Wake Forest isn’t budging in the ACC pecking order, but the way voters are treating the Demon Deacons says plenty.
After sitting at a 4.20 average last week, Wake Forest jumped to 3.10 in this week’s ACC Football Power Rankings, a clear sign of rising trust after the Deacs rolled Stanford 57-3. The Demon Deacons are still No. 2 behind Miami, but they’re now sitting more comfortably atop the pack chasing the Hurricanes.
Miami remains the unanimous No. 1, and the gap at the top of the league stayed mostly stable elsewhere. Most teams either held their ground or shifted by no more than two spots. Louisville was the lone team to take a major hit, falling four places.
The race behind Miami has tightened. Last week, the rankings from Nos. 2 through 6 formed a crowded cluster, with all five teams landing between 4.20 and 5.10.
This week, that squeeze is even tighter at Nos. 2 through 5, where the averages run from 3.10 to 4.60. Wake Forest sits in front of that group, and the numbers show voters are getting more convinced by the week.
There’s movement at the other end, too. Georgia Tech is at the bottom of the rankings for the first time this season, but the Yellow Jackets aren’t isolated there. Boston College, Syracuse, Stanford, and Georgia Tech are packed together in a thin band from 15.00 to 15.50, separated by just half a point.
Each week, ten writers on the editorial staff rank all 17 ACC teams, and the votes are totaled into the weekly list. This week’s top five are Miami, Wake Forest, Pitt, Duke, and SMU.
Duke and SMU are tied at 4.6, marking the first tie at that spot this season. Virginia Tech is sixth, sitting 2.1 points behind Duke and SMU.
A few of the week’s team notes help explain the shakeup. Wake Forest’s win over Stanford was the kind of result that changes how voters see a team.
Stanford dropped after that 57-3 loss, while Georgia Tech’s place at the bottom came after its 42-41 overtime win over UConn. Louisville took the biggest tumble after losing at Wake Forest 3-57.
Elsewhere in the ACC, the results were just as busy: Boston College lost at SMU 16-25, Clemson fell at NC State 28-31, Duke beat Virginia 38-7, Florida State beat Virginia Tech 38-7, Pitt lost to Notre Dame, SMU edged Virginia Tech 35-33, Syracuse beat Louisville, and North Carolina was beaten by Wake Forest. Several teams are on byes this week.
Wake Forest now heads to NC State on Saturday, October 10, at 12 pm ET. The game will air on The CW.
In Other News...
NC State Has New Life On Offense Before A Rivalry Test
NC State heads into its rivalry date with Wake Forest carrying a lot more confidence on offense than it did earlier in the season. Quarterback CJ Bailey has looked increasingly composed, Will Wilson has given the Wolfpack another weapon to lean on, and Harvey Dyson III has helped the defense keep things moving in the right direction as the program has steadied itself after an uneven start.
The improvement is real enough to make this a tougher test for Wake Forest than it might have seemed a few weeks ago, especially with NC State producing with more consistency and balance. Even so, the Wolfpack know the challenge in front of them is not just about keeping up offensively, because their chances against Wake Forest will also depend on whether they can tighten up the basics on defense and play with cleaner execution. [Read more 🡒]
NC State Faces A Pressure Test After Its Early Season Collapse
Wake Forests next ACC test comes with a familiar kind of intrigue, the sort that tends to follow NC State when expectations have already started to wobble. The matchup has plenty of attention around it because the Wolfpack are trying to steady themselves after an uneven opening stretch, and this one arrives as part of a wider weekend slate built around bold predictions and possible surprises across the country.
For Wake Forest, it is the kind of game that can reveal a lot about where the Deacons really stand in the league pecking order. NC State brings the pressure of needing a response, while Wake Forest gets a chance to poke at that urgency and make the contest uncomfortable. The preview leaves the result hanging, but the setup suggests this is exactly the kind of meeting where one teams early-season problems could become the others opportunity. [Read more 🡒]