{"id":132389,"date":"2025-08-09T18:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T18:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/132389\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T18:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T18:38:12","slug":"cbs-sports-updates-acc-football-rankings-ahead-of-2025-college-football-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/132389\/","title":{"rendered":"CBS Sports updates ACC Football rankings ahead of 2025 college football season"},"content":{"rendered":"

With just a few weeks left until the 2025 college football season, the anticipation is building. It\u2019s also shaping up to be an interesting year in the ACC, and CBS Sports updated its conference rankings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Three teams from the conference appeared in CBS Sports\u2019 Top 25, led by Clemson<\/a><\/strong> at No. 4. The Tigers came in as the favorite to win the ACC this year, led by the most returning production in the country. Miami<\/a><\/strong> then came in at No. 10 in CBS Sports\u2019 rankings after overhauling the roster this offseason.<\/p>\n

The ACC will have no shortage of storylines in 2025, and the race to the top will surely be one of them. Here are CBS Sports\u2019 full rankings for the conference.<\/p>\n

1. Clemson (National Rank: 4)<\/p>\n

The favorite to repeat as ACC champion in 2025, Clemson has plenty of star power returning. Cade Klubnik<\/a><\/strong> is the headliner of the group after putting together a breakout year in 2024 to lead the Tigers to the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n

Clemson leads the nation with 81% of its production returning, according to ESPN<\/a>, including 86% of its offense coming back. That sets the stage for the Tigers to once again contend for not only an ACC title, but also potentially a national championship.<\/p>\n

2. Miami (National Rank: 10)<\/p>\n

\"MarioMario Cristobal, Miami \u2013 \u00a9 Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

After just missing out on the ACC Championship last year, Miami reloaded in a big way this offseason. The Hurricanes have a Top-5 transfer portal<\/a><\/strong> class and Top-15 high school recruiting class coming in as they look to deal with multiple key departures.<\/p>\n

The biggest addition came at quarterback. Carson Beck<\/a><\/strong> arrives as the No. 1-ranked player to enter the portal, according to the On3 Industry Transfer Rankings<\/a><\/strong>, and is the heir apparent to Cam Ward<\/a><\/strong> as he prepares to run Shannon Dawson\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> high-powered offense.<\/p>\n

3. SMU (National Rank: 17)<\/p>\n

SMU\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> impressive debut season in the ACC ended in the conference championship and in the College Football Playoff. Now, the Mustangs will look to find success once again, and they checked in at No. 17 overall in CBS Sports\u2019 college football rankings \u2013 becoming the No. 3-ranked ACC team.<\/p>\n

SMU has its quarterback returning as Kevin Jennings<\/a><\/strong> runs it back, giving the program continuity at quarterback. The Mustangs face a tough schedule in 2025, though, with three of CBS\u2019 top four ACC teams on the slate.<\/p>\n

4. Louisville (National Rank: 27)<\/p>\n

Louisville<\/a><\/strong> came in just outside CBS Sports\u2019 Top 25 teams, but still became the No. 4-ranked ACC team in the rankings. The Cardinals took a different approach to roster-building this year, opting not to use the transfer portal as much as they did in years past \u2013 but still brought in a transfer quarterback.<\/p>\n

Miller Moss<\/a><\/strong> is now in as QB after starting his college career at USC<\/a><\/strong>. He will look to follow in a line of successful portal quarterbacks under Jeff Brohm\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> watch and help Louisville contend in a loaded ACC this season.<\/p>\n

5. Georgia Tech (National Rank: 33)<\/p>\n

\"Georgia\u00a9 Mark Konezny-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Georgia Tech<\/a><\/strong> is going to have a bit of a different look on offense after losing Eric Singleton<\/a><\/strong> to the transfer portal. But the Yellow Jackets still have their quarterback in Haynes King<\/a><\/strong>, who\u2019s looking to take another leap forward.<\/p>\n

Georgia Tech also has its top running back returning in Jamal Haynes<\/a><\/strong>, who led the rushing attack last year with 944 yards and nine touchdowns. The Yellow Jackets make it clear they want to play physical, and they\u2019re sure to once again lean into that in 2025.<\/p>\n

