On Saturday night, Clemson hung on in the final seconds to survive a scare from Virginia Tech, winning by one. That win kept the Tigers a game up on 7-2 Virginia atop the league standings as we approach the halfway mark of league play. Still, given Clemson’s shaky 1-1 week, coupled with UVa’s wins over Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, the Tigers are likely starting to see the Hoos in the rear-view mirror.

UVa has the mid-week off before hosting Boston College on Saturday and then its schedule ramps up a bit with road trips to Syracuse and Blacksburg on deck next week. And while the Tigers dropped their first league game of the season and are now just a game up on UVa, they have a pretty manageable schedule to wrap up January. Clemson hosts Georgia Tech before a suddenly more interesting trip to Tallahassee on Saturday. Then they close out the month at BC.

The early February schedules for both teams will tell us quite a bit. UVa opens the month at Tech before home dates with NC State and Duke. Clemson hosts Miami then travels to UNC before a rematch against FSU to open the month.

Although Clemson (8-1) and UVa (7-2) are out front in the ACC standings, they’re not exactly running away with it just yet. Behind the Tigers and Hoos there’s a logjam of eight teams above .500, certainly within striking distance and still in the conference race.

Five teams—Pitt, Wake Forest, UNC, Miami and Syracuse—are all 6-3. Of those, Carolina is trending up the most, winners of three straight since losing in Charlottesville. UNC took care of rival NC State over the weekend and has another opportunity for a statement win when the Tar Heels travel to fellow 6-3 Syracuse. The other 6-3 teams are all in action against each other this week, with Pitt playing both Wake and Miami this week.

Behind them, Duke, NC State and Florida State all have five league wins. Both the Blue Devils and Seminoles pulled off upsets of Miami and Pitt, respectively, which helps to tighten up the league standings in the top half.

Eventually, we are bound to see some separation between this group of eight, as there are plenty of matchups within the group in the weeks to come. But for now, every game in middle-to-top of the league standings has major importance, and when these teams face each other, all the contests truly feel up for grabs.

While there is a lot of competition in the top half of the league standings, the bottom of the ACC has been anything but competitive thus far.

Louisville, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech all went winless this week and are a combined 3-31 in conference games. The Cardinals have yet to win a game but their best chance to do so might be in the next few weeks, with games against BC, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech up next. While the Eagles aren’t in the bottom four, they probably deserve to be lumped in with the others. They have three conference wins but two came against 1-7 Notre Dame and the other was a home win over VT in OT. If the Eagles don’t raise their game, they could easily finish near the bottom with the Hokies, Irish, Cardinals and Jackets.

Of these struggling teams, Virginia Tech has the best chance to make a run and play their way towards .500. Tech got Hunter Cattoor back this week and fell short in a pair of tough road contests at UVa and Clemson. The home game against Duke on Monday probably needs to be a win if the Hokies are going to turn their season around. A win against Syracuse on Saturday would be a big help, too.

As of now, we’re penciling in wins for the top 10 teams against the teams at the bottom, for the most part (excluding the Hokies, for now). And that looks like good news for UVa, which has six of its remaining 11 games left against the bottom of the league, if BC is included. The Hoos host the Eagles on Saturday.

How dangerous are the Seminoles?

Virginia survived a scare from Florida State in its ACC opener, hanging on to beat a Seminoles team that dropped to 1-9 on the season with that loss. That victory didn’t look great at the time, but FSU seems to have the arrow pointing upward despite an overall record of 7-13.

The Noles went 2-0 in ACC play this week, beating both Notre Dame and Pitt on the road. Saturday’s upset win in the Steel City moved them above .500 in ACC play at 5-4, with two losses coming against UVa and the other two coming on the road at Duke and Wake Forest. If nothing else, Florida State’s play of late demonstrates significant improvement over where things were earlier in the season.

And now, after everyone forgot about them, the Seminoles have a chance to play spoiler at a minimum in ACC play. Their next three games come against Miami, Clemson, and NC State, three programs that fancy themselves contenders in the ACC.

We’ll soon see if the Seminoles are simply hot at the moment and will fall back to earth in the weeks to come, or if they’re a team that can compete with anyone in the league, and are especially dangerous at home.

Which winning teams are headed towards .500?

While there is a lot of competition right now among the league’s top 10 teams (all above .500 in league play), there will certainly be some teams that fall out of the race. There are so many games between the teams at 6-3, 5-4 and so on, with some having tougher upcoming schedules than others.

The teams on the radar for a possible regression in the next week or two are Pittsburgh, Miami and Wake Forest. As we mentioned above, those three teams are all facing each other, so someone has to lose those contests. Pitt is 6-3 after the loss to FSU on Saturday and has three tough games against Wake, Miami and UNC before getting a breather when the Panthers host Louisville. The Hurricanes, meanwhile, travel to suddenly-dangerous FSU before a showdown with Pitt on the road this weekend. Then they host Virginia Tech before a road trip to Clemson and a home date with Duke, who just beat the Canes at Cameron Indoor. Wake’s 15-game home winning streak was snapped by UVa, and now the Deacs have to rally against a tough three-game stretch. Wake goes to Pitt on Wednesday before hosting NC State this weekend and traveling to Duke next week.

These teams can’t all go 0-3 in those tough stretches of games, as there are games against one another, but it wouldn’t be surprising if one of these three teams has a 6-6 record 10 days from now.

Tuesday: Miami at Florida State (7 p.m., ESPNU)

The Sunshine State rivalry looks intriguing given how the Seminoles are playing, especially since they’ll be on their home floor, where they play so well.

Tuesday: North Carolina at Syracuse (9 p.m., ESPN)

A big matchup of teams 6-3 in ACC play should tell us something. Either Carolina will stay hot and win its fourth straight or the Orange will prove that they are in it for the long haul, despite being a bit under-the-radar right now.

Wednesday: Wake Forest at Pitt (7 p.m., ACCN)

Another 6-3 vs 6-3 clash in Pittsburgh, the first of two at home for the Panthers this week.

Saturday: NC State at Wake Forest (1 p.m., ACCN)

All four teams in North Carolina are relevant right now, so the Wake/State rivalry will be one of the biggest games of the week.

Saturday: Miami at Pitt (4 p.m., ESPNU)

Miami travels to Pittsburgh for a big game on Saturday between teams that started the season hot and have cooled off a bit lately. These two will play again on the final day of the regular season.

Saturday: Clemson at Florida State (5 p.m., ACCN)

The Tigers should be able to handle Georgia Tech at home in the midweek, but a road trip to Florida State could be a tough spot for the league leaders.