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The weekly grind · 2026

ACC

The Flip

Miami holds the ACC lead heading into this week's games.

ACC is more top-heavy than deep. Miami gives the league punch, but the middle tier falls away faster than the top leagues.

#6Overall

#6In FBS

+20.5Conference strength

+25.1Upper strength

17Teams

2Top-25 teams

ACC, at a glance.

Top 10 by power rating — 2026 season, through the latest games.

Team Record Power

Miami

8-0 +30.8

Wake Forest

7-1 +27.4

Louisville

5-3 +25.8

SMU

6-2 +24.9

Duke

6-2 +23.8

Clemson

5-3 +23.4

Pittsburgh

6-3 +22.2

Virginia Tech

6-2 +21.3

NC State

4-4 +20.4

North Carolina

4-4 +20.3

Power snapshot Projected 2026 standing

The Flip

Miami went 13-3 in 2025 and holds the ACC's highest power rating entering 2026 — the strongest the program has looked since winning the 2001 national title. Meanwhile Clemson, who won six straight ACC titles from 2015-2021, went 7-6 last year. The power structure in the ACC just flipped.

2 top-25 teams.

The depth argument for this conference rests on how many credible opponents are clustered behind the leader. A wide talent spread separates the haves from the have-nots.

Where things stand right now.

Miami holds the ACC lead heading into this week's games.

Tools Matchup simulator Compare teams Playoff forecast Style map Head to head Power map

The New Leader

Miami at 13-3 Is the ACC’s Best Story in Twenty Years

Miami went 13-3 in 2025 and enters 2026 as the conference’s top-rated program. They’re recruiting at an elite level and winning games at a rate the program hasn’t seen since the 2001 title. The 2026 Miami-Clemson game is the conference’s defining matchup — a reigning dynasty against a program reclaiming the standard.

The Fallen Dynasty

Clemson Went 7-6 — the Worst Season Under Dabo Since 2010

Clemson won six ACC titles in a row from 2015-2021 and finished 2025 at 7-6. Dabo Swinney’s program has never had a losing conference season in that stretch, but the recruiting gap with Miami and Florida State is closing. Whether 2025 was a down year or the start of a longer slide is the most important question in the ACC entering 2026.

Why it matters →

The Wild Card

Virginia at 11-3 Is a Coaching Premium Nobody Expected

Virginia went 11-3 in 2025 with a recruiting class ranked #58 nationally — the biggest overperformance relative to talent in the ACC. A program that had four consecutive losing seasons from 2020-2023 is now winning eleven games. The question heading into 2026 is whether they can sustain it against a Miami program that’s now actively competing for the same recruits.

Why it matters →

Active arcs

Hot8wk ago

Louisville holds AP top 25 spot after Ole Miss loss

Can Louisville maintain its ranking despite the defeat?

Louisville

Hot3mo ago

UNC players address investigation into program during bye week

How will the ongoing investigation and coaching changes impact North Carolina's performance?

North Carolina

Hot5mo ago

nc state-virginia football game moves back to charlottesville

Can NC State bounce back after this embarrassing loss?

NC StateVirginia

Hot4mo ago

Syracuse faces skepticism over its 2026 season outlook

Can Syracuse's strong defensive start carry through the season?

Syracuse

Active3mo ago

Dabo Swinney faces mounting frustration amid Clemson's struggles

Can Dabo Swinney turn around Clemson's fortunes?

Clemson

All arcs →

Fan pulse Last 30 days · 13,172 mentions

16% positive 44% neutral 40% negative

Florida State

4,118

↓ negative

Miami

2,292

→ neutral

California

1,392

↓ negative

North Carolina

827

↓ negative

Syracuse

760

↓ negative

Wake Forest

653

↓ negative

Fan confidence by FBS percentile

Where each ACC program stands nationally in fan sentiment (100th = most positive in FBS, 0 = least). Conference median: 35th percentile. The label is the band (Bullish, Leaning, Mixed, Souring); the number after it is the change in percentile points since the prior week.

