[2023] ACC Quarter-Season update

[tsweezy]

After 3.5 weeks of play, most schools have wrapped up their OOC games and now we can take a little quick peek and see how they are performing vis-a-vis my initial preseason power rankings for each conference. Next: the ACC:

 

Team	Conf	Overall	Preseason Power Rank	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	New Rank	Notes
Louisville	0-0	3-0	13	W vs TAMU 25-3	W vs ORST 35-27	W at FCS 37-10	1	Some good wins over teams I considered sleepers in TAMU and ORST. Louisville made the playoffs last year, and while I thought they'd take a step back, apparently not
Pittsburgh	0-0	3-0	5	W vs FCS 37-3	W at CINC 44-23	W vs NEV 23-20	2	Some close wins and nothing super impressive thus far, but it's not like the competition has either
NC State	0-0	2-0	8	W vs CSU 52-24	W at ECU 28-17		3	Ok wins and haven't lost, what else do you want
Wake Forest	0-0	2-0	2	W at CHAR 31-17	W vs AZST 24-17		4	Lots of talent but haven't blown anyone away so far
Clemson	0-0	2-1	11	L vs FLA 20-23	W at FRES 28-16	W vs SDSU 24-17	6	Rough L to Florida to open but a good job bouncing back and notching some good wins against the west coast teams. Lots of promise from this squad
Virginia Tech	0-0	2-1	9	W vs JMU 31-7	W at WASH 10-7	L vs APST 16-17	5	JMU is looking like a solid win, as is WASH. They're kicking themselves for giving away that App state game rn
Georgia Tech	0-0	1-1	5	W vs UNT 20-7	L at GAST 10-27		7	You hate to see the in-state loss, and their superstar quarterback spent the night running for his life. They need to fix their protection issues asap
Florida State	0-0	1-2	1	W vs FCS 77-3	L vs TENN 21-40	L vs UTST 3-27	8	A big fall from grace. The loss to Tennessee could be forgiven but immediately laying an egg against UTST shows the team might be floundering a bit. They need to get back on track
North Carolina	0-0	1-2	3	L at BALL 7-31	L vs SCAR 7-26	W at NMSU 27-21	12	bad losses abound, but they did get 1 win at least so they're season is trending more up
Syracuse	0-0	1-2	10	L at RUTG 12-14	W vs FCS 47-0	L vs TEMP 29-30	9	Very, very close losses and almost pushed this to 3-0, they could move up quite a bit in converence play
Virginia	0-0	1-2	6	L at ULL 14-35	W vs BUFF 41-38	L vs TULS 20-27	11	Looks like a fairly average team so far, not much to say
Boston College	0-0	0-1	14	L vs USC 9-28			13	Only played 1 game, an L to my #1 team so who can really say what they are?
Duke	0-0	0-3	12	L at Cal 0-65	L vs AUB 6-40	L at USF 6-14	14	YIKES. They are confirmed big basement dwellers and are at the bottom of most statistics
Miami (FL)	0-0	0-3	4	L at ORST 12-27	L vs OKLA 10-33	L at ND 16-34	10	Huge OOC matchups and dropped them all. Disappointing for the run and gunners, but they won't be facing nearly this difficulty in conference play

 

Overall OOC record: 19-18 (.514)

Biggest surprise (good): Louisville

Biggest surprise (bad): the state of Florida

They are who we thought they were: Duke

Number of (currently assumed) nationally relevant teams: 2