FSU football: ACC Power Rankings after week five

I had FSU football in the top half of my preseason ACC Power Rankings, and I still feel that way although they suffered their first loss of the season.

It looks like we’ll finally see some movement in the rankings after the better teams in the ACC Atlantic play one another. I’ve had Clemson in the top spot all year and they have solidified that with back-to-back wins over Wake Forest and NC State.

Syracuse’s win over Wagner doesn’t do much for me and their win over Louisville looks less impresssive with Boston College defeating the Cardinals. NC State scoring late against Clemson made that game appear closer than it was.

The two biggest games in the ACC is FSU football traveling to NC State and North Carolina traveling to play Miami.

Here are my updated rankings after five weeks by division and then overall as a conference:

ACC Atlantic

• Clemson (5-0, 3-0 ACC)
• Wake Forest (4-1, 1-1 ACC)
• FSU (4-1, 2-1 ACC)
• Syracuse (5-0, 2-0 ACC)
• NC State (4-1, 0-1 ACC)
• Boston College (2-3, 1-2 ACC)
• Louisville (2-3, 0-3 ACC)

ACC Coastal

• Duke (4-1, 1-0 ACC)
• North Carolina (4-1, 1-0 ACC)
• Pittsburgh (3-2, 0-1 ACC)
• Miami (2-2, 0-0 ACC)
• Virginia Tech (2-3, 1-1 ACC)
• Georgia Tech (2-3, 1-1 ACC)
• Virginia (2-3, 0-2 ACC)

Overall Power Rankings

1. Clemson
2. Wake Forest
3. FSU
4. Syracuse
5. NC State
6. Duke
7. North Carolina
8. Pittsburgh
9. Louisville
10. Miami
11. Virginia
12. Virginia Tech
13. Georgia Tech
14. Boston College

Parting Thoughts

FSU and NC State will determine who’s a contender or pretender in their matchup. Syracuse has a bye-week, and Wake Forest will play Army.

Duke has a chance to stay atop the ACC Coastal with a game against Georgia Tech, but it may not be an easy win since the Yellow Jackets upset Pittsburgh last week.

It’s do-or-die for Miami coming off a bye week against a high-powered North Carolina offense.

This week will go a long way to determine how things ultimately shape the conference.