FSU football: Contenders and Pretenders in ACC through week two

FSU football had a much-needed bye week in week two to regroup after its 0-2 start before hosting Memphis in week three. Week two had some interesting games and told us a bit more about some teams in the ACC. Some teams rebounded from a tough week one loss, while others suffered embarrassing losses. Here are my contenders and pretenders after two weeks:

Contenders

• Miami
• Louisville
• Syracuse
• Clemson
• Boston College
• California

Miami has played two bad teams but dominated both in a way they should have. They only have a couple of tough games on their schedule, but I'll list them as a contender for now. Louisville is in the same boat and will face Miami in mid-October to eliminate one of these teams. Syracuse held on to beat Georgia Tech, and Clemson smashed Appalachian State to rebound after a loss against Georgia. That loss was more about Georgia's defense than Clemson's offense. Boston College dominated Duquesne 56-0. California is 2-0 and pulled off an upset on the road against Auburn as double-digit underdogs on Saturday. They will travel back to the east coast to face FSU in two weeks.

Pretenders

• NC State
• Georgia Tech
• SMU
• Duke
• Pittsburgh

NC State was supposed to be one of the better teams in the ACC, but they got destroyed by Tennessee after struggling with Western Carolina in their season opener. SMU lost to BYU after struggling against Nevada in week one. Duke is 2-0, but they have a long way to go to beat a talented team. Pittsburgh is 2-0 but needed a field goal with less than a minute to play to beat Cincinnati on Saturday. Virginia was down 30-17 against Wake Forest before pulling off a come-from-behind 31-30 victory. That's good for Virginia, but Wake Forest isn't a good team. UNC is 2-0 but lost its starting quarterback in week one and isn't good defensively, failing to cover the spread against UNC-Charlotte.

All of the remaining teams have already lost a game or both and don't look anywhere near ready to compete for an ACC championship so far.