Week 3 ACC Power Rankings: Virginia Tech, Florida State Remain on Top

Another week is in the books and another conference contest has been played.

Wake Forest was the big winner this week, beating NC State 34-27 and jumping into a tie with Maryland atop the ACC standings.

The Deacs have been a big pleasant surprise for the ACC this year, playing much better than expected in a close loss to Syracuse before beating NC State soundly this past weekend.

As a result, Wake made the biggest upward movement in this week's power rankings.

Meanwhile, two winless teams at the bottom of the rankings play this week in an attempt to stay out of the ACC basement.

Week 3 should be an exciting time for the conference.

12. Duke

Duke rebounded very nicely from their loss to FCS team Richmond and put together a great first half against national power Stanford.

Their maligned defense contained Andrew Luck and company, and the Blue Devils trailed just 10-7 at halftime.

However, poor clock management and a missed field goal at the end of the half dampened the positive feeling at halftime and the Cardinal proceeded to outscore the Blue Devils 34-7 in the second half.

The offense was very disappointing as the only Blue Devils' score came in the last minute of the game.

Sean Renfree had a decent performance but not a great one.

Donovan Varner and Conner Vernon have a history of disappearing against talented opponents and while Vernon had a very nice game, Varner was held to a pair of thirteen-yard catches.

Sophomore Juwan Thompson netted 43 yards on 9 carries but overall the Blue Devils had just 30 yards on 33 rushes, less than one yard per carry.

Duke clearly has a lot of progress to make before being a real contender and needs a win against Boston College this week to keep their narrow bowl hopes alive.

11. Boston College

Central Florida was the favorite to win their game against Boston College.

However, not many people outside of Florida were predicting the beatdown that occurred.

The Knights mauled Boston College 30-3 and outgained the Eagles 422-141.

Chase Rettig only averaged three yards a pass attempt as the BC defense allowed Central Florida to complete 80 percent of its passes.

The defense yielded 235 rushing yards while the offense only tallied 57 yards and averaged two-and-a-half yards a carry.

Bobby Swigert was the only Eagles receiver to catch more than two passes or record more than 15 receiving yards. He finished with three catches for 39 yards.

The Eagles were 1-12 on third down and finished with seven first downs on the day.

Boston College has a lot of work to do and this weekend's game with Duke is also a must-win for them.

10. NC State

NC State followed up a sloppy outing to Liberty with a tough loss to Wake Forest.

The good news is that in the second half Mike Glennon finally started performing well for just about the first time this season.

The bad news is that the Wolfpack trailed the Demon Deacons 27-6 and 34-13 before that happened.

The even worse news is that NC State's secondary had a fairly bad outing.

If the defense, which should be the strength of this team, struggles against the pass like this in other games, the Wolfpack could be in for a long season.

9. Virginia

If you haven't seen Cam Johnson's strip sack that set up Robert Randolph's game-winning field goal against Indiana yet, here it is.

Virginia took a step up in competition by playing Indiana this week but took a step back performance wise.

The Cavaliers had a comfortable 23-3 lead against the Hoosiers despite a mediocre performance, but multiple meltdowns on special teams and a fumble that got returned for a touchdown contributed to a massive Indiana comeback.

Virginia, however, showed heart by driving for a touchdown and game-tying two-point conversion.

Then Cam Johnson took over.

The Cavaliers are off to a good start but face a real test against North Carolina this week that will shed light on whether they actually are a better team than last year.

8. Wake Forest

Tanner Price looks like the real deal at quarterback.

If that's true, then Wake Forest already has an edge over about half the ACC in that department.

Even Virginia Tech's signal-caller remains unproven at this point.

Jim Grobe might be blazing a trail for Wake Forest back to the upper echelon of the ACC.

This rise might also prove to be meteoric and the Demon Deacons could come crashing back down as quickly as they have started ascending this year.

We won't find that out until October though. Wake faces Gardner-Webb this weekend and then has a bye week to prepare for an October 1st divisional showdown against Boston College.

