Miami and Wake Forest are still sitting on top of the ACC, and this week’s power rankings barely left room for debate.
Wake Forest strengthened its grip on No. 2 after rolling past Virginia 51-7, a result that kept the Demon Deacons at 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the ACC. It’s the sixth straight week Wake Forest has landed in second place, and for the third week in a row, the vote from the editorial staff was unanimous.
Miami remains the clear No. 1. The Canes have not received a vote lower than first place all season.
Behind those two, the top of the league got a little reshuffled. SMU had been holding third place, but Louisville jumped into that spot this week. Duke also climbed to fourth, pushing SMU down to fifth.
The rankings also featured two ties: Clemson and North Carolina are deadlocked at No. 7, while Boston College and Florida State are tied at No. 13.
Each week, the nine-person editorial staff ranks all 17 ACC teams individually, then the votes are totaled to produce the power rankings.
The rest of the board reflects a busy week across the conference. Syracuse moved up after beating Clemson 30-27, while Georgia Tech dropped after losing to Miami 35-38. Wake Forest’s latest win over Virginia was one of the most lopsided results in the league this week, and the Demon Deacons remain firmly planted near the top.
Here’s how the rankings shake out from there: Louisville sits third after beating Stanford 52-24, Duke is fourth after a win over Boston College 47-2, and SMU is fifth after a bye. Virginia is sixth after its loss to Wake Forest, followed by the Clemson-North Carolina tie at seventh. Syracuse is next, then Georgia Tech and Florida State, with the Boston College-Florida State tie rounding out the lower half of the list.
The teams at the bottom are still sorting themselves out, too. Virginia Tech remains last after losing at Pittsburgh 34-11, while Stanford, California, and NC State are among the teams looking to climb after recent losses. Boston College and Florida State share 13th, and several teams are heading into bye weeks with a chance to reset.
Six ACC teams are now bowl eligible.
Wake Forest’s next game is Saturday, November 7, against Merrimack. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET at Allegacy Financial Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC, and the game will air on ESPN2.
In Other News...
Wake Forests Offense Gave Fans Little Hope At Vanderbilt
Wake Forests trip to Vanderbilt brought a familiar kind of frustration, the sort that can linger when a team does enough on one end to stay competitive but never finds any rhythm on the other. The Demon Deacons actually defended well enough to hold the Commodores to 38% shooting, yet the offense never matched that effort and the margin kept growing in a 23-point loss, the second straight season Vanderbilt has handled Wake Forest by a wide margin.
Kevair Kennedy tried to give the Deacs a spark with 20 points, and Gavin Placide added 10, but the scoring support never really arrived behind them. For a team looking to build something early, the concern is less about one bad night than the way the offense stalled even while the defense gave it a chance to hang around. [Read more 🡒]
Wake Forest Showed Fight But One Problem Still Looks Concerning
Wake Forest had enough fight to make things interesting against No. 24 Vanderbilt, but the result still left the Demon Deacons at 1-1 and searching for cleaner execution in the spots that tend to decide close games. Kevair Kennedy led the way with 20 points, giving Wake Forest a scoring presence it can build around, while Vanderbilt leaned on Tyler Tanners 17 points and 10 rebounds to keep control when the game tightened.
The bigger concern was the kind of slippage that can undo a solid effort: Wake Forest struggled from long range and at the line, and Vanderbilt kept extending possessions with extra chances on the offensive glass. Those second-chance opportunities added up, and for a team trying to establish itself early in the season, the margin for error was thin enough to show exactly where the next step has to come from. [Read more 🡒]
Wake Forest Just Put Real Playoff Pressure On Its Final Stretch
Wake Forests place in the first College Football Playoff rankings has given the final stretch of the season a different kind of weight. Sitting at No. 16, the Demon Deacons have at least put themselves in the conversation, and ESPNs Mark Schlabach has them slotted in a position that would keep their postseason path alive if the committees view holds. With the playoff field still fluid and the rankings sure to shift as the season plays out, every week now carries a little more consequence than the last.
The next few games will go a long way toward deciding whether Wake Forest stays on that track or slips back into the pack. The Deacons still have Merrimack at home, plus matchups with SMU, Georgia Tech and Duke, and each one matters in a race where margin for error is shrinking. For a team that has already forced its way into the early national picture, the challenge now is turning that respect into something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]