Notre Dame concluded their first regular season as a conference member by going undefeated in the ACC, expelling all the chatter about how the Irish would do if they had to go through a conference schedule. The win 45-21 win against Syracuse might seem like a blowout, but the first half left plenty to be desired out of the remaining No. 2 team in the country according to the latest Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports
In a week after the Irish gained ground in votes to No. 1 Alabama, they stayed exactly the same as last weeks poll.
Around the ACC, No. 3 Clemson struggled early against Virginia Tech, but eventually took over in the second half like the Irish did and won 45-10. They remained at No. 3 while No. 10 Miami, FL blasted Duke 48-0 and No. 17 North Carolina did the same to Western Carolina 49-9.
In other movement around the Top 25, No. 8 BYU lost to No. 14 Coastal Carolina, 22-17 in a thriller. Indiana got a huge win over No. 16 Wisconsin, one week after losing their star quarterback Michael Penix for the season, confirming the Hoosiers No. 11 ranking. Four more upsets, No. 15 Marshall, No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 20 Oregon and No. 23 Washington all lost to unranked opponents.
Here is the full updated Coaches Poll, with the ACC teams in bold and last weeks ranking in parenthesis.
1 Alabama (1)
2 Notre Dame (2)
3 Clemson (3)
4 Ohio State (4)
5 Texas A&M (6)
6 Florida (5)
7 Cincinnati (7)
8 Miami, FL (9)
9 Indiana (11)
10 Georgia (10)
11 Iowa State (12)
12 Oklahoma (13)
13 Coastal Carolina (14)
14 Northwestern (17)
15 USC (16)
16 BYU (8)
17 Louisiana-Lafayette (21)
18 Iowa (24)
19 Tulsa (22)
20 North Carolina (NR)
21 Liberty (25)
22 Colorado (NR)
23 Texas (NR)
24 NC State (NR)
25 Wisconsin (19)
Dropped out: No. 15 Marshall, No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 20 Oregon, No. 23 Washington