ACC Football Check In: Teams separate from pack, Cal and UVA roll, Syracuse slides

Heading into week six, things are starting to become clearer in the chaotic Atlantic Coast Conference. That doesn't mean we have a clue which two teams will suit up in the league title game in early December, but some ACC members are beginning to separate themselves from the pack.

Of course, our beloved Syracuse football suffered a crushing home defeat to Duke over the weekend. The Orange is at SMU this coming Saturday afternoon, and the 'Cuse has a brutal remaining schedule. I hope that the Orange can get back on track and go bowling for the fourth straight year.

No. 3 Miami appears to be the conference's best team, although the Hurricanes have a tough battle on Saturday at No. 18 Florida State. The Seminoles came down to Earth a bit last Friday night, when they fell in double overtime to Virginia in Charlottesville.

The ACC has four ranked teams in the latest Associated Press top-25 poll. They are No. 3 Miami, No. 17 Georgia Tech, No. 18 Florida State and No. 24 Virginia. League play just got underway, and six squads have yet to lose an ACC contest. They are Georgia Tech, Virginia, Duke, Louisville, California and Virginia Tech (other groups will compete in their first conference game this weekend).

How about those Cal Golden Bears sitting at 4-1 overall? Not too shabby.

Syracuse football's place in the ACC is muddled for the moment.

Week six has big-time games in the ACC. Miami and FSU go toe to toe in Tallahassee. Clemson is at North Carolina in a game that matches up two groups that, to put it bluntly, stink. But the storylines of Dabo Swinney against Bill Belichick are intriguing.

Two other week-six games are important to the ACC's pecking order, at least for the time being. Virginia travels to undefeated Louisville, while Duke, which is 2-0 in conference play, heads to California, which is 4-1 overall.

Since the 2025 season isn't half-way over, I don't want to make any grand proclamations. However, teams that appear to be in the upper tier of the ACC, and could make a run at the 12-participant College Football Playoff or a major bowl game, include Miami, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Virginia, Louisville and perhaps Duke and/or Cal.

Then again, I could say different things in a week or two. This is what I'm going off of for now, and based on how wild and wacky it has proven in the ACC to date in 2025, I'm sure there will be more craziness in week six.