Bullish+25

Bullish+17

Leaning+13

Leaning+33

Leaning+3

Leaning+11

Leaning+19

Mixed+20

Mixed+6

Mixed0

Mixed-15

Mixed+3

Souring+5

Souring+16

Souring-7

Souring-10

Souring-19

Most volatile: Louisville

Fan confidence has swung 81 percentile points in the last 8 weeks — currently at the 53rd percentile nationally.

Rivalry face-offs

FSU-Miami

Florida State vs Miami

Fan face-off →

Commonwealth Cup

Virginia Tech vs Virginia

Fan face-off →

The coaching premium

Recruiting class rank vs. SP+ performance — where coaches add or subtract value

Above line = coaching premium

Below line = underperforming

Gap = recruiting rank minus SP+ rank

Positive gap means the coaching staff won more than the recruiting class predicted. Data: ACC teams, 17 programs.

Coaching premium ↑

Virginia

+37

Duke

+30

Wake

+21

Louisville

+20

Miami

Underperforming ↓

Stanford

-92

Ga. Tech

-77

California

-72

Syracuse

-61

Fla. St.

-51

Standings

2026 season, in progress — sorted by power rating. The tag beside a team is its long-run program standing.

#	Team	Record	Power	Resume
1	Miami Power Program I#11	8-0	+30.8	+99.7
2	Wake Forest National Program III#58	7-1	+27.4	+98.7
3	Louisville Power Program III#28	5-3	+25.8	+91.8
4	SMU National Program I#34	6-2	+24.9	+56.2
5	Duke National Program II#51	6-2	+23.8	+87.9
6	Clemson Blue Blood#4	5-3	+23.4	+79.6
7	Pittsburgh National Program I#36	6-3	+22.2	+67.2
8	Virginia Tech National Program I#42	6-2	+21.3	+85.3
9	NC State National Program I#41	4-4	+20.4	+42.3
10	North Carolina National Program II#54	4-4	+20.3	+96.1
11	Florida State Power Program II#21▼	3-5	+19.7	+85.9
12	Virginia National Program III#65	4-5	+18.7	+47.8
13	Syracuse Regional Program II#88	4-4	+16.5	+90.1
14	Boston College Regional Program I#81	4-4	+15.4	+84.1
15	Georgia Tech National Program II#57	2-6	+14.7	+41.2
16	California Regional Program I#74▼	3-6	+13.6	+40.0
17	Stanford Regional Program I#71	4-5	+13.4	+78.9

Projected standings · ACC · 2026

Win projection

Odds of winning at least N conference games from current power ratings — full slate played out, not locked to results. Avg = expected wins; W-L = most-likely record.

#	Team	W-L	Pwr	Avg	≥9	≥8	≥7	≥6	≥5	≥4	≥3	≥2	≥1
Favorites
1	Miami	7-2	+10.1	6.5	5	23	52	78	93	98	✓	✓	✓
2	Wake Forest	6-3	+6.7	5.8	2	10	30	58	82	95	99	✓	✓
3	Louisville	6-3	+5.1	5.7	2	10	30	57	81	94	99	✓	✓
Challengers
4	SMU	6-3	+4.2	5.7	1	9	29	57	81	94	99	✓	✓
5	Duke	5-4	+3.0	5.1		4	16	39	67	87	97	✓	✓
6	Pittsburgh	5-4	+1.5	4.9		3	14	35	63	85	96	99	✓
7	Virginia Tech	5-4	+0.6	4.8		2	11	31	59	82	95	99	✓
8	Clemson	5-3	+2.7	4.6		1	8	26	53	79	94	99	✓
The field
9	NC State	5-4	−0.3	4.7		2	10	28	54	78	93	99	✓
10	Virginia	4-5	−2.1	4.1		1	5	17	39	66	87	97	✓
11	Syracuse	4-5	−4.2	3.6			2	10	27	52	78	93	99
12	North Carolina	4-4	−0.4	3.6			2	8	25	51	78	94	99
13	Florida State	3-5	−1.0	3.5			1	7	23	49	76	93	99
14	Boston College	3-5	−5.3	2.9				3	11	32	61	86	98
Rebuilding
15	California	3-6	−7.1	3.1			1	5	16	37	65	88	98
16	Georgia Tech	3-5	−6.1	2.8				2	10	28	56	83	97
17	Stanford	3-6	−7.3	2.7				2	9	26	54	81	96

How they play

Six advanced-stat dimensions per team, ranked against all 134 FBS programs, 2026 season. Every column reads higher-is-better. Click a column to sort.

