ACC (#goacc) Power Rankings: Week 8

1. Florida State (6-0, 4-0 ACC) Last Week 1
Result: (W 51-14 at Clemson)
This Week: vs. North Carolina State

Saturday night's performance from Florida State was the most impressive performance I've seen from any college football team this season. Jameis Winston and his group of receivers were exceptional as Winston threw for 444 yards, 293 of which came against blitz packages. All of the myths questioning how well Winston would play on a big stage on the road were quickly debunked when Winston threw for a touchdown on his first pass attempt. Florida State outgained Clemson by an incredible 239 yards and had the ball for 10 more minutes than the Tigers did. I don't know if Florida State is better than Alabama or Oregon, but it's absolutely a shame that one of these three teams won't get the opportunity to play for a championship because of the current BCS System. Florida State is currently #2, but they could get passed as the season goes along. It's embarrassing that in the year 2013 we still use this pathetic system. Thankfully a playoff is coming next year.

2. Clemson (6-1, 4-1 ACC) Last Week 2
Result: (L 51-14 vs. Florida State)
This Week: at Maryland

This was just an embarrassing performance from Clemson. Don't even bother showing up to arguably the biggest game in ACC history. Clemson fumbled the ball on their first play from scrimmage and that play was representative of how the entire game went for the Clemson Tigers. Senior quarterback Tajh Boyd looked off all night and cost himself some money last night as I believe he hurt his NFL Draft stock. There was no shame for Clemson in losing to a superior opponent, but they get demolished. Before this game I believe we were all thinking the ACC would get two BCS bids, but now I'm not so sure. However, I still think they are better than Miami.

3. Miami (6-0, 2-0 ACC) Last Week 3
Result: (W 27-23 at North Carolina)
This Week: vs. Wake Forest

Miami is currently ranked 6th in the AP poll. The last time they were ranked this high Duke Johnson was in the sixth grade and Al Golden wasn't a head coach yet (h/t @WillManso). Miami dealt with a lot of adversity in their win over North Carolina. Receiver Phillip Dorsett partially tore his MCL and will be out 4-6 weeks. Sensational tailback Duke Johnson left the game with an undisclosed injury, but it is now believed the injury is a migraine that was triggered by a blow instead of a low-level concussion. Miami has committed four turnovers in three consecutive games, which they absolutely cannot afford to do moving forward. Miami should probably take care of business against Wake Forest next week, but then their next two games are against Florida State and Virginia Tech, respectively. The Virginia Tech game should decide the winner of the Coastal Division.

4. Virginia Tech (6-1, 3-0 ACC) Last Week 4
Result: BYE
This Week: vs. Duke

The Hokies were on a bye week, but they still received good news when the initial BCS rankings came out and they were ranked 14th. Virginia Tech should take care of Duke pretty easily this week and will probably also defeat Boston College the following week. Again, it will probably come down to their November 9th game against Miami to determine who wins the Coastal.

5. Georgia Tech (4-3, 3-2 ACC) Last Week 10
Result: (W 56-0 vs. Syracuse)
This Week: at Virginia

This was the Georgia Tech team we saw during the first month of the season. The Yellow Jackets had not won a game September 21st, but they made up for lost time by just obliterating the Orange by a score of 56-0. As an aside I found Vad Lee's stat line of 3-3 for 88 yards and a touchdown to be humorous. Georgia Tech will now travel to Virginia in a game they really must have if they want to become bowl eligible. Remember, they have already defeated Elon (FCS) so a win over Alabama A &M really means nothing.

6. Duke (5-2, 1-2 ACC) Last Week 9
Result: (W 35-22 vs. Virginia)
This Week: at Virginia Tech

Duke was down 22-0, but then went on the kind of run we've gotten accustomed to seeing from their basketball team when they scored 35 unanswered points to end the game. Duke is now just one win away from becoming bowl eligible for a second consecutive year. It's not looking likely that the Blue Devils will do it when they travel to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech this weekend, but their home game against NC State on November 9th is a very real possibility.

7. Boston College (3-3, 1-2 ACC) Last Week 5
Result: BYE
This Week: at North Carolina

Boston College is coming off a bye and that means they had an extra week to prepare for North Carolina. The Tar Heels opened up as 10 point favorites, but Boston College is perfectly capable of winning this game. BC still has games remaining against New Mexico State, NC State, Maryland, and Syracuse, so they can absolutely still make a bowl game.