Expect the Deacs to start out with a 2-0 record in their division.

7. Clemson

The Tigers have the talent to win the ACC.

Last year's 5-7 Texas Longhorns might have had the talent to contend for a national title and look what good that did for them.

Clemson's enigmatic football program never seems to live up to high expectations or down to low expectations.

The good news for Clemson is that Tajh Boyd has been playing rather well to start the year.

Struggling against Troy and Wofford, though, may almost feel like losses to the Tigers fan base. Clemson should rightly be worried about how they will perform in ACC play.

Their offense should be fine. The defense needs some serious work though.

This is the one team that seems like they could finish number one or number twelve in the year-end power rankings.

You just never know what you are going to get with Clemson.

6. Miami

Miami was unable to help their cause during this bye week.

Having a bye week after a loss that stings as much as the Maryland game should get the team all fired up to go against Ohio State.

Right now Joe Bauserman has not proven himself to be the answer for the Buckeyes at quarterback.

As a result, Miami's athletic defense has a chance to have a big game against Ohio State.

Jacory Harris, though, needs to be consistent. If he can come back from suspension and utilize his full potential, Miami should upset Ohio State and start to establish themselves as a major threat in the Coastal Division.

5. Georgia Tech

Every aspect of Paul Johnson's triple-option offense has looked impressive so far this season.

The Yellow Jackets even led the nation in pass efficiency during Week 1.

Their defense also stepped up big time against Middle Tennessee.

Blue Raiders starter Logan Kilgore may have torched Purdue for 330 yards and a pair of touchdowns but Al Groh's defensive unit held him to 4.1 yards a catch, 114 yards overall, and no touchdowns with one interception.

The defense only gave up one score in the first three quarters and the 49-21 final was closer than the game.

Georgia Tech's defense has been looking good this year. So has quarterback Tevin Washington.

That is a deadly combination.

4. Maryland

Like Miami, the Terrapins still only have one game upon which to base their ranking.

That one game went very well for them though and remains the best win that any ACC team has gotten yet this year.

The Terrapins can solidify themselves as a top-tier conference team with a win against rival West Virginia this week.

Until then, Maryland fans can revel in their conquest of the Hurricanes.

3. North Carolina

North Carolina had an ugly win against Rutgers this week but their defense looked dominant.

Any time you hold an opponent to one rushing yard for the whole game you know you are doing something right.

If North Carolina continues to struggle against subpar opponents they are going to start doing a Clemson and regress in the rankings.

This week's contest against Virginia will show whether last week was a fluke or a sign of deeper problems for the Tar Heels.

2. Virginia Tech

ECU is a really good football program.

Seriously. They have challenged and occasionally beaten some legitimate competition over the last few years.

So had Virginia Tech come out and dominated the Pirates this past week, they probably would have moved up to the top spot in these rankings.

However, the offense struggled in a 17-10 win against a team that ceded 76 points to Navy last year.

Virginia Tech had a modest 4.8 yards per carry but still racked up 241 rushing yards simply by having lots of possession and playing a conservative game plan.

Logan Thomas had just 91 yards passing, averaging fewer yards per pass than the Hokies gained running.

Thomas, however, did add 66 rushing yards.

The Hokies defense looked much better than it did last year.

The offense seems to have taken a couple steps back with the loss of Tyrod Taylor.

If those two factors are a wash, then that is a good sign for the Hokies, who have a great chance at once again recording ten wins in a season and winning the ACC.

1. Florida State

All Florida State has had so far this year is two chances to hurt themselves with poor performances against bad teams.

They managed to avoid any damage with convincing wins against UL-Monroe and Charleston Southern.

Still, they haven't accomplished anything significant so far this year and this week could set the tone for the entire season.

The Seminoles have a chance to defeat the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.

That would cement their spot at the top of our power rankings until they lose.

If the Seminoles can overcome the Sooners, that might be a long time from now.