Miami has finally broken into the AP Top 25’s top three, but the Hurricanes’ new perch comes with a pretty clear message from the rest of the ACC: not much help is coming.
After spending the first half of the season climbing slowly through a rankings landscape that barely moved, Miami landed at No. 3 in the latest AP poll. The shift at the top finally opened the door.
Texas, which had been No. 1, fell after losing to Oklahoma in Week 6, and Georgia moved up to the top spot. Notre Dame sits at No. 2, with Miami right behind it.
Ohio State and Indiana close out the top five.
The rest of the top 10 features Alabama at No. 6 despite its loss at home to Georgia, Texas at No. 7 after its drop, and BYU, Ole Miss and Texas Tech rounding things out.
For Miami, the bigger issue may be what’s happening inside its own league. The Hurricanes had the week off and likely hoped the ACC would at least offer some kind of supporting cast while they waited. Instead, the conference took more hits.
Pitt entered the week ranked No. 25, then lost to North Carolina and disappeared from the poll. Duke had been undefeated before falling to Georgia Tech, and now it is only getting five votes. Virginia Tech, which opened the season 4-0, lost on the road to Cal.
That’s the problem for the ACC right now: the teams that were supposed to shore up the league’s credibility keep stumbling at the worst possible moments.
There was one bright spot. Wake Forest, which had already looked like a quality win for someone, finally got rewarded by the voters after a 38-14 win over NC State pushed the Demon Deacons to No.
- SMU didn’t play this week but held at No. 24, which keeps the ACC at three ranked teams.
That may be the conference’s ceiling for now.
Miami still has Pitt on October 24, Duke on November 14 and Virginia Tech on November 21. On paper, there’s at least a chance one of those teams catches fire and gives the Hurricanes another ranked opponent down the stretch.
But the pool of obvious contenders is thin. Louisville was supposed to be one of the better teams and is sitting at 3-3.
Clemson has already looked overmatched against quality competition. And Florida State, as the source puts it, has a Mike Norvell problem.
So yes, Miami is in the top three. But in the ACC, that probably says as much about the league around it as it does about the Hurricanes themselves.
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