The past few articles in this series have covered Clemson, SMU, Louisville, Miami, and UNC who Vegas has as front runners to win the ACC Championship. You may not agree with all of them (Miami and UNC were mostly to get views from the haters), but they are the teams who most people consider to be at the top in the ACC right now. Still, this is the ACC we are talking about and as all long tenured fans know the ACC stands for All Chaos Conference.
Literally anyone can win this thing. You may not think Cal has a shot, and they probably don’t, but weird things have a tendency of happening in the ACC. The ACC is like the Bermuda Triangle of conferences; strange things happen in those waters no matter how good or bad you may think a team is. The ACC may be impossible to predict, but I’ve decided to create a tier ranking for the remaining teams and where I think their chances stand going into next year.
I’m not going to recap all the details, but if you missed my previous articles, I believe the top contenders this year are Clemson, Louisville, and SMU for various reasons surrounding talent, schedule, and coaching. Clemson probably deserves its own tier as they are on a different level of talent this year, but I would expect all of these teams to have 9 wins or higher this year making them top contenders to win the conference.
These are the teams that have questions going into the season but are still just a notch below the other top contenders. These teams may have a schedule they can take advantage of or are otherwise talented enough that they could win it all.
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Georgia Tech: Y’all are on this site so you most likely know why I think the Jackets fit this category. Good schedule and great offense but questions on defense, uncertainty about depth, and concerns about maintaining health. Fans should feel good going into this season, but it is fair to say that there are more talented teams in the ACC. If things break the right way this could be a legendary season, but things could just as easily go sour with a few injures. Maybe temper your expectations a bit if you expect a guaranteed Championship run, but things currently point to use having a good year.
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Florida State: I debated about where to put FSU because of their performance last year. I do think they are a talented team, maybe the second most talented team in the ACC depending on how you feel about SMU, but the coaches lost the locker room early last year which made everything fall apart on them. FSU retains the talent, but they have a particularly brutal schedule with games against Alabama, Clemson, Miami, and Florida. The rest of their in-conference schedule isn’t too bad though as the toughest team outside of Clemson and Miami is likely Virginia Tech. If FSU doesn’t collapse early in the season like last year, I do think they can manage a 1 or 2 loss run in their ACC schedule which may be just enough to sneak into the ACC Championship game.
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Duke: Duke picked up a talented QB in the offseason and have a well-defined running game to help balance things on offense. Their schedule has some speed bumps such as GT, Clemson, and Illinois, but it’s not a terrible situation for them coming off their 9-win season last year. The problem for Duke is that they struggled last year against teams with records over .500, so while they were consistently winning the games they should, the Blue Devils struggled to win against top ACC teams. Duke could have another 9-win season, but Duke would need to overcome their limitations and beat some of the top teams in the ACC to make their way into the ACC championship next year. Regardless I expect Duke to win plenty of games next year.
Surprised but not Shocked:
These are the teams that are good but have some questions around them coming out of the offseason. There are only a few games that seem out of reach for these teams on their schedule and there is a chance that if they win those games or other teams stumble that they could make the ACC Championship. At this point in the off season, it would be hard to predict these teams winning the ACC out right.
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Virginia Tech: There are just so many questions around VPISU. 2 new coordinators, 40 new transfers, and a schedule that features South Carolina, Vandy, Georgia Tech, FSU, Louisville and Miami leaves a ton to be suspect of. VPISU has talent and Brent Pry has done a good job developing that talent. Based on how VT played last year I expect them to pull off some upsets, if they can limit themselves to 2 ACC losses and get some lucky breaks with other teams in the ACC losing there is a chance VT makes their way to the Championship game. As it stands though, it’s hard for me to have expectations beyond VPISU making a decent bowl game until I actually see them on the field.
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UNC: I already wrote the article for the views, but I technically believe this is the category UNC should be in. A ton of questions across the board but one of the easiest schedules in P4 college football this year. It’s not unreasonable to believe they could make the ACC Championship if they play like a top 40 program in the nation. If they make the championship, well anything is possible at that point. Should Belichick be able to develop some of the talent he brought in there is a shot for UNC, no matter how unlikely.
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Miami: Since I put UNC in this article I just figured I would also list Miami where I thought they actually belong. This is a controversial take for some, but to me I can’t see how Miami will win the ACC this year if they couldn’t do it with the talent they had last year. See my earlier article for more info, bottom line is they have talent but a challenging schedule and Miami just tends to screw up year after year by losing games they shouldn’t. I have very little confidence in Miami to ever win the ACC even if they get another 10-win season. Call me a hater if you want, Miami has yet to win an ACC title and I doubt it happens this year. Honestly, they may be one of the few ACC teams that has a better chance of making the playoff if they don’t play in the ACC championship.
Where There’s a Will There’s a Way:
These are the teams that aren’t necessarily bad teams, but they have a lot working against them. These teams are unlikely to control their own destiny and will likely need a lot of luck or a lot of chaos to win the ACC, thankfully the ACC is full of chaos so fans shouldn’t feel bad for thinking their teams have a shot.
Syracuse, NC State, Pitt: I’m just grouping these 3 together for simplicity. All of these teams lost a significant amount in the offseason either to the draft or to the transfer portal. All of these teams have brought in new talent in the transfer portal which could have a big impact, but most of that talent has not played together. Finally, all of these teams have more difficult schedules than they did last year (I guess NC State and Pitt dodge Clemson so at least they have that going for them). It’s hard to expect more from these teams than making a bowl game. Still, you should not underestimate the coaches from these programs given their track record so be on the lookout.
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Boston College: BC is similar to the teams above; however, the Eagles have done a good job retaining most of their talent. BC does have possibly the toughest ACC schedule this year, but they are lucky to get their toughest games against Clemson and SMU at home. Boston College would need to achieve some fantastic upsets to do more than make a bowl game, but they seem confident in the players they have pulled in this offseason. We shall see what happens.
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Virginia: I don’t really dislike Virginia, they’re just… well, Virginia. The Cavaliers never seem to be able to get out of their own way and struggle to win important matchups, and the locker room knows it. UVA will often have an unexpected loss pop up at some point in the season. If Viginia could show any level of consistency I would feel a lot better about the Cavaliers’ chances. UVA has a manageable schedule and has quite a bit of talent which has transferred in. As it stands there is plenty of potential in the locker room, but I am not optimistic about the Cavs chances based on their history.
Do You Believe in Unlikelihoods?:
These are the teams that I struggle to picture winning the ACC due to how much they would need to overcome. Various struggles hit them over the offseason which have severely handicapped these teams. Anything is possible, but as things stand right now, I just don’t see it.
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Cal: Poor Cal was absolutely decimated by the transfer portal, more so than any other team in the NCAA. Cal’s schedule is relatively easy so I would expect them to make a bowl game, but I struggle to see them winning the conference with the significant drain from the player pool.
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Wake Forest: New coach and not a lot of talent coming in the portal. That said their coach did transition over the regular season, so he is at least familiar with the team. Wake Forest could surprise some people, but I can’t expect them to win the ACC given how things went with the talent they had last year.
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Stanford: Stanford lost their coach in the offseason after coming off of a 3-win season last year. Stanford has a lot of rebuilding to before I can view them as even having a chance to make a bowl game.
That is my tier list, at least at this point in the offseason. Not the most well laid out tier list, but I think it gives a good picture of where things stand. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my placement of the teams in the comments below and as always, GO JACKETS!!!