ACC Football Power Rankings, Week 11: Notre Dame takes top spot

Javon McKinley, Notre Dame football. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images)
Javon McKinley, Notre Dame football. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images)
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Notre Dame beat Clemson in South Bend and North Carolina got back on track against Duke in Week 10 which will shake up the ACC football power rankings. 

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin’ tough, stayin’ hungry
They stack the odds ’til we take to the street.
For the kill with the skill to survive ~Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

When Apollo Creed confronted Rocky Balboa in Rocky III, he told Balboa that he lost the “Eye of the Tiger”, the killer instinct to be a champion. Creed vowed to help Balboa get it back. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly noticed something about his football team this season. They were talented, but they were not killers. They did not expect to dominate inferior teams the way elite teams dominate.

As Kelly seeks to change the narrative about both the ceiling and the floor of the Notre Dame football program, the veteran coach is trying to change expectations of the Irish. In their 47-40 win against Clemson, the Irish played like champions. Ian Book was not the limiting factor in this game; Book led the Irish to victory. It was the first game in a long time that lived up to the hype.

Elsewhere in the ACC, the Virginia Tech Hokies found out the Liberty Flames are the real deal losing 38-35 on a 51-yard field goal as time expired. Flames quarterback Malik Willis had 325 total yards and four total touchdowns. The North Carolina Tar Heels got back on track dominating the Duke Blue Devils 56-24.

Here’s to Games of the Century actually living up to the hype of being a Game of the Century. These are your Week 11 power rankings.