The Confidential

The Confidential’s ACC Football Top 10 Poll: Week 10

Well, Florida State-Miami was interesting for a while.  But there is a clear #1 in the ACC right now: the Seminoles.  Here is the Confidential Correspondents Football top 10 Poll for Week 10.  Remember, we include Notre Dame and Louisville.  This year, we’ll start with team number 10 and work our way to #1.

10. (tie) With 3 points each, Maryland (5-3) and Syracuse (4-4) are tied.  And, oh by the way, they play this week.  The battle for 10th place!

8.  (tie) With 15 points each, Virginia Tech (6-3) and Boston College (4-4) are tied.  And, oh by the way, they played last week.  Virginia Tech is already bowl-eligible… but two straight losses (Duke and BC) have them reeling a bit.  The Eagles are soaring after a win against the Hokies.  Next up: @ New Mexico State.  The Hokies get to travel to Miami.

7. Georgia Tech (6-3), 21 points.  At 6-3, the Yellow Jackets get to rest before facing Clemson.  They also get an FCS opponent before Georgia.  Nice scheduling!   Next up: @ Clemson, Thursday November 14th.

6. Duke (6-2), 23 points.  Duke had a week off to prepare for North Carolina State.  With Wake Forest and North Carolina also on the schedule, are 9 wins possible???  Next up: North Carolina State.

5. Notre Dame (7-2), 28 points.  With a narrow win over Navy, Notre Dame avoided the “L.”  But it was not pretty.  So the correspondents are all over the map in ranking Notre Dame.  Next up: @ Pitt.

4. Louisville (7-1), 35 points.  The Cardinals are actually in third place in the American.  And the games against Houston and Cincinnati are not pushovers.  Could the Cardinals be 4th in the American by the end of the year?  Next up: @ UConn on 11/8.

3. Miami (7-1), 40 points.  Miami competed for a bit with Florida State and certainly did better than Clemson.  But the correspondents were probably concerned enough about the Duke Johnson injury to give Clemson the 2nd place nod this week.  It depends on how this week goes.  Next up: Virginia Tech.

2. Clemson (8-1), 42 points.  The Tigers get to rest before the Georgia Tech game.  So good scheduling by the ACC–two well-rested teams doing battle on a Thursday night.  Clemson’s 59-10 win over Virginia was more of what is expected out of the Tigers.  Next up: Georgia Tech, Thursday November 15th.

1. Florida State (8-0), 50 points/5 first place votes.  What more is there to say about the Seminoles?  It now just comes down to whether they can avoid a conference-damaging loss down the stretch.  Wake Forest, Syracuse, Idaho, and Florida.  The last one is the trickiest, but Wake Forest and Syracuse cannot be looked past.  FSU has lost some head-scratchers over the years.  Two bowl-hungry teams cannot be overlooked.  Next up: @ Wake Forest.

Others receiving votes: Boston College 3.  No other teams received votes.

What do YOU think????