ACC Football Power Rankings, Week 9: Did Notre Dame convince anyone?

15. Syracuse Orange (1-4, 1-5)

Syracuse’s 47-21 loss to Clemson showed a clear talent gap between the conference’s top and bottom. Despite the sluggish start and errors Clemson made early in the game, the Tigers were never in danger of losing the game.

The Orange have all sorts of issues offensively. The offensive line is a mess; they can’t protect whoever is playing quarterback, which means the wide receivers are not making plays. There might not be any wins left on Syracuse’s schedule.

14. Florida State Seminoles (2-4, 1-4)

The irony of the Florida State rebuild is how bad the defense has been this season. It was a guarantee that the offense was going to be bad. The offensive line was bad coming into this season, and there was no solid No. 1 running back. However, this defense, supposedly littered with top 50 draft picks, has not been competitive this season.

The defense has surrendered 40 or more points in three of their four losses, including 52 points to rival Miami. This season Florida State is giving up 35 points and nearly 500 yards of offense. It seems the defense needs rebuilding as much as the offense.

 13. Duke Blue Devils (1-5, 1-5)

If the Duke Blue Devils did not have enough issues this season, starting center Will Taylor would miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, and cornerback Mark Gilbert has opted out of the season to prepare for the NFL draft.

The Blue Devils were off this week and play Charlotte on Halloween. Duke had better limit the turnovers against the 49ers. This might be the only winnable game left on their schedule. They do get Florida State at the end of the season for the ACC pillow fight of the year.

12. Louisville Cardinals (2-4, 1-4 ACC)

The Cardinals notched their first conference win of the season against fellow bottom-five school Florida State 48-16. Louisville finally put a complete game together. The offense racked up 569 total yards while having a bend but don’t break style on defense. Despite surrendering 406 total yards, the Seminoles managed just two touchdowns.

The encouraging thing for the Cardinals is the rest of their schedule. Louisville plays three teams on losing streaks in Virginia, Virginia Tech and Syracuse. Wake Forest and Boston College are also winnable games for the Cardinals after a much more difficult front end of their schedule.

11. Virginia Cavaliers (1-4, 1-4)

The V-men are in the midst of a four-game losing streak that has been mired in mistakes and injuries. After giving up nearly 40 points in three straight games, the defense did wake up against Miami. The lack of playmakers on offense is glaring at times. Virginia is averaging just five yards per play.

The defense — which was supposed to anchor the team this season — is giving up over 31 points and 400 yards of offense. This trend is likely to continue as the defense faces Sam Howell and the North Carolina offense and Malik Cunningham and the Louisville offense in back-to-back weeks.