| RNK | Team | ACC | Overall | My Call |
| 17. | Duke | 0-8 | 3-9 | Duke has a new coach, new quarterback and a new defense. I think it will be a long year in Durham. |
| 16. | Stanford | 2-6 | 4-8 | The Cardinal will be a better team than last year, but being in a new conference does not help. There will still be some growing pains under second-year coach Troy Taylor. |
| 15. | Virginia | 2-6 | 5-7 | Tony Elliott’s Cavs continue to show slow improvement and who knows, maybe they will steal a couple of games after losing so many close games last season. |
| 14. | Syracuse | 3-5 | 7-5 | An easy non-conference schedule and not having to play Clemson or Florida State should help the Orange become bowl eligible in Fran Brown’s first year as head coach. |
| 13. | Pittsburgh | 3-5 | 7-5 | Pat Narduzzi has gone from ball-control, running the football and playing sound defense, to a spread no-huddle offense under new OC Kade Bell. It is either going to work or fail, which will determine Narduzzi’s stay in the Steel City. |
| 12. | Wake Forest | 3-5 | 6-6 | Remember when Wake Forest was winning 9 or 10 games and playing for an ACC Championship? Those days are gone. However, the Demon Deacons will improve on last year’s 1-7 conference mark. |
| 11. | Boston College | 3-5 | 5-7 | The Eagles return 12 players from last year’s 7-win team. Bill O’Brien brings a lot of experience to the head coaching position, but is he enough to get past Missouri and Michigan State in the non-conference schedule and FSU, Virginia Tech, Louisville and UNC in ACC play? |
| 10. | Miami | 4-4 | 7-5 | Yes, Miami has Cam Ward at QB and Damien Martinez at RB and Xavier Restrepo at WR. However, I do not trust the Hurricanes. I have been burned too many times, including last season. I am not falling for it again. The ‘Canes need to go prove they are worthy of challenging for an ACC title. |
| 9. | Georgia Tech | 4-4 | 6-6 | I have Tech No. 9, but I would not be surprised if they finish the season higher in the ACC standings. Brent Key does not have the most talented roster, but he gets everything out of them. They play hard for him, they believe in him and with a team that has 8 starters back on offense, that could lead to a couple of more wins. |
| 8. | California | 4-4 | 7-5 | Cal is an interesting team. The Bears return 15 starters from last year’s bowl team. They can compete in the ACC and are an upset or two from finding itself in the top 5 of the conference. |
| 7. | Louisville | 5-3 | 7-5 | Louisville lost a lot of offensive power, which it replaced by using the transfer portal. Seven starters are back on what was a pretty good defense. However, the schedule this season is more challenging than last year’s. Look for the Cardinals to drop after last year’s ACC Championship Game appearance. |
| 6. | NC State | 5-3 | 8-4 | Dave Doeren hit the transfer portal hard in the off-season. The ‘Pack returns just 8 starters from last year’s 9-win team. Doeren brought in former Coastal QB Grayson McCall to run the offense, but replacing LB Payton Wilson on defense will be difficult to do. |
| 5. | Florida State | 5-3 | 8-4 | FSU has talent, especially on defense. However, leadership is an issue and with so many transfer portal players. I don’t know if there is enough leadership to get them back to the ACC title game. Mike Norvell went and got DJ Uiagalelei to run his offense, but I don’t see enough experience skill players around him to lift Uiagalelei’s confidence. |
| 4. | Virginia Tech | 5-3 | 9-3 | The Hokies return 19 starters from last year’s 7-win team that won five of its last seven games. VT’s toughest games are at Miami (Sept. 27) and vs. Clemson (Nov. 9). There is a chance this could be a special season in Blacksburg. |
| 3. | North Carolina | 6-2 | 9-3 | UNC has a chance to be this year’s Louisville. Granted the Tar Heels have to replace Drake Maye at QB, but the schedule is relatively easy, and it could put the Tar Heels back in the ACC Championship Game. |
| 2. | SMU | 7-1 | 10-2 | The Mustangs are the team no one is talking about. However, Rhett Lashlee’s squad returns 14 starters from last year’s 11-3 team that went 8-0 in the AAC and won the conference championship. SMU hosts FSU on Sept. 28 in what is being built up as the biggest game the program has hosted in the last 40 years. It then visits Louisville the following week. After that, the rest of the conference schedule is a cakewalk. |
| 1. | Clemson | 7-1 | 10-2 | I do not trust Cade Klubnik and the offense enough to say the Tigers can go through the ACC season undefeated. But Clemson still has the best overall roster in the ACC and the schedule is favorable enough to get Clemson back to Charlotte. The Tigers have tough conference games at FSU (Oct. 5) and at Virginia Tech (Nov.9). |
Local Clemson, SC
Most Popular
Comments / 0