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

The Cavaliers rebounded from their two-game losing streak by routing the Duke Blue Devils 48-14. Their defense was the star of the show once again recovering three fumbles and turning that into 20 points. They’ve beaten Duke five times in a row. Virginia doesn’t do anything spectacular, but win. They aren’t super dynamic offensively, but get after it on defense. Duke could do nothing with the Virginia front and their blitz schemes.

They go to Louisville this weekend for a tough game against a determined Cardinals squad, but the Cavaliers could find themselves in the midst of a 9-10 win season.

On a soggy dreary day on Tobacco Road, the Demon Deacons found a way to defeat the Florida State Seminoles 22-20. They didn’t have their best offensive performance, but sometimes exorcising those demons is what counts most. The Seminoles have had their number as of late, but Wake Forest found a way to overcome their nemesis in the ACC.

This is usually the point in the season when the Deacons fade and start losing games, but it doesn’t seem as if Wake is going anywhere. Outside a road game against Clemson, Wake Forest could be looking at one of its best seasons in school history. The question the Wake Forest brass has to answer is whether or not they have anything to keep head coach Dave Clawson beyond this year.

Lightning McQueen said in the movie Cars that winning close is more exciting. Maybe that’s what the Pitt Panthers are going for in their games. We found the “Pitt Special” comes in an appetizer as well as a main dish as the Panthers pulled out the trickery early against the Syracuse Orange.

Three of their last four games have had the same narrative: get out to big leads early and usher the opponent back into a game like an usher during church service. Whether it’s the offense going ice-cold or penalties to kill their drives or keep their opponents’ drives alive, the Panthers always assist the other teams back in the game.

They get the Hurricanes this week and Miami will have a chance because Pitt will give it one.

The Cardinals looked good against the Clemson Tigers for about half a quarter. They played coverage and Trevor Lawrence made two bad reads that resulted in two interceptions. Then Clemson decided to run Travis Etienne and Lawrence, so Louisville had a choice to make: sit back and get gutted by the run game or use four down linemen and put seven in the box? When they didn’t drop eight and couldn’t play coverage because of the run game, they didn’t stand a chance.

We were reminded of the separation between the Tigers and the rest of the ACC. And yes, they are still four touchdowns better than anyone in the ACC — except North Carolina.