Miami stays solid at No. 1 in the new AP Poll, but the ACC is failing to keep up

The Miami Hurricanes were expected to be at No. 1 heading into Week 9 and that turned out to be the case. Miami solidified its hold on the top spot by adding another 19 first-place votes from last week.

Miami is followed by Ohio State, Georgia, Indiana and Notre Dame in the top five. Texas was the big mover, jumping 11 spots after its win over Ole Miss as if the previous two losses to unranked opponents never happened. The Rebels only dropped five spots to No. 12.

USC and Iowa both lost on the road and got booted from the Top 25 as a result, while Oklahoma State and Wisconsin entered the poll. This is the penultimate poll before the initial CFP Rankings are released on Nov. 3. 

Miami avoided the upset bug and sits atop the AP Top 25

1. Miami Hurricanes (59 first-place votes)
2. Ohio State Buckeyes (10)
3. Georgia Bulldogs
4. Indiana Hoosiers
5. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
6. Utah Utes (1)
7. UCLA Bruins
8. BYU Cougars
9. Kentucky Wildcats
10. Alabama Crimson Tide
11. Texas Longhorns
12. Ole Miss Rebels
13. Texas Tech Red Raiders
14. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
15. LSU Tigers
16. Tennessee Volunteers
17. Florida Gators
18. Houston Cougars
19. SMU Mustangs
20. Boise State Broncos
20 (tie) Northwestern Wildcats
22. Arizona Wildcats
23. Missouri Tigers
24. Oklahoma State Cowboys
25. Wisconsin Badgers

For the most part, the biggest winners were the teams on bye weeks. Florida, Wake Forest, and Georgia all move up multiple spots while sitting comfortably at home and Ohio State gets back to No. 2 after BYU was dropped by UCF in overtime. 

Having Utah and BYU inside the top 10 is continued momentum for the Monster Energy Big XII, while the ACC has SMU in at No. 19 after a blowout win over Cal. But Virginia Tech and Duke, both 6-2, received one total vote between them, thus confirming Miami's belief that the ACC are second-class citizens. 

The ACC's commitment to mediocrity is doing no favors for Miami

The Hurricanes would've loved to have one of its final opponents outside of Notre Dame to sneak into the polls, but that appears unlikely to happen, and it puts a ton of pressure on the Hurricanes to win that game to put themselves in the best position to be in line for a first-round bye in the CFP. A loss to the Irish likely takes Miami out of the top four, regardless of how the Hurricanes finish. 

At the end of the day, you play who's on the schedule, and Mario Cristobal can only coach and develop his team. He can't be responsible for the rest of the conference and the failures of those teams to take football more seriously. Miami can't rely on FSU to be a top program anymore, not if the decision makers around the Seminoles are counting moral victories as a reason for celebration.

Duke and Virginia Tech are on the remaining schedule, and both teams deserve more respect than they are getting, but this is where the ACC is. That's why Miami is beginning to look at all options to stay among the top tier in college football.

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