ACC Football: Final 2023 ACC Power Rankings
It is hard to believe but, the college football regular season is now over. All that is left is conference championship weekend and that will determine the college football playoff field and then the rest of the bowl field will be set.
Florida State concluded its regular season as one of the few unbeaten left in the country and they look like they will be one win away from making the college football playoff. Louisville took a little bit of the luster off of the ACC Championship game by losing to Kentucky, but it has still been a great first season for Jeff Brohm and the Cardinals. NC State finished off an under-the-radar season 9-3 and Clemson won their fourth straight game to end its season 8-4.
So how did the last week of the season change the ACC power rankings? Let's rank the teams one last time.
14. Pitt (3-9). Last week: 14
It was a down year for Pat Narduzzi and the Panthers and as a result, they fired their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after the season ending loss to Duke. Narduzzi won the ACC just two years ago and has won consistently at Pitt, but he is going to need to make the right offensive coordinator hire to get the program back to competing.
13. Virginia (3-9). Last week: 11
What a disappointing end to the season for Virginia. They appeared to have been getting better over the last month or so when they beat North Carolina and Duke and nearly beat Miami, but that ended on Saturday when they were blown out by Virginia Tech. Year three will be a pivotal one for Tony Elliott.
12. Wake Forest (4-8). Last week: 13
Wake has become a consistent bowl team under Dave Clawson, but Saturday capped off what has been the most disappointing year for the Demon Deacons in a while. The offense was not as lethal as years past and the defense was still one of the worst in the ACC. Clawson is a really good coach and I would not anticipate them being at the bottom of the ACC next year.
11. Syracuse (6-6). Last week: 12
The Orange got bowl eligible for the second straight season and they are still looking for a new coach. Making a bowl game is an accomplishment and with the injuries that Syracuse has had to fight through this season and now they can focus on hiring the right coach for their program.
10. Boston College (6-6). Last week: 10
Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos
Boston College did get to a bowl game, but they way they ended the year has to be disappointing. The Eagles were not competitive in a Black Friday loss to Miami and that was kind of the theme over the last few weeks of the season. They were blown out by Virginia Tech, lost to a bad Pitt team, and played close games against UConn and Syracuse. A bowl game is an accomplishment for BC, but that is a disappointing way to end the season.
9. Miami (7-5). Last week: 9
Miami handled Boston College on Friday and while there were some hiccups this season, the Hurricanes are an improved team from where they were a year ago. It will be interesting to see how the Hurricanes improve this offseason because year three is going to be pivotal for their future under Mario Cristobal.
8. Duke (7-5). Last week: 7
Duke beat Pitt to get to seven wins, but there are a lot of unknowns with the program now that Mike Elko is heading to Texas A&M. It was a great season for Duke considering the injury to quarterback Riley Leonard. Who Duke hires as its next head coach will be interesting because Elko does leave them in a pretty good place.
7. Virginia Tech (6-6). Last week: 8
Brent Pry did a good job of getting this program back to a bowl game and they looked impressive against some of the lesser teams in the conference, evidenced by their 55-17 beatdown of Virginia. The next step will be to start being competitive against some of the top teams in the conference.
6. North Carolina (8-4). Last week: 5
North Carolina had a terrible end to its season and it looked like they had quit in their loss to NC State. With Drake Maye all but gone for next season, where will North Carolina next year? That is the question that is on the minds of Tar Heels fans.
5. Georgia Tech (6-6). Last week: 6
Dontae Smith running the ball vs Georgia
Nathaniel Caudell
Georgia Tech gave No. 1 Georgia a better game than most would have thought, but they fell short and lost 31-23. The Yellow Jackets have made progress as a program this year, but there is still work to do under Brent Key. It felt weird to move a team up after losing, but North Carolina looked terrible to end the season and Georgia Tech did beat them.
4. Clemson (8-4). Last week: 4
Clemson messed around with South Carolina and despite not scoring an offensive touchdown, the Tigers won and ended the season on a four-game winning streak. Will the Tigers get back to ACC contention next season? Dabo Swinney will have start using the transfer portal and making changes, but the Tigers do have the talent.
3. NC State (9-3). Last week: 3
The job Dave Doeren did this season should not go unnoticed. The guy continues to win games and if not for an ugly Friday night loss to Louisville, this team would be playing for an ACC title this weekend. As long as he is the coach, this team will be one of the toughest in the conference.
2. Louisville (10-2). Last week: 2
Saturday was not a good day for Louisville, but the good news is that they can still win the ACC title and get to a New Year's Six Bowl Game. Despite the rivalry loss to Kentucky, Jeff Brohm has accomplished a lot this season and getting to the conference title game is huge. With Jordan Travis hurt, there is an opportunity for the Cardinals to win on Saturday night.
1. Florida State (12-0). Last week: 1
Florida State started the year on the top of the ACC Power Rankings and that is where they will end. It did not look pretty against the Gators on Saturday night, but FSU fought hard and got the win and still can make the College Football Playoff with a win on Saturday against Louisville.
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