It was a reckoning for ranked college football teams during Week 6, and it narrowly, narrowly missed impacting the ACC.
While Clemson coasted to an easy victory over a massively disappointing Florida State team, the Miami Hurricanes once again needed help from the officials to avoid taking their first loss of the season, this one against the Cal Golden Bears.
Miami beat Virginia Tech after a touchdown call was reversed on the final play of the game, and a few questionable calls down the stretch on Saturday evening helped the ‘Canes avoid losing to Cal, keeping them perfect on the season.
Despite the pedestrian performance, Miami remains highly regarded in both the AP and Coaches Poll heading into Week 7. Part of that is the litany of teams around them in the polls who took losses on Saturday, including the Alabama Crimson Tide, Missouri Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, and USC Trojans.
Those and other results around the sport resulted in four ACC teams making both polls, while a trio of conference teams each received votes as well.
Here is a look at how each team was ranked out of the ACC heading into Week 7:
Miami Hurricanes (6 in both)
On the surface, it’s obvious why Miami is the top ranked team in the conference and a top ten team in the country. The ‘Canes are 6-0, have road wins over Florida, South Florida, and Cal, and beat a solid conference foe in Virginia Tech.
However, Miami barely escaped both the Hokies and the Golden Bears, and while they get a week to clear their heads a road game against Louisville on October 19th could be what finally puts them in the loss column.
Clemson Tigers (10 in AP, 11 in Coaches)
Dabo Swinney’s club got manhandled by Georgia in Week 1 but has looked dominant ever since, picking up a non-conference win over App State followed by three straight ACC wins over NC State, Stanford, and on the road at Florida State last weekend.
The Tigers have a very good chance of passing Miami and earning the ACC autobid into the College Football Playoff. First they close October with a road game against Wake Forest and a home bout with Virginia.
Pitt Panthers (22 in AP, 24 in Coaches)
Pitt has an interesting resume. The Panthers are 5-0 on the year with three wins over power conference opponents – although it’s hard to know exactly how good any of those teams are.
Beating rival Cincinnati on the road is never an easy task, and taking down West Virginia looks solid, but the road win over North Carolina isn’t too impressive with how Mack Brown’s team is playing.
Still, the Panthers deserve to be in the polls with a sparkly record, and should be favored in their next two ACC matchups both at home against Cal and Syracuse.
SMU Mustangs (25 in both)
SMU deservedly sneaks into the poll after a road win over a previously ranked Louisville squad. The Mustangs have just one loss on the year which came against BYU – who is looking better and better as the weeks go by.
SMU is a legit contender in the ACC, although a pair of road trips to Stanford and Duke could present trap games with the added travel playing a big role.
Others Receiving Votes
Three other ACC teams received votes in either the AP or Coaches Poll.
Louisville had four votes in the AP poll and two more in the Coaches despite losing to SMU last week. Syracuse had one vote by the coaches and six by AP voters, while Virginia had seven votes from the coaches but none by AP voters.