8. Wake Forest (4-3, 2-2 ACC) Last Week 11
Result: (W 34-10 vs. Maryland)
This Week: at Miami

The Deacs were nothing short of spectacular in their 34-10 victory over the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday. Senior quarterback went for the hat trick as he had a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown against Maryland. He is the first player to do this since C.J. Spiller in 2011. Senior receiver Michael Campanaro was fantastic against his home state team. Campanaro had 11 receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown. Campanaro's final catch was the 217th reception of his career, which made him Wake Forest's all-time leader in receptions. It should be noted that nose guard Nikita Whitlock was incredible. The senior had two sacks, five tackles and three quarterback hurries. The Deacs will now take their talents to South Beach with the hopes of upsetting the undefeated Miami Hurricanes. Wake can still find a way to bowl eligibility.

9. Pittsburgh (4-2, 2-2 ACC) Last Week 8
Result: (W 35-24 vs. Old Dominion)
This Week: at Navy

Pittsburgh actually struggled to beat Old Dominion. The Panthers were down 10-0 at the end of the first quarter and got outgained by Old Dominion. Pitt will now travel to play Navy in a game the Panthers should win, but it's not a gimme.

10. North Carolina (1-5, 0-3 ACC) Last Week 14
Result: (L 27-23 vs. Miami)
This Week: vs. Boston College

Zero Dark Thursday almost pulled off the upset last, you guessed it, Thursday. Tight end Eric Ebron was awesome and had eight receptions for 199 yards and a touchdown. This game demonstrated just how much talent this North Carolina team has. The Tar Heels had a 10 point 4th quarter lead, but surrendered two 4th quarter touchdowns to Miami's Dallas Crawford, including one with just 16 seconds remaining in regulation. Still, Carolina won on a Hail Mary, but the ball went through Quinshad Davis' hands. The very difficult part of North Carolina's schedule is now over. They will need to win five of their remaining six games to become bowl eligible, but I maintain that's not inconceivable.

11. Maryland (5-2, 1-2 ACC) Last Week 6
Result: (L 34-10 at Wake Forest)
This Week: vs. Clemson

This photo taken by Wake Forest's campus barber/photographer/super fan Dean Shore is just phenomenal and sums up the day for Maryland perfectly. Maryland was down 34-10 with 5 minutes to go in the game and their mascot packed up his bags and left the field. Unfortunately for Maryland, they lost both of their star receivers in Stefon Diggs and Deon Long due to injury on Saturday. Both will miss the remainder of the season and their talents will be missed. This was a crushing below to Randy Edsall's team and it's very unfortunate these two young men were injured. Maryland now must try and move on and find a way to win one more game to become bowl eligible. The Terps will most likely lose to Clemson this upcoming week, but then they'll have a bye week before taking on Syracuse at home. They should get it done that day.

12. Virginia (2-5, 0-3 ACC) Last Week 12
Result: (L 22-35 vs. Duke)
This Week: vs. Georgia Tech

Virginia started off really hot and got up to a 22-0 lead over Duke, but then Virginia allowed 35 unanswered to close out the game. Virginia just could no longer run the ball and then finished with a rushing average of just 2.6 yards/rush. Virginia has five games remaining and three of them are against teams ranked in the top 14 of the BCS rankings. Next week they take on Georgia Tech who is coming off a 56-0 beat down of Syracuse. This Virginia team could easily lose out.

13. Syracuse (3-4, 1-2 ACC) Last Week 7
Result: (L 56-0 at Georgia Tech )
This Week: BYE

I thought Syracuse +55.5 was easy money, but that's a lesson for why we don't gamble. What else can we really say about a team who lost 56-0?

14. North Carolina State (3-3, 0-3 ACC) Last Week 13
Result: BYE
This Week: at Florida State

Their home loss to Syracuse looks even more embarrassing now that we saw Syracuse get demolished 56-0 at the hands of Georgia Tech. Right now they have six games left and none of them are gimmes. At this point there's less than a 50% chance that this team is going bowling at the end of the season.

Please feel free to leave comments as I'd love to hear your rankings.