Pittsburgh upsets #8 Temple 41-21 in a shocking game.

We have now hit the halfway point of the FCFB Regular Season. This is about the time where we look back on the predictions of the preseason to see which of the predictions were accurate and which were very, very inaccurate. Just as a refresher for those who don’t remember the rankings were:

Tier I: Legit National Title Contenders. Georgia Tech and NC State

Tier II: Legit ACC Title Contenders. Duke, Boston College, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Tier III: Need some luck but have a realistic shot at making the ACC Title. Clemson and Syracuse.

Tier IV: The Bottom Feeders. Wake Forest, Florida State, Pittsburgh, Miami, and Louisville.

Now for the new tier list this week:

Tier I: Legit National Title Contenders

1.) Georgia Tech– 5-1 (4-0), 0 from last week, defeated Virginia 37-7. Georgia Tech has shown why they were the heavy favorites in the ACC this season as they have defeated Virginia Tech and Penn State. Their 2nd ranked offense hasn’t been slowed down all year as GT has scored at least 35 points in every game. Since the UMass loss, they have absolutely dominated as they have beaten Miami and Virginia by a combined 82-7. The lead of the Coastal is on the line this week as they travel to Durham to take on Duke.

2.) Virginia Tech– 5-1 (1-1), 0, defeated Oregon State 42-28. Virginia Tech is only one of two team in the ACC to have finished OOC play (the other being Pitt). Virginia Tech went 4-0 in OOC play which means they have yet to play a bulk of their ACC games; however, they may have already played the 2 best ACC teams on their schedule in GT and Duke which they split which both games possibly going either way. They have their ACC home opener this week against Miami.

Tier II: Legit ACC Title Contenders

3.) Louisville– 4-2 (4-0), +1, defeated Syracuse 35-21. Well hello there Louisville. After starting the year out 0-2 against Air Force and Indiana, they have strung together four straight wins against ACC opponents and put themselves in prime position to make a run at the ACC Title. Louisville tries to fix their OOC luck this week as host UNLV.

4.) Duke– 4-2 (3-1), +4, defeated North Carolina 27-24. Duke seems to always been in this part of the ACC each season. Good enough where they are ranked/near ranked, but not good enough to jump over the top dogs of the conference. They have a huge opportunity this week to change that as they take on Georgia Tech in a battle for the ACC Coastal lead.

Tier III: Are you good or not? Who knows?!

5.) Virginia– 3-3 (2-2), 0, lost to Georgia Tech 37-7. Is UVA good? I don’t know, they are 3-3 but those last 2 losses did come against the Division leaders in the ACC and their wins aren’t bad. Their ACC title hopes are pretty much done as Georgia Tech isn’t losing 3 times in ACC Play. Guess what UVA, you get yet another test are you face the likely #1 team in the Nation, Air Force, this week. Good Luck!

6.) Syracuse– 3-3 (3-1), -3, lost to Louisville 35-21. Syracuse has performed pretty much as expected so far. They had a chance to put themselves in great position for the ACC Title Game but Louisville said not today. Are they good? Maybe, that NC State game was impressive but NC State hasn’t looked like themselves. They look to get revenge this week as they take on Clemson this week.

7.) NC State– 3-3 (1-3), 0, lost to Clemson 14-7. Speaking of NC State. What happened? They started off well enough at 3-1 with a win over SMU and their only loss to GT. Then they decided to get demolished by Syracuse and score only 7 to Clemson. Their ACC Title hopes are hanging on by a tiny thread. They try to move to 3-0 in OOC play as they take on UMass in a rematch of the the Playoff Quarterfinals (teamwise not coach).

8.) Boston College– 3-3 (2-2), -2, lost to Florida State 30-24. Man Boston College could be much higher or much lower on this list so I guess it is fitting they are right near the middle. A major choke job way from beating Penn State but they also benefited from Wake’s own choke job all the way back in week 1. These next two games don’t mean much for BC as they face mid-80s teams in OOC play.

Tier IV: Probably Bad?

9.) Miami– 3-3 (2-2), +1, defeated Wake Forest 14-0. Is Miami good? They are 3-3 BUT they really haven’t played anyone and they’ve lost to subpar teams. They’ve got two chances to pull of upsets these next 2 weeks as they take on VT and Duke.

10.) Clemson– 2-4 (1-3), +1, defeated NC State 14-7. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dilemma continues. Although to be fair, Clemson hasn’t played a truly bad team yet, and won’t till Week 10. If they get hot again like last season, they could get near the Top 25 by the end of the season.

11.) Pittsburgh– 2-4 (0-2), +1, defeated #8 Temple 41-21. How did this happen? I have no idea and won’t for the rest of the season. As their OOC is finished they have to run the gauntlet of the ACC Coastal AND the Atlantic leader still. That’s not going to be fun but looking at this past week anyone who overlooks them might be bound for an upset.

12.) North Carolina– 2-4 (1-3), -3, lost to Duke 27-24. UNC started off the year looking like the ACC Title contender we thought starting 2-0 and now they’ve lost 4 games in a row now including a 31-0 shutout to 2-4 South Carolina. They get a somewhat easier game in Pitt this week before they play 3 Top 15 teams in a row.

Tier V: Bottom Feeders

13.) Florida State– 2-4 (1-3), +1, defeated Boston College 30-24. Florida State is still a bad team even with their win over Boston College this week getting them out of last place. They’ve lost to Georgia State and Miami this season, and FSU seems to have some Week 6 magic each season. They host Arizona State this week.

14.) Wake Forest– 1-5 (0-3), -1, lost to Miami 14-0. Wake Forest makes their debut here in last place after being shut out by the Hurricanes. There have been so many chances to get wins but they just can’t get them. Boston College, Texas State, and Louisville were all winnable games. They finish up OOC play this week as they take on BYU.