CBS Sports on Monday published its ACC expert pickundefineds for 2024 , with a panel of writers weighing in on the conference ahead of the upcoming season.
The writers gave who they see as the ACC’s most overrated and underrated teams, and made bold predictions and conference champion picks.
A few CBS Sports writers — Shehan Jeyarajah, Dennis Dodd and Jerry Palm — think Clemson is the most overrated team in the league:
The Tigers made the drop from underwhelming to legitimately mediocre one season ago, ultimately losing three games to unranked opponents and finishing 4-4 in conference play for the first time since 2010. The Tigers are still one of the most talented teams in the league, but how much production can Clemson lose and still maintain? The defense typically replaces well, but the Tigers lost five starters to the NFL Draft and safety Andrew Mukuba to the transfer portal. The offense was a mess last year and will have to move forward without RB Will Shipley and WR Beaux Collins. If this team didn’t don the orange and purple, no one would confuse them for an ACC title contender.
Multiple CBS Sports writers mentioned Clemson in their bold predictions, including Chip Patterson, who opined “there will be a four-way tie for first place with Florida State, Clemson, NC State and Virginia Tech all finishing with a 7-1 conference record.”
“Unfortunately for the dark horse picks of the bunch, the tiebreaker scenario would favor the teams at the top of the odds board to start: FSU and Clemson,” Patterson wrote in his prediction.
Meanwhile, Jeyarajah’s bold prediction is that both Clemson and Florida State will not make the ACC Championship Game.
“Instead, programs like Miami, NC State, SMU and Louisville will finally break through and give the ACC a third unique team in the College Football Playoff since the format started in 2014,” Jeyarajah wrote. “The reign of the titans is over, which will only add more agitation in the FSU and Clemson board rooms.”
As for the CBS Sports panel’s predicted order of finish in the ACC this season, only three of the eight writers – Tom Fornelli, Patterson and Will Backus – predicted Clemson to finish first and win the ACC Championship:
“The Tigers threw a lot of young players into the fire last season, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that they started a little slow and finished strong with a 5-0 run to close out the year. Now, those young Tigers are prepped to be stars in 2024, and Cade Klubnik should be improved in Year 2 with Garrett Riley and the additional leadership of Tajh Boyd on the coaching staff as assistant quarterbacks coach. This was a program that won 10-plus games for 12 straight season, and now many are selling stock because of a 9-4 showing last year. But with better injury luck and more experience at key positions, I’m expecting a return to the top for the Tigers.”
Of the other writers, two picked Florida State to be the ACC champ, while three went with Miami to win the conference.
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