Wake Forest’s hold on the ACC’s No. 2 spot is getting firmer by the week.
At the midpoint of the season, the Demon Deacons sit at 5-1 overall and 3-1 in conference play, and the gap between them and the pack keeps growing in the weekly ACC Football Power Rankings. Two weeks ago, Wake Forest was still clinging to second place with an average ranking of 4.20.
Last week that number jumped to 3.10. This week, it dropped again to 2.44, putting the Deacs more than a full point ahead of No.
3 SMU.
Miami, meanwhile, remains untouchable at the top. The Hurricanes have not received a single vote lower than first all season, and once again they were the unanimous No. 1 choice.
There was plenty of movement elsewhere in the league this week. Louisville, North Carolina and Virginia Tech posted the biggest swings, with Louisville and North Carolina each moving up four places, while Virginia Tech slid down four.
The rankings also feature two ties: Clemson and North Carolina are locked together at No. 8, and Boston College and Syracuse are tied at No. 15.
Stanford found its way back to the bottom spot after sitting there in Weeks 3 and 4.
The staff that produces the rankings consists of ten writers, each of whom ranks all 17 ACC teams individually before the votes are tallied.
The bottom of the list is where Stanford landed after its 7-58 loss at Notre Dame, and the Cardinal now head into a matchup with Elon. Pitt sits just above them after its bye, followed by North Carolina State, which dropped a 25-28 game at Virginia and now gets Louisville. Duke comes next after a 28-25 win over Virginia Tech and will face the Hokies on the road.
Florida State, which lost 14-38 to Wake Forest, is next and has a bye this week. Syracuse is tied with Boston College after falling 20-44 at Louisville and now visits Miami. Virginia, fresh off a 25-20 win over Virginia Tech, gets Wake Forest at home.
North Carolina and Clemson are tied at No. 8 after different results last week. The Tar Heels lost 25-28 at Georgia Tech, while Clemson fell 20-25 at California.
North Carolina hosts Virginia, and Clemson hosts Georgia Tech. SMU sits just behind that tie after beating Syracuse 28-25 and now heads to Cal.
At No. 5, Georgia Tech is coming off a bye after sitting at No. 10 last week and will host Charleston Southern.
Below the Yellow Jackets, Pittsburgh is No. 6 after its 21-17 win over Boston College and now travels to Duke. Louisville, up to No. 7, earned a 44-20 win over Florida State and now plays at Miami.
Wake Forest’s path this week sends it to the West Coast. The Demon Deacons visit Cal on Saturday, October 17, at 10:30 pm ET. The game will air on ESPN2 and be played at California Memorial Stadium.
In Other News...
Cal Heads Into Wake Forest With One Huge Question Unsettled
California arrives in Winston-Salem with a lot of the same questions teams carry in late October, but two of them loom larger than most. Jake Curtis, who covers the Golden Bears, laid out the main issues facing Cal before Saturday's game against Wake Forest, including the quarterback situation, the defensive approach and which players could tilt the matchup one way or the other.
The uncertainty starts at quarterback and spills into the rest of the game plan, because Cal needs its offense and defense to hold together if it wants to leave with a win. A key piece of the secondary is also in doubt, adding another layer to a road test that already asks plenty of a team trying to sort through availability, matchups and execution all at once. [Read more 🡒]
Wake Forest Brings A Major Depth Question Into Berkeley
Wake Forest heads to Berkeley carrying a familiar kind of concern for a road trip: depth. The latest injury report lists six players as out, leaving the Demon Deacons to sort through the usual Week-to-Week uncertainty on both sides of the ball as they prepare for California, with the offense needing to stay balanced and the line play under even more scrutiny than usual.
There is some good news in the form of key names trending toward availability, which matters for a team trying to keep its quarterback clean and avoid leaning too heavily on any one spot. Carlos Hernandez, Langston Hardy and Kadear Dembele are among those listed as probable, and their status will go a long way toward determining how much flexibility Wake Forest has once the game starts. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Returns Home With A Chance To Flip The ACC Narrative
Wake Forest heads to California Memorial Stadium on Oct. 17 carrying plenty of momentum and a record that has started to turn some heads around the ACC. At 5-1, the Demon Deacons have already notched three Power Four road wins, a rsum that has given this trip west a different kind of weight than a typical mid-October game.
A victory would stretch the winning streak to four games and further strengthen the Deacs' case as one of the league's early surprises. The staff predictions lean their way by an average of about 11 points, though the spread of opinion says there is still room for this matchup to get interesting. [Read more 🡒]