Ranking the ACC after Week 5 of College Football action.

What a win for the Miami Hurricanes over the Oklahoma Sooners! Congratulations to the Canes on a great win for their program and the ACC. Georgia Tech stepped out of conference and went on the road to play at the SEC's Mississippi State Bulldogs. The Yellow Jackets picked up a solid win there. UNC and Clemson are close to playing themselves out of their division races.

Previous Rankings
Pre-season |Wk 1|Wk 2|Wk 3 |Wk 4

1) Virginia Tech Hokies (4-1, 2-0) - Last Week 1
The Hokies got the expected letdown against Duke after their route of Miami last week, but still defeated the Blue Devils 34-26. Right now the top 3 teams on this list are starting to separate themselves from the pack, and the Hokies still lead the way. The key to Virginia Tech’s season has always been the development of QB Tyrod Taylor and Saturday he had 327 yards through the air. The defense though outside of last week has look suspect especially to the pass. Thaddeus Lewis of Duke threw for 359 yards. Next up for the Hokies is a resurgent Boston College team that no one can overlook.

2) Miami Hurricanes (3-1, 2-1) - Last Week 3
Miami moving ahead of Georgia Tech is not a slight on the Yellow Jackets at all. Paul Johnson’s boys are starting to put it together, but when you beat the Oklahoma Sooners 21-20, and start the year 3-1 after playing 4 teams that were ranked when you played them, then you deserve some respect. The defense is flying around like its 1991. The schedule gets much easier now. Take a look at Miami’s schedule, there’s not a team left that the Canes won’t be favored against. Randy Shannon did a tremendous job getting the Hurricanes ready after the tough loss last week in Blacksburg. Jacory Harris is the ACC's offensive MVP so far this season.

3) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (4-1, 2-1) - Last Week 2
Somebody learned how to throw the football. Josh Nesbitt had his best game throwing the football since he’s been at Georgia Tech. He was 11 out 14 for 266 yards and 1 TD. We will have to see if Nesbitt can deliver this on a consistent basis, but he just gave ACC Defensive coordinators a whole lot to think about now. Keep an eye on WR on Stephen Hill. He’s become a valuable compliment to WR Demaryous Thomas. A comfortable 42-31 win over decent SEC team Mississippi St in Starkville, has been one of the ACC’s better wins this year. Up next is a reeling Florida State team. Everyone knows the Noles though are perfectly capable of turning it on at any time. The tackling in the Miss. State was a little sloppy so the Jackets will want to clean that up.

4) Boston College Eagles (4-1, 2-1) - Last Week 6
From surprise to ACC Atlantic Contenders the Eagles are making believers out of everyone. The Eagles played an inspired game against FSU; motivated by the great news that former linebacker Mark Herzlich is virtually cancer free. RB Montel Harris had a very good game running for 179 yards on 25 carries. 25 year old freshman David Shinskie is looking better and better each week at quarterback. He threw for 203 yards and 2 TDs. Frank Spaziani has done an outstanding job so far in his first year as head coach of BC.

5) Wake Forest Demon Deacons (3-2, 1-1) - Last Week 9
As usual Jim Grobe and the Deacs are the team few people talk about, but after defeating NC State they are right in the thick of the ACC Atlantic race. Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner threw for 361 yards and 3 touchdowns. Skinner has never received the notoriety he deserves. He's one good quarterback. The Deacs have a critical home game with Maryland next week. Wake Forest needs to keep the momentum going against the Terps in a game that now looks much tougher than it did a week ago.

6) North Carolina State Wolfpack (3-2, 0-1) - Last Week 4
Just when you thought NC State ready to stamp itself as the Atlantic division favorite, they up and lose. Russel Wilson threw his first interception in over a year, and the Wolfpack gave up 361 yards in the air. I think we are starting to see what the Wolfpack will be this year. With Wilson at quarterback, they will usually put points on the board, but this team isn't capable of overwhelming any of the decent opponents on their schedule. They should be able to handle Duke next week though.

7) North Carolina Tar Heels (3-2, 0-2) - Last Week 5
What’s wrong with the Tar Heels on offense? Losing at Georgia Tech was one thing, but losing at home to a Virginia team with a possible lame duck coach was just inexcusable. This was a team that supposed to contend in the Coastal, but is virtually out of the division race in the first week of October. When your leading rusher only gains 25 yards, and your entire offense has only 174 total, it doesn’t matter how good your defense is. The Heels have a chance to get well with FCS team Georgia Southern upcoming.

8) Florida State Seminoles (2-3, 0-2) - Last Week 8
More inconsistent play from Florida State. Get down 21-6 1st half, and then tie it up at 21 in the 2nd half only to lose. What can you say? I still think this team is one of the more talented in the ACC, but they just don’t play sound fundamental football. Good enough to come within a play of beating a strong Miami team, good enough to crush BYU on the road, but bad enough to lose 3 times in their first 5 games. They could come out next week and beat Georgia Tech by 2 touchdowns or lose by 2 touchdowns. It might be time for Bobby Bowden to just ease into retirement and let someone else just sort this mess out.

9) Clemson Tigers (2-3, 1-2) - Last Week 7
The more things change the more they stay the same at Clemson. Tommy Bowdon is gone, but the Tigers came up with their first inexplicable loss of the Dabo Swinney era, a 21-24 loss to Maryland. These were kind of games that drove Tiger fans crazy in the past. It’s far to early to call this a trend of any sort for Swinney, but it’s going to be a rough 2 weeks until the Tigers next game against Wake Forest. I checked out the Clemson message board after the game, and one describes what I read… meltdown. The offense needs work. It needs a lot of work.

10) Maryland Terrapins (2-3, 1-0) - Last Week 11
Left for dead the, the Terps came up with by far their best performance of the season, a 24-21 victory over the Clemson Tigers. The much-maligned Maryland defense held Clemson to 274 total yards and only 81 on the ground. Maryland QB Chris Turner was an efficient 19 for 26 for 215 yards. In spite of the rough start to the season, Maryland is the only undefeated team in the Atlantic Division. With a game at Wake Forest next week, the Terps have an opportunity to really turn their season around. A 2-0 start would shockingly have Maryland in very solid position in the Atlantic.

11) Virginia Cavaliers (1-3, 1-0) - Last Week 12
Left for dead the, the Cavaliers came up with by far their best performance of the season, a 16-3 win at North Carolina. Hmm.. That sentence sounds familiar. Just as shocking as Maryland the Cavaliers find themselves and Virginia Tech as the only in conference undefeated teams in the ACC Coastal Division. A defense that hadn't held any opponent to less than 26 points, only gives up 3 points and 174 yards to UNC. I said last week I thought Virginia would upset someone, but I didn't see it coming this soon. Running back Mikell Simpson had 100 yards rushing. A winnable game with Indiana is next.

12) Duke Blue Devils (2-3, 0-1) - Last Week 10
Duke played a very respectable game against Virginia Tech this past week. The passing game looked crisp going for 359 yards against the Hokies. Did you know the Dukies lead the ACC in passing yardage per game at 285 yards, and are 16th in the nation in the same category? Right now I could interchange any of the bottom three teams 10-12. One of them will make a bowl game. Which one will it be?