ACC Football Rankings
This is particularly complex with Pitt and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done. Here is how we view the ACC football schools as of October 26, 2011:
1. Clemson–hard to argue with 8-0.
2. Virginia Tech— again, hard to argue with 7-1.
3. Miami–the Kansas St. loss looks more impressive with every week. The win over Georgia Tech makes this an easy selection for #3.
4. Georgia Tech— this starts to get more difficult. The losses to Virginia and, to a lesser extent, Miami cause some concern. But with games against #1 and #2 coming up, we’ll find out real soon whether this team was a mirage.
5. Syracuse– Fresh off the win over previously ranked West Virginia, and coupled with an early season win over Wake Forest, I’ll give the Orange the nod here.
6. Wake Forest– That season opening loss to Syracuse looks better now, but the win over Florida State is key here.
7. Florida State– The most impressive wins are Duke and Virginia. This is not your father’s Florida State team.
8. North Carolina State– The loss to Cincinnati is looking more justifiable now. At some point, this team needs an upset though.
9. North Carolina– With a win over Rutgers and a win over Virginia, we’ll discount the three losses to teams at the top of these standings.
10. Virginia– The win over Georgia Tech may say more about Georgia Tech fizzling, but it is the best win among the remaining teams.
11. Maryland– This gets REALLY tough down here. Maryland did beat a rattled Miami team Week 1. They also rallied against West Virginia. Grasping at straws at this point.
12. Pittsburgh— Pitt has played a tough-ish schedule, so we’ll give them the nod here. The win over South Florida is now looking less impressive though.
13. Duke— Overcoming a loss to Richmond is progress. The win over Boston College certainly helps. The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Blue Devils though. Hard to see them leapfrogging anyone.
14. Boston College– The anti-Clemson. No wins over a FBS school yet. Ugh.
The Confidential 
Yesterday, Heather Dinich at the Worldwide Leader said that the ACC is, from top-to-bottom, the most competitive conference, and that there is no true team at the top. The latter may be the case, although I think you can argue that Clem(p)son and VPI are not going to get beat by Duke or BC any time soon. But I think you have to say that the Big East has the most parity of all the conferences. There are no true top or bottom teams in the BE.
I guess so. However, there was a time when Syracuse was not beating anyone either.
And if you go back even farther, Temple and Rutgers were disasters. That meant that the other 6 schools had 2 easy wins every year. 28.6% of their games were wins. No other AQ conference has ever had that type of percentage.
Even if Duke is at that level, that is still just 1/12th of the ACC. I don’t think you can lump Boston College in there just yet. Didn’t they go bowling last year? The wheels are falling off… but they were firmly on just 10 months ago.