Joel Klatt ranks Top Five teams in ACC after Week 7

Week 7 of the college football slate saw no shortage of action, and it was no different in the ACC as the conference continues to take shape.

With every team able to play at least two conference games to this point, Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt revealed his picks for the top five teams in the ACC so far. Notably, he left out Louisville and Duke but gave both programs honorable mentions.

1. Clemson Tigers

Clemson has looked like a completely new team since its 34-3 loss against Georgia in the season opener. Scoring 40 points in four of their five wins since, the Tigers have been rolling behind junior quarterback Cade Klubnik.

“If you actually watch the games that are going on over the last couple of weeks, it jumps off the tape,” Klatt said. “Clemson is the best team in the ACC. They’re 5-1 and their offense has been tremendous. They’ve won their last five. This is a team that has responded after that loss against Georgia, and you’ve got to give Dabo [Swinney] a ton of credit, because all of us started talking about Dabo’s demise, Clemson’s demise, in terms of them not adjusting to the modern era of college football.

“… They’ve been able to retain talent, and I think that that’s the biggest key for Dabo. They’ve got five-straight wins by an average of almost 30 points. The offense has has certainly looked light years better than what they did in their loss against Georgia.”

2. Miami Hurricanes

Midway through the season, no team has proven that they can slow down Cam Ward and this high-powered Miami offense. However, the only thing holding the undefeated ‘Canes back is the fact that they might finish the regular season undefeated without a single win over a ranked opponent.

“You have to honor the fact that they’re undefeated, and you have to honor the fact that I still think they have the singular best player in the conference,” Klatt said of Miami and Ward. “Cam [Ward] is playing out of his mind. The defense is not. Ward leads college football with 397 total yards per game — 23 total touchdowns. He’s the best player in the ACC.

“They’ve also had to come back, largely because he put a cape on his back in each of their last two games. That shows a huge flaw in this team.”

3. SMU Mustangs

SMU‘s offense was explosive out of the gates against a ranked Louisville team 34-27 on Saturday. The Cardinals had no answer for the dual-threat abilities of Mustangs quarterback Kevin Jennings. He totaled 394 yards of total offense during the victory. It pushed the Mustangs to 5-1 on the season before they enjoyed their bye in Week 7.

“It’s tough to separate a bunch of these teams,” Klatt said of the ACC after Clemson and Miami. “But when you really look at it, they made a quarterback change early in the year, and they went with Kevin Jennings. He has injected an incredible amount of energy into not only their offense, but their program.

“He had over 100 yards rushing in the win over Louisville last week. He gets better every start, not just by the numbers, by the way, but I’ve popped in some of the film and turned it on the computer … And I really liked SMU, man, I’m telling you.”

4. Pitt Panthers

Much like SMU, Pitt has turned heads in the ACC this season. They improved to 6-0 on the season after escaping a dangerous Cal team 17-15, but have a make-or-break stretch in three of their next four games with matchups scheduled against Syracuse, SMU and Clemson down the road.

“They’re 3-0 in one score games. Remember, they got the ‘Bama transfer at quarterback Eli Holstein, and he’s coming off his worst game last week versus Cal, but he’s been pretty good outside of that and overall.

“Pitt is an interesting team to me,” Klatt said. “They’re a team that it seems like it’s going to take a very good effort to beat Pitt. Now, can you out talent them if you’re Clemson or Miami? Yeah, probably.

5. Syracuse Orange

The Syracuse passing attack has been one of the most prolific in the country, and they have Ohio State transfer quarterback Kyle McCord to thank for that. McCord’s presence under center alone was enough for Klatt to slide the Orange into his top five.

“The way that he’s playing for Syracuse, I’m going to give Fran Brown and Kyle McCord a little bit of credit,” Klatt said. “They’re second in the country in passing right now. They’ve got wins over Boston College and at UNLV this season, and so at 5-1, I’ve got Syracuse at number five in the ACC

“McCords got 360 passing yards per game this season. Again, that’s second in college football, and he’s played really well. Now, their schedule is one of the easiest schedules in our sport, but they’ve done well with it, so they’re number five.”