#3 Georgia Tech defeats #5 NC State 35-24 on the road.

Two Weeks in and we are already seeing surprising teams pop up across the nation such as Cincinnati who has knocked off 2 Playoff Teams in convincing fashion; however, there hasn’t been much of surprise in the ACC to this points with teams already falling into the tiers we expected them to at this point.

1.) Georgia Tech, 2-0 (1-0), +1 from last week, defeated #5 NC State 35-24- Georgia Tech retakes the #1 spot after an 11 point win over #5 NC State asserting themselves as the favorites in the ACC knocking off the Atlantic favorites. They don’t get a break as they head back home to face off against Virginia Tech in a battle of unbeaten teams as GT’s coach will look to get revenge on VT’s coach for ending his perfect season last season.

2.) Virginia Tech, 2-0 (0-0), +3, defeated West Virginia 50-15– Speaking of Virginia Tech, they went up to Morgantown and demolished rival West Virginia to take the Black Diamond Trophy as the VT Defense forced 5 turnovers with 4 of them going for Touchdowns. As mentioned earlier, VT goes to Atlanta this week for their ACC Opener against Georgia Tech.

3.) Duke, 2-0 (1-0), +1, defeated Pittsburgh 37-35– Duke survived a scare from Pitt this week as they went back and forth early with a 20-13 score after just 1 quarter of play but the scoring slowed down from there and Duke held a 10 point lead late until they gave up a safety and then a TD as soon as Pitt got the ball back but Pitt couldn’t convert the 2PT conversion to potentially send it to Overtime. They take a trip out west as they face off against Washington State this week.

4.) North Carolina, 2-0 (1-0), +2, defeated Miami 49-36– UNC started off slow this week as they gave up 21 1st quarter points to Miami but bounced back to win by a comfortable 13 point margin as they put up nearly 450 yards of offense. UNC leaves home for the 1st time this week as they take on Syracuse.

5.) Boston College, 2-0 (1-0), +3, defeated Indiana 38-29– Boston College takes down Indiana in their 1st OOC game in an offensive shootout with both teams having over 400 yards of offense. Another strong late game performance boosted BC to the victory winning the 4th Quarter 17-9 as the stand as the last undefeated Atlantic team. They stay at home this week as they take on cross-divisional foe Virginia.

6.) NC State, 1-1 (0-1), -3, lost to #3 Georgia Tech 35-24- NC State goes down to Georgia Tech in a game where they just got out played for the most part. NC State shouldn’t get very concerned about this loss as they still control their destiny to the ACC Title and there is no shame in losing to a Top tier team like GT. They travel to the other Carolina this week as they take on South Carolina.

7.) Clemson, 1-1 (0-0), -6, lost to Boise State 21-14 in OT– Back in the preseason I said, “This team might have the widest range between their floor and ceiling of any team in the ACC.” In only 2 weeks it seems like Clemson is living up to that as they go down to Boise State in a low scoring battle that went into OT. Now Boise State is the defending MWC Champs and Marshall is now 0-2 so it may be early to say this but only time will tell. They have their home and ACC opener against winless Louisville this week as Clemson looks to bounce back.

8.) Virginia, 1-1 (0-0), –1, lost to Wyoming 34-31– Virginia’s time in the Top 25 won’t last long as they also went down to a MWC foe in Wyoming as the UVA defense surrendered over 450 yards. They kick off ACC play this week as they travel up north to face Boston College.

9.) Wake Forest, 1-1 (0-1), +2, defeated Eastern Michigan 19-15- Wake Forest was the only 0-1 team in the ACC to get in the win column this week as they knocked off Eastern Michigan 19-15 as they got a goal line stand at the 1 right near the end of the game. They stay out of conference this week as they take on one of the surprises of the early season in #21 Texas State in Dallas.

10.) Syracuse, 1-1 (1-0), -1, lost to Maryland 21-14– Syracuse takes their 1st loss of the season in a close 21-14 game to Maryland in what was a very winnable game but 4 turnovers and a 14-0 2nd quarter doomed Syracuse. They have their home opener this week as they take on cross-divisional foe in North Carolina.

11.) Florida State, 1-1 (0-0), -1, lost to Georgia State 22-16– Florida State took their 1st loss of the season in a competitive game against Georgia State but their offense just could not get going as they were held under 200 yards of total offense. They kick off ACC play with their 2nd road game in-state as they take on bitter rivals in Miami.

12.) Pittsburgh, 0-2 (0-2), +1, lost to #16 Duke 37-35– Pitt played much better this week as they were a 2PT conversion away from taking a ranked team to overtime but that wasn’t enough as Duke kept the upset bug away. Pitt has dug themselves a hole already by being 0-2 in ACC play but if they can keep playing the way they did this week they can recover. Pitt takes a trip to California this week as they take on Fresno State in their 1st OOC game.

13.) Miami, 0-2 (0-1), -1, lost to North Carolina 49-36– Miami started off ACC play hot with 21 1st quarter points against UNC but fell apart after that as UNC took care of them on a strong offensive performance. Miami will be looking for their 1st win of the season as they take on big time rival, Florida State, at home this week.

14.) Louisville, 0-2 (0-0), 0, lost to Air Force 45-35– Louisville is the only team who didn’t move in these Power Rankings as they remain at the bottom of the ACC as they lost to Air Force by 10 but should’ve been a larger margin but Air Force did some…questionable things during the game. They open up ACC with their 3rd straight away game as they face off against Clemson to start off ACC play on a high note.