LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It might have taken until the first week of the season’s final month, but the Atlantic Coast Conference title race gained a lot of clarity last weekend.

SMU throttled Pitt in a battle of undefeated teams in ACC play, then when you add that to Clemson’s surprising loss to Louisville, there are now only two undefeated teams left in conference play: Miami and SMU.

Sure, some teams are still in the race to get to Charlotte. Clemson, Louisville, Pitt and Virginia Tech haven’t been mathematically eliminated yet, but the Hurricanes and Mustangs control their own destiny.

So what is the current situation in the conference after 10 weeks of football? Check out our Week 11 ACC power rankings below:

This game was about to be the big surprise of the weekend, not only in the ACC, but in college football in general. Credit Miami’s electric offense for going on a 36-3 run to finish the game after trailing by 11 points in the third quarter, but its defense still has plenty of question marks. Will it cost the Canes down the stretch?

It seems like last week’s game against Duke was an outlier. SMU is becoming a bandwagon before our eyes thanks to a prolific offense and an ever-improving defense, and they are on the verge of reaching the ACC Championship Game in the league’s first year. Credit to Rhett Lashlee for his coaching work with the Mustangs.

It’s hard to win in Death Valley. It’s even harder to completely dominate Clemson instead, but that’s exactly what Louisville did. Whether it was offense, defense or special teams, what the Cardinals did to the Tigers was nothing short of a kick in the ass. Jeff Brohm remains the king of upsets in college football.

This game was a clear indicator that Clemson’s dominant run after Georgia had more to do with the competition they faced than the Tigers themselves. Clemson was bullied on the field and completely outclassed on the bench. The questions about Dabo Swinney that arose after the Georgia game are back in full force.

Maybe Pitt’s performance against Syracuse was a fluke after all. The Panthers had looked vulnerable in the weeks leading up to their matchup against the Orange before the SMU game, but the Panthers were completely exposed early in this game and had no real answer. The defense, Pat Narduzzi’s calling card, was very poor against the Mustangs.

That’s one way to avoid being embarrassed by Pitt. Sure, Syracuse looked completely out of place for most of the game and Kyle McCord is still up and down, but the Orange deserve a lot of credit for mounting an 18-point comeback to finally win in overtime. Now they have a good chance to finish the season strong.

“What could have been” seems to be the theme of the year for Virginia Tech. The preseason ACC dark horse has struggled to finish games at times this season, and that reared its ugly head once again against Syracuse. The Hokies are full of potential, but have failed to tap into it this season.

The bye week might have come at a better time for Georgia Tech after a pair of lifeless performances against Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. Their reward on the other side? A date with Miami. Good luck, yellow jackets!

Slowly but surely, NC State is climbing out of the pit of despair. While the Wolfpack’s defense is still unpredictable, true freshman quarterback CJ Bailey is starting to find his footing at the college level, and that offense is thriving because of it. Maybe there’s still a bowl game in the future for NC State.

The first year of the Manny Diaz era at Duke has been a huge success up to this point. Sure, they blew a late lead against Diaz’s former team, but the Blue Devils are bowl eligible and nearly knocked off the ACC’s two best teams. Regardless of how the rest of the season plays out, it has been a success.

Like Georgia Tech, the bye week came at a great time for Boston College considering they lost three games in a row. Like the Yellow Jackets, the Eagles now get Syracuse and then SMU after the break. It will be an uphill climb to reach a bowl.

Wake Forest hasn’t been very impressive lately, but winning close games is better than losing them. The end of the regular season has some games the Demon Deacons can win, but also some they can lose.

Maybe Mack Brown isn’t headed into retirement after the season after all. Sure, the competition hasn’t exactly been strong, but UNC has won its last two games by a combined 51 points. Even though it was against FSU, let’s thank Omarion Hampton for his incredible five-touchdown performance.

Cal has had a lot of bad luck since ACC play began, losing all four games by less than a touchdown. Although beating Oregon State followed by a bye week could serve as a positive boost heading into the final month of the season.

Virginia has been reeling for the last month, losing three straight after opening 4-1, and things aren’t going to get any easier. Down the stretch, they’ll have to go to Pitt, go to Notre Dame, host SMU and go to Virginia Tech for the Commonwealth Cup. Have fun with it.

Stanford continues to find new ways to express complete and utter ineptitude. Giving up 527 yards of offense to an NC State team that ranked 98th in total offense heading into the matchup is just the latest example. I’m not sure who the answer is for the Cardinal in this era of college football, but it’s starting to look like Troy Taylor isn’t it.

I’ll just say this: Do you know how bad you have to be to score just 11 points against a UNC defense? Florida State concludes its slate of ACC games with its worst record in conference play in program history.

(Roderick Daniels Jr. Photo: Jerome Miron – Imagn Images)

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