We’re already through three weeks in the 2025 college football season, and we said we’d start seeing some separation between the contenders and the pretenders. That’s what happened as we had a lot of movement in this week's rankings because some teams underachieved, while others surprised.
Related Story: 2025 ACC Power Rankings After Week Two
NC State and Wake Forest kicked the week off on Thursday night, with NC State keeping their unbeaten season alive, handing Wake Forest its first loss. FSU was on a bye, and Miami handled South Florida like most thought they would.
One of the biggest storylines was Clemson losing against Georgia Tech to fall to 1-2. Syracuse won, but allowing 24 points to Colgate? They are frauds, especially after nearly losing to UConn in week two. Virginia, North Carolina, and SMU handled out-of-conference cupcakes.
Pittsburgh fell from among the unbeatens with an overtime loss against West Virginia. Duke and Virginia Tech got embarrassed by FCS schools, and Virginia Tech fired its coach on Sunday. California continues to quietly move up the ladder out west and Stanford surprised Boston College with a win.
Here are my updated ACC Power Rankings through three weeks:
- FSU (2-0)
- Miami (3-0)
- Louisville (2-0)
- Georgia Tech (3-0) +1
- SMU (2-1)
- NC State (3-0) +2
- California (3-0) +2
- Virginia (2-1) +3
- Clemson (1-2) -5
- Pittsburgh (2-1) -2
- Wake Forest (2-1)
- Syracuse (2-1) +3
- North Carolina (2-1) +3
- Duke (1-2) -1
- Stanford (1-2) +2
- Boston College (1-2) -3
- Virginia Tech (0-3) -1
We have some solid matchups in week four. Syrcause travels to Clemson and SMU travels to TCU in renew an old rivalry. Louisville, FSU, Georgia Tech, and California play cupcakes.
North Carolina travels to UCF and NC State travels a short distance to face in-state rival Duke. Miami will have a tough game hosting the struggling Florida Gators, and Virginia travels to Stanford.