FSU football: ACC Power Rankings after week 5(2023)

I had FSU football at the top half of my preseason ACC Power Rankings, and so far so good after five weeks.

FSU football was on a much-needed bye after their overtime win over Clemson last week. The Tigers rebounded nicely to defeat Syracuse on the road and give them their first loss this season.

NC State choked away an upset opportunity against Louisville. Duke needed one more tackle to upset Notre Dame, but came up short and will likely be without starting QB Riley Leonard for a few weeks as the got hurt at the end of the game.

North Carolina and Miami were on bye-weeks and Boston College held on to defeat Virginia. Virginia Tech thumped Pittsburgh for its first ACC win this season. Georgia Tech lost to Bowling Green after beating Wake Forest last week.

Anyways, here are my updated rankings after week five:

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

Thoughts

It’s terrible for Duke to lose Riley Leonard for any stretch of time, but they are on a bye-week this week before hosting NC State in Week 7. They had Notre Dame beat, so I can’t move North Carolina or Miami ahead of them since they didn’t play this week.

Clemson looks like they aren’t going anywhere soon, and will be a factor in how things shake out in the ACC. They have games remaining with Miami, North Carolina, and Notre Dame. Louisville stayed undefeated, but didn’t look great against a mediocre NC State team. How in the world did Georgia Tech lose to Bowling Green?

I couldn’t drop them since NC State lost and Wake Forest was on a bye, who just lost to GT. Virginia Tech will travel to Tallahassee to face FSU football this week. Syracuse travels to North Carolina, and Wake Forest travels to Clemson. Notre Dame travels to Louisville, and Boston College travels to face Army. Georgia Tech travels to play Miami this week. It’s a solid slate of games in the ACC and we’ll likely have more movement next week.