ACC Football Power Rankings, Week 9: What should we make of Miami?

Break out the Wreck. Just look at that baby grow up. That baby’s taking things one day at a time, and when you do that you start eating table food and walking. Head coach Geoff Collins told the media after last week’s mistake-filled loss to the Duke Blue Devils they were in the infancy stages of their program. They might still be in diapers, but they are looking at that potty with curiosity.

You know you are growing as a program when you take advantage of situations. The Hurricanes came into this game unsettled on offense, and even after an ugly win against Virginia they were ripe for the picking. Let’s be honest, no one was making that drive to Hard Rock to watch the Hurricanes play Georgia Tech. Take the bye week, work on those baby steps one day at a time and get ready for Pitt in November.

If the Eagles are going to play like this for the rest of the season, maybe Steve Addazio should consider hiring former Navy and Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson to be an offensive analyst. The Eagles ran the ball 60 times against the NC State Wolfpack in their 45-24 win.

With starting quarterback Anthony Brown out for the season with a knee injury, Addazio might get to play the way he wants and never throw the football. We’ll see how that works against Clemson next week, but it could be enough to win three more games, and keep the Addazio run to seven alive.

The Virginia Tech Hokies have to be all about spin this season. The Hokies notched a win against North Carolina in six overtimes this past weekend. This win can be spun sort of like, “I loved the fight in our team. We didn’t give up, and we hung in there to get the victory.” It could also be spun like, “Things aren’t what they used to be in Blacksburg. Lane isn’t the home field it used to be, and the defense has declined rapidly.”

It’s all about perspective.

The truth is somewhere between. It isn’t as bad as wanting to lose and not go to a bowl game. There’s still the issue of why so many players transferred this offseason. The record is better this season, but three of their five wins are against Rhode Island, Furman and Old Dominion — closer games than they should have been. They get this weekend off before they return to a tough stretch to end the season. Their last five games include Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Virginia.

Just when you thought the Seminoles were getting it together,they have lost two in a row. Not only that, Florida State is winless on the road. However, they didn’t play poorly. They held Wake Forest out of the end zone on 13-of-14 possessions, and their lowest point total of the season.

However, their offense — Willie Taggart’s forte — looked out of sync, especially the passing game. The offensive line is still bad, and they wasted another skillful game by running back Cam Akers. Let’s see what they find about themselves against Syracuse.