is a wide-open race with about six different teams all competing to lose to Miami in the ACC Championship Game. Mario Cristobal’s team was on a bye in Week 5 before heading to Tallahassee, seemingly their top competition in the conference, but Florida State tripped on the way there.
The Seminoles, with the Miami matchup looming, went into Charlottesville and, as they often do, lost to Virginia. Virginia is now 4-3 in its last seven matchups with Florida State, and the Seminoles took a tumble from No. 9 in the country to No. 18, one spot behind Georgia Tech. But just because Florida State’s run defense looks to be a mess that Tommy Castellanos can’t quite clean up, doesn’t mean that any other team in the league is surging forward.
Georgia Tech escaped major upset
The Yellow Jackets slipped one spot to No. 17 in the country, but probably should’ve fallen much further. Two weeks after downing Clemson, a feat that doesn’t look so impressive at this juncture, Brent Key’s team struggled on the road at Wake Forest. Jake Dickert’s Demon Deacons should have pulled off the upset win if not for a blown-offside call on their final offensive possession, which forced a Robby Ashford deep ball, thinking he had a free play, and after it fell incomplete, led to a punt.
Kicker Aidan Birr should have never gotten the chance to send the game to overtime where Georgia Tech ultimately escaped. After that showing, it’s hard to move the Yellow Jackets up in the power rankings. In fact, they sit at No. 5, one spot behind Virginia, which has a more impressive win and an equally experienced quarterback.
Louisville's road rally in Pittsburgh
Even Louisville, which ultimately handled business on the road at Pitt, did so after spotting the Panthers 17 points in the first half with terrible play from Miller Moss. If running backs Isaac Brown and Duke Watson do get fully healthy, the Cardinals could have the best chance of knocking off Miami with a reliable run game and one of the better pass rushes in the conference.
Louisville got after Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein in the second half, forcing two brutal interceptions to TJ Quinn. Holstein was benched for Cole Gonzales and hasn’t been good since midway through last season when everyone figured out Cade Bell’s fast-paced spread offense and punched back against it. Holstein might be the worst quarterback in the conference and he has Pitt buried in Tier 3.
Elsewhere, Syracuse lost its starting quarterback in the win over Clemson and paid the price in Week 5. Duke rolled into Western New York and squeezed the Orange 38-3 with Rickie Collins at quarterback. Duke’s offense averaged 7.7 yards per play with 168 rushing yards and two scores from Nate Sheppard.