6. Duke (National Rank: 37)<\/p>\n

Manny Diaz\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> debut season at Duke<\/a><\/strong> saw the Blue Devils knock on the door of 10 wins. They\u2019ll look to continue an upward trajectory in 2025, and they\u2019ll do so with a new quarterback.<\/p>\n

Darian Mensah<\/a><\/strong> is now in after transferring from Tulane<\/a><\/strong>, replacing Maalik Murphy<\/a><\/strong> as Duke\u2019s quarterback. He arrives as the No. 32 overall player to enter the transfer portal this cycle, and he\u2019ll be tasked with helping improve an offense which ranked 15th in the ACC a season ago.<\/p>\n

7. Florida State (National Rank: 41)<\/p>\n

After last year\u2019s disappointing season, Mike Norvell<\/a><\/strong> made major changes at Florida State<\/a><\/strong>. He brought in Gus Malzahn<\/a><\/strong> as offensive coordinator and Tony White<\/a><\/strong> to call the defense while also overhauling the roster.<\/p>\n

Thomas Castellanos<\/a><\/strong> is the most notable addition as the former Boston College<\/a><\/strong> quarterback reunites with Malzahn. FSU comes in as the No. 7-ranked ACC Team in CBS Sports\u2019 rankings ahead of an important season in Tallahassee.<\/p>\n

8. Syracuse (National Rank: 42)<\/p>\n

\"Syracuse\u00a9 Barry Reeger-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Syracuse<\/a><\/strong> became one of the surprise teams in 2024 as Fran Brown<\/a><\/strong> brought a new energy to the program. The Orange are looking to be an interesting team once again in the ACC, coming in as the league\u2019s No. 8 team in CBS Sports\u2019 rankings.<\/p>\n

Syracuse lost Kyle McCord<\/a><\/strong> to the NFL after his breakout year, but landed former Notre Dame<\/a><\/strong> quarterback Steve Angeli<\/a><\/strong> out of the transfer portal to replace him. The Orange were picked 12th in the ACC preseason poll, but could be in position for another intriguing year.<\/p>\n

9. Pitt (National Rank: 44)<\/p>\n

After a rough 2023 season, Pitt<\/a><\/strong> bounced back in a big way last year. The Panthers went 7-6 and also have their quarterback returning this season.<\/p>\n

Eli Holstein<\/a><\/strong> is set to be back under center for Pitt this year and will look to take a step forward in his second season with the program. The Panthers will open the 2025 campaign Aug. 30 against Duquesne<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

10. Virginia Tech (National Rank: 48)<\/p>\n

Virginia Tech<\/a><\/strong> had an up-and-down go through 2024, but still made a second consecutive bowl appearance. The Hokies also got a big boost this year as both quarterbacks \u2013 Kyron Drones<\/a><\/strong> and Pop Watson III<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 announced they would be back.<\/p>\n

Virginia Tech also had to replace its coordinators this year, making it an even more important season for Brent Pry<\/a><\/strong>. The Hokies round out CBS Sports\u2019 Top 10 ACC teams and stayed in the Top 50 of the overall rankings.<\/p>\n

Rest of CBS Sports\u2019 ACC rankings<\/p>\n

11. North Carolina<\/a><\/strong> (National Rank: 54)
12. NC State<\/a><\/strong> (National Rank: 55)
13. Virginia<\/a><\/strong> (National Rank: 60)
14. Boston College<\/a><\/strong> (National Rank: 66)
15. Cal<\/a><\/strong> (National Rank: 72)
16. Wake Forest<\/a><\/strong> (National Rank: 78)
17. Stanford<\/a><\/strong> (National Rank: 79)<\/p>\n

The ACC will have plenty of storylines this year, especially at the quarterback position. Additionally, the conference will look to once again find success on a national stage into the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With just a few weeks left until the 2025 college football season, the anticipation is building. It\u2019s also…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":132390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-132389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115000266137417581","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}