ScoringConvertsBig playsDefensePacePass rate

Team	Scoring	Converts	Big plays	Defense	Pace	Pass rate	Identity
Miami	+0.39	52.6%	+1.31	−0.04	69.2	46.8%	Efficient offense
Wake Forest	+0.36	48.9%	+1.32	−0.02	66.1	44.8%	Efficient offense
Louisville	+0.34	49.9%	+1.42	−0.06	63.0	42.9%	Big-play offense
SMU	+0.27	48.9%	+1.27	−0.07	68.6	49.0%	Efficient offense
Duke	+0.25	42.1%	+1.35	+0.04	67.5	45.7%	Lockdown defense
Clemson	−0.02	36.4%	+1.17	+0.00	69.6	44.9%	Can't sustain drives
Pittsburgh	+0.15	44.0%	+1.20	+0.01	72.0	48.6%	Balanced
Virginia Tech	+0.20	44.9%	+1.28	−0.03	72.2	47.9%	Balanced
NC State	+0.20	45.5%	+1.15	−0.13	69.4	46.7%	Balanced
North Carolina	+0.16	46.7%	+1.15	−0.09	59.8	50.4%	Grind-it-out
Florida State	+0.20	43.4%	+1.40	−0.18	64.2	42.6%	Big-play offense
Virginia	+0.12	42.2%	+1.13	−0.08	67.4	42.0%	No explosive plays
Syracuse	+0.07	42.3%	+1.25	−0.10	79.6	47.1%	High-tempo
Boston College	+0.01	40.7%	+1.20	−0.05	64.0	41.4%	Balanced
Georgia Tech	+0.11	41.6%	+1.31	−0.19	63.9	52.6%	Defense is the problem
California	−0.02	37.3%	+1.20	−0.18	70.3	61.0%	Can't sustain drives
Stanford	+0.07	37.3%	+1.29	−0.33	65.7	54.1%	Defense is the problem

Identity is the single dimension where a team is most above or below the FBS average (pace, defense, big plays, or converting drives) — "Balanced" means nothing stands out either way. CFBD 2026 advanced stats, excludes garbage time.

Top players

ACC's highest CFB Zeitgeist Scores, 2026 season so far.

#	Player	Team	National
1	Malachi ToneyWR	Miami	#1 of 465
2	Elliot Washington IICB	Clemson	#3 of 344
3	Umari HatcherWR	Syracuse	#5 of 465
4	Tawfiq ThomasIDL	Georgia Tech	#3 of 300
5	Kaleb BeasleyS	Louisville	#2 of 537
6	Nate SheppardRB	Duke	#3 of 330
7	Davien KerrCB	Syracuse	#5 of 344
8	Carlos HernandezWR	Wake Forest	#7 of 465
9	Will HeldtEDGE	Clemson	#7 of 405
10	Rashard PerryIDL	Syracuse	#6 of 300

Where ACC stands nationally

Conference strength, as a round-robin adjusted power rating.

1 SEC SEC

+24.4

2 B10 Big Ten

+23.3

3 IND FBS Independents

+21.7

4 B12 Big 12

+21.5

5 P12 Pac-12

+20.8

6 ACC ACC

+20.5

7 AAC American Athletic

+18.3

8 SB Sun Belt

+17.3

9 MW Mountain West

+16.5

10 CUSA Conference USA

+16.4

ACC title odds

Best available American odds · sportsbook consensus.

#	Team	Odds
1	Miami (FL)	−400
2	SMU	+520
3	Louisville	+750
4	Virginia	+1550
5	Pittsburgh	+2100
6	Clemson	+2300
7	Virginia Tech	+2400
8	California	+6000
9	Duke	+7500
10	Georgia Tech	+8000

The ACC in History

Pitt beats Clemson on a field goal with six seconds leftGame · Nov 12, 2016
Notre Dame beats Clemson in overtime, in a season played around the pandemicGame · Nov 7, 2020
Clemson beats Notre Dame for the ACC title a month after losing to itGame · Dec 19, 2020