College football is about to hit week five in the 2026 season, and teams are beginning to show their true colors. The ACC is coming off a hectic week, as Louisville was emerging as a true contender after their win over SMU, but the Cards just dropped to Wake Forest 30-27 this past Saturday.
Now, as we approach week 5, only two ACC teams are ranked in the AP Polls, as the Cardinals' loss to Wake Forest dropped them completely out of the rankings. Miami and SMU are the clear top two teams in the conference, but after those two, it is a big cluster for who can compete for the ACC Title.
Plenty of football remains, but with the first month of the season complete, ACC fans are starting to see who the true contenders and pretenders are. While Louisville is 2-2, they certainly aren’t out of the mix just yet, but it puts a lot of pressure on Jeff Brohm and the Cardinals for the rest of the season.
The ACC power rankings saw major changes this past weekend, so let’s break down 1-17 as we enter October.
ACC Power Rankings
1. Miami Hurricanes
2. SMU Mustangs
3. Virginia Tech Hokies
4. Duke Blue Devils
5. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
6. Pittsburgh Panthers
7. Louisville Cardinals
8. Virginia Cavaliers
9. Clemson Tigers
10. North Carolina Tar Heels
11. California Golden Bears
12. North Carolina State Wolfpack
13. Syracuse Orange
14. Boston College Eagles
15. Stanford Cardinal
16. Florida State Seminoles
17. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Louisville's path after crucial Wake Forest loss
The Cardinals falling to No. 7 certainly hurts, but as noted above, plenty of football remains. Louisville has a favorable schedule and still has a path to climb back into the top two, but they must clean up the small things.
The Cardinals need to limit penalties and big plays on defense, and on offense, hopefully Lincoln Kienholz is healthy. Louisville plays North Carolina State this weekend, and in Monday’s press conference, while Brohm didn’t say much about the injury, he did tell everyone, “He has something.”
The Cardinals have little room for error if they want to return to Charlotte and play in their second ACC Championship game. Luckily for them, they don’t play Miami, Clemson, Duke, or Virginia, and they play five of the bottom six teams in these power rankings. So, the Cardinals have a path to Charlotte, but there is a lot of pressure on Brohm moving forward, as Cardinals fans are tired of losing to teams they should beat.
This weekend will be a big test for these Cardinals as they will try and bounce back and get back in the win column. Louisville takes on NC State this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. local time.
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