Week nine didn’t have any surprises that shook up anything near the top of the ACC standings, though it nearly happened as Virginia was an inch away from losing to North Carolina. That win keeps Virginia on track to face Georgia Tech in the ACC championship game in Charlotte if both win out.
Georgia Tech, Louisville, and Miami all took care of business with relative ease. However, the team to watch is Pittsburgh because they can control their destiny. They destroyed NC State and have games remaining against Stanford, Miami, and Georgia Tech.
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The Yellow Jackets have NC State, Boston College, and Pitt remaining. Louisville has games against Virginia Tech, California, Clemson, and SMU.
Virginia has ACC games remaining against California, Wake Forest, Duke, and Virginia Tech. They have a head-to-head win over Louisville, which is big if both win out. Miami has games against SMU, Syracuse, NC State, Virginia Tech, and Pittsburgh.
Here are my updated ACC Power Rankings through nine weeks:
- Georgia Tech (8-0, 5-0 ACC)
- Louisville (6-1, 3-1 ACC)
- Miami (6-1, 2-1 ACC)
- Virginia (7-1, 4-0 ACC)
- Pittsburgh (6-2, 4-1 ACC) +2
- Wake Forest (5-2, 2-2 ACC) +4
- SMU (5-3, 3-1 ACC) -2
- Duke (4-3, 3-1 ACC)
- NC State (4-4, 1-3 ACC)
- Virginia Tech (3-5, 2-2 ACC) +3
- California (5-3, 2-2 ACC) -5
- Syracuse (3-5, 1-4 ACC) -1
- Clemson (3-4, 2-3 ACC)
- Stanford (3-5, 2-3 ACC)
- FSU (3-4, 0-4 ACC) -6
- North Carolina (2-5, 0-3 ACC)
- Boston College (1-7, 0-5 ACC)
There could be some high drama over the next few weeks as pressure mounts for those undefeated top teams in the conference.