Clemson, Virginia Tech 1-2 in Hootie’s Latest ACC Power Poll

Hootie’s ACC Power Poll, Week 2. Rank, school, overall record/ACC record, previous rank, comment:

1. Clemson, 1-0/0-0 (1): Tigers are one of the nation’s elite programs and intend to stay that way with a reunion in College Station, Texas, with an old friend, former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher, who now coaches the Aggies. Look for Clemson to dominate in the trenches.

2. Virginia Tech, 1-0/1-0 (6): Huge jump in the rankings for the Hokies after they embarrassed Florida State and ruined Willie Taggert’s debut in Tallahassee. Bud Foster never ceases to amaze me. This week, they’ll ruin Jimmye Laycock’s weekend.

3. Boston College, 1-0, 0-0 (5): Yeah, the Eagles are my dark horse pick, and I’m feeling pretty good about them. They play a physical brand of football and now have a potentially explosive offense to go along with a roughhouse defense. Watch out!

4. N.C. State, 1-0, 0-0 (4): The Wolfpack played just well enough to win against FCS powerhouse James Madison last Saturday. State needs to develop a better run game in order to contend in the Atlantic, but they sure have a great QB-WR connection.

5. Georgia Tech, 1-0, 0-0 (8): Yellow Jackets piled up another 500 yards rushing against a cupcake last weekend, which is the same old for Paul Johnson. He still wasn’t satisfied with some sloppy play. Can’t afford to be sloppy this weekend against a potentially dangerous South Florida team.

6. Miami, 0-1, 0-0 (3): Hurricanes were downgraded to a passing thunderstorm last weekend in a humbling loss to LSU. In what is supposed to be Mark Richt’s best team at the ‘U,’ they looked essentially the same as they did at the end of last season when they were soundly trounced by Clemson in the ACC Championship game.

7. Duke, 1-0, 0-0 (10): It’s hard to gauge the Blue Devils after week one. They handled Army, which is a more physical team than last year, but then again, so is Duke. When Army has to put the ball in the air, you know it’s in trouble. The real test for the Devils will be this Saturday when they travel to Northwestern, which handled Purdue in the early opener two weeks ago. Daniel Jones could be the key.

8. Virginia, 1-0, 0-0 (9): So what if the Cavaliers beat an FCS team, they did what they were supposed to do and dominated, which is a far cry from two seasons ago. There’s magic in Bryce Perkins’ feet and that has helped open up the offense. UVa might have to score a lot tomorrow night against the Hoosiers to walk out of Indiana with a 2-0 mark.

9. Wake Forest, 1-0, 0-0 (11): The Deacons were led last week by a true freshman QB, Sam Hartman, who lit up Tulane on the road. Even with that kind of passing effort, Wake barely survived the Big Easy and needed an overtime to win.

10. Florida State, 0-1, 0-1 (2): Taggert laid an egg in his debut in Tallahassee. The Seminoles looked surprisingly bad and disorganized and created some fundamental offensive mistakes against Bud Foster’s defense. In effect, FSU looked just as bad in its opener as it did most of last season when the ‘Noles barely made a bowl game.

11. Louisville, 0-1, 0-0 (7): Were the Cardinals that bad, or was Alabama just that good? We know the answer to the latter part of that question. Can’t truly judge Bobby Petrino’s team after that mugging, but Louisville will have to shore up some things before we know where the truth lies.

12. Pittsburgh, 1-0, 0-0 (12): The Panthers will be embroiled in a heated rivalry against Penn State on Saturday night at Heinz Field. Nittany Lions said some disparaging things about Pitt after last season’s game, but the question is, “Is Pitt good enough to do anything about it?” We’ll find out in what will be the 99th all-time meeting between the two rivals, and could be the last for a long time.

13. Syracuse, 1-0, 0-0 (13): No question the Orange can put a lot of points on the board against a lesser opponent. Just not sure if they can stop anyone. As good as Eric Dungey is, Syracuse is only going to be as good as Dungey, who has to stay healthy or else.

14. North Carolina, 0-1, 0-0 (14): Tar Heels should get a win this weekend at hapless ECU. If they don’t, then we might have to find a way to make UNC No. 15 in a 14-team league next week.