By Will Vandervort.

ACC Notebook

After losing to Florida State in overtime on Sept. 20, most fans and the media, left Clemson for dead in Tallahassee.

The Tigers dropped out of the top 25 for the first time in 50 weeks following that loss and some wondered if they could recover from such a devastating defeat.

But Clemson has not only recovered, but it has flourished through four straight wins, including the last two without freshman sensation Deshaun Watson at quarterback, who broke his right index finger on his throwing hand and will be out for another two games.

With five games left in the season, the Tigers (5-2, 4-1 ACC) are back in both top 25 polls at No. 20 (Coaches) and No. 21 (Associated Press) respectively and are now seriously being talked about as a representative for the ACC in the Orange Bowl.

“Yeah, we know that we’ve got a chance to do some great things if we can just continue to improve and stay focused,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said.  “We’ve just got to grind. We’re really just in the third quarter of the season and we need everybody to take great pride in how we practice and learn what to do each and every week.

“Just literally the mentality that every game is kind of a one-game season of its own and we’ve got to put everything we can into it.”

As of today, CBS Sports, ESPN, FOX, The Sporting News and USA Today have Clemson, who will host Syracuse on Saturday in Death Valley, representing the ACC in the Orange Bowl. Of course for that to happen, second-ranked Florida State has to stay undefeated and the Tigers have to keep winning.

Clemson could also get to the Orange Bowl by winning the ACC Championship, but with FSU owning the tiebreaker, and not likely to lose two games in the ACC, the Tigers best shot at the Orange Bowl for a second straight year is to have the Seminoles go undefeated.

Regardless, no matter how you look at it, Clemson still has a lot to play for.

“All you’ve got to do is just look at the big picture of college football, and you can see – Mississippi State is a perfect example. They weren’t even ranked, and now they’re number one in the country after six or seven games,” Swinney said. “What can happen after the next five or six games? Anything can happen. That’s why you just put everything you got each and every week into trying to do your best, try to win that game and kind of keep your head down.

“At the end of the year, you hope that you’ve done enough to position yourself for a great finish. I think that we’ve rallied. We’ve built some momentum. For us, again, we’ve got to keep grinding, got to keep trying to add to that momentum each and every week.”

No surprise. The ABC telecast of the Florida State-Notre Dame football game drew a rating of 7.9, which is easily the highest rated game of the season and the highest regular season game on the ESPN family of networks since Notre Dame-USC on Thanksgiving weekend of 2012.

The game drew the largest audience for a college football game in October across all networks, since they began keeping records in 1991, averaging 13,251,000 viewers. The ACC now has three of ESPN’s top four rated games of the year including the previous high, a 4.5 for Clemson-FSU.

No longer in Park. Louisville wide receiver Devante Parker made his 2014 debut an impressive one. Parker, who had not played previously this year due to an injury suffered on Aug. 23, had a career-high nine catches for 132 yards in the Cardinals’ 30-18 win over NC State.

The Cardinals will host No. 2 Florida State next Thursday night at Papa John’s Stadium in Louisville.

Tough road. Miami has played the nation’s second-toughest schedule to date, as its opponents are a combined 22-8 (.733). Its future foes are 17-13 on the year and its overall opposition record of 39-21, a winning percentage of .650, ranks 10th toughest nationally. The Hurricanes’ three losses have been on the road to teams—Louisville, Nebraska and Georgia Tech—that are a combined 15-4.

Miami plays at Virginia Tech tonight at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

Irresistible force vs. immovable object. Georgia Tech enters Saturday game at Pitt ranked 4th nationally in rushing offense, averaging 306.3 yards per game. Pitt enters the game with a rushing defense ranked 18th nationally, allowing just 112.1 yards per game on the ground. Pitt is fourth in total defense, allowing 280.4 yards per game overall.

Atlantic Division  

                         ACC   Home   Away   Over

Florida State    4-0    4-0          2-0          7-0

Clemson            4-1    4-0           1-2          5-2

Louisville          4-2    4-0           2-2         6-2

Boston College 1-2    2-3           2-0         4-3

Syracuse            1-2    1-3           2-0          3-4

Wake Forest     0-3   2-1            0-4         2-5

NC State           0-4    3-2           1-2         4-4

Coastal Division

                        ACC  Home   Away    Over

Duke                  2-1    4-0           2-1        6-1

Virginia             2-1    4-1           0-2        4-3

Pittsburgh        2-1    2-2           2-0         4-3

Georgia Tech   2-2    3-1           2-1          5-2

Virginia Tech  1-2     2-2           2-1         4-3

Miami               1-2    4-0           0-3        4-3

UNC                  1-2    3-1           0-3         3-4

Thursday, October 23

Miami (FL) at Virginia Tech ESPN 8 p.m.

Saturday, October 25

North Carolina at Virginia ACC 12:30 p.m.

Syracuse at Clemson ESPNU 7 p.m.

Georgia Tech at Pittsburgh TBA 3:30 p.m.

Boston College at Wake Forest RSN 3:30 p.m.