On3's rankings state the obvious -- it's time for Miami to dominate the ACC

There's no question the Miami Hurricanes are the No. 1 team in the ACC, but now they have to live up to the billing. 

The On3/Rivals network is tossing out a ton of season preview content as the wait for college football season is closer than we think. Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman went through the network's ACC power rankings over the weekend, and it's no surprise that the Hurricanes are far and away the No. 1 team, with the conference basically breaking down in tiers after that. 

Miami is still looking for its first ACC football championship

The Hurricanes have been in the ACC since 2004, and they have no conference trophies in football to show for it. It's an albatross that hangs over the program's head even in the face of a very successful playoff run that was one drive away from winning a CFP championship. Miami HAS to win the ACC this season. Let me repeat that for the people in the back... Miami HAS TO WIN the ACC this season. It can be argued that the distance between the Hurricanes and the team ranked No. 2 on this list, SMU, is greater than the distance between SMU and the last place team in the rankings, Boston College. 

"Everybody feels like one team is the best in this conference, but the craziest part of that is the team I have at No. 1, the team that most people agree is the best team in the ACC has never won an ACC title," Staples said. 

This is Miami's time to take control of ACC football

The ACC has generally gone through phases where one team has run the conference for a certain amount of time. Florida State had a vice grip on the conference from the time the Seminoles entered in 1992 until the mid-2000s. Then Virginia Tech controlled the conference for the rest of that decade, with Frank Beamer having some of his best teams. FSU made a run in the first half of the 2010s behind Jimbo Fisher, Jameis Winston and the rest of that crew, but since 2015, it's been mostly Clemson with a few others speckled in there. The Tigers have won the conference eight times in the past 11 seasons. 

Right now, it feels like Miami should be able to go on a similar run to Clemson and at least run off 3-5 straight years of winning the conference as we close out the decade. 

"Last year wasn't a lightning-in-a-bottle scenario," Ari Wasserman added. "I think this is the beginning of a pretty consistent operation that is in the mix for national championships for years to come."

Who knows what's going to happen or if there will be an ACC in the 2030s. For what it's worth, I think SMU, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech are the teams that are best positioned to challenge the Hurricanes in the next few years unless Florida State gets its act together. But these next few years should be Miami's to set the standard for the ACC. 

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