Picking and comparing how the new 17-member conference will shape!
Conference realignment has reshaped the structure of college football and changed some things we truly love about this sport. There will be new exciting matchups for sure but the regionality of the sport is disappearing which was probably the best aspect of college football. Nowhere is that clearer than the new 17-member ACC (or Big Ten) with teams spanning from sea to shining sea.
There have been many discussions on all the issues these oversized conferences present in our new 12-team playoff era, but I feel one has been overlooked and deserves more attention. That is now having to try and rank a hodge podge of teams intent on sowing as much chaos as possible. FSU and Clemson have held sway over the top for quite some time, but even they appear on shakier ground this year than normal. Miami might have the best roster in the conference. Will that matter? History tells us probably not! Newcomers Cal, Stanford, and SMU could be scattered anywhere from the bottom to dark horse favorites.
To start let’s take a look at how 170 ACC Media members voted this year:
The collection of media didn’t waver from picking the tried and true favorites, which is unsurprising because they are the best collection of talent and talent usually rules at the end of the season. The same logic held for Miami at third, and though they haven’t made good on their talented rosters yet this may be head and shoulders above previous ones. NC State has solid backing too as they’ve flirted near the top the past couple of years but keep coming up short.
Louisville through Georgia Tech represents the good but still has questions teams. You could interchange any of these teams though I think SMU and VT get a bump from a favorable schedule. I am not quite sold on VT but I will have more on that in my picks. GT did snag a single first-place vote so someone did have faith in the Yellow Jackets this year.
Cal with two first-place votes is a reach but there are some solid players on this team who ended up on the preseason All-ACC team. The Media doesn’t feel confident with the remainder of the teams even with the one random Boston College vote.
FTRS Rankings
The ACC media preseason poll is anonymous but we here at From the Rumble Seat did have a vote in this year’s ballot. Did we rank GT number 1? No, that lone voter will remain a mystery, but this is what our submission looked like:
- Clemson
- NC State
- Florida State
- Miami
- Georgia Tech
- Louisville
- Virginia Tech
- California
- North Carolina
- Pittsburgh
- Boston College
- Syracuse
- Duke
- SMU
- Virginia
- Stanford
- Wake Forest
Clemson holds the top spot this year because, despite all the reluctance to use the transfer portal, Dabo Sweeney still can recruit and develop excellent high school players. It would be fair to assume that QB Cade Klubnik progresses this year and RB Phil Mafah will take any additional pressure off Cade with a power run game. NC State takes a jump in ours due to the additions of QB Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina) and RB Jordan Waters (Duke). I like Waters a bit more than I do McCall but both could finally give the Wolfpack the offense to complement their productive defense.
Florida State takes the nod over Miami because I trust the coaching staff more but both have great rosters built through solid recruiting and supplementing positions of need in the transfer portal. Call it a homer pick but Georgia Tech simply has the better and more proven offense than every other team left on the list. If the defense just improves to average I don’t think they’ll be second fiddle to any other team in the conference besides the previous four and that margin would be thin.
Louisville and Virginia Tech both have good schedules and aren’t hurting for talent. Kyron Drones had some heavy hype for Player of the Year as well but Virginia Tech’s wins came against the weaker opponents on their schedule last year so I’d like to see them beat a higher-tier team. Louisville made good on their schedule last year but faded down the stretch. It’s still not a murderer’s row but the competition ramps from last year.
Cal has a rough road slate but Jaydn Ott is going to be one of the best backs in the league and cause some ACC defenses trouble. Don’t forget their pair of linebackers David Reese and Cade Uluave who only started 6 games each but racked up 6.5 sacks each too. I’m calculating a new conference and travel into this placement but otherwise, I’d possibly have them higher.
I feel the next set of teams UNC, Pittsburgh, and Boston College have more questions than answers at this point. Not to say they can’t make a jump but UNC still needs to prove something on defense while losing offensive production, Pitt needs to get back to playing their style of defense while revamping a very bad offense, and Boston College can’t just rely on QB Thomas Castellanos running away from danger each week.
Syracuse and Duke are the inverse of each other. Syracuse has some promising talent but a new and very inexperienced coaching staff. Duke has an experienced new coaching staff but was gutted by transfers and graduation to the offense.
SMU may be the “what are you thinking” pick. Now these ponies can score but they went 0-3 against their Power 5 competition last year. One of those was to ACC member Boston College. They need to build up the lines to move into the contender pack. Maybe soon they will, but not year one.
These last three can be interchangeable but I am pretty sold on Wake Forest at the bottom with only their FCS matchup being the sole should win. The rest are toss-ups at best even against UConn. Virginia could see some slight improvement over last year but will still fall short of a bowl. Stanford could be better on the field but their schedule won’t show it in the win column.
Other Picks
Logan Sandor
1) Clemson
2) FSU
3) Louisville
4) NC State
Clemson and FSU are always going to be the top 2 teams in the ACC barring any surprises. I give the edge to Clemson since they have more returning talent which has experience playing together. FSU has many transfers which may take time to work together cohesively. Louisville was right there last year and has the talent on defense to make another run. NC State’s one weakness last year was the inability to do anything on offense. With the new transfer at AB, they may have found a solution and I expect them to make a run at the ACC title.
5) SMU
6) Virginia Tech
7) Georgia Tech
8) Miami
9) Cal
While I don’t necessarily buy into the hype around SMU and VT, but if they are as talented as people think they are they have the schedules to be playing in the ACC championship. GT and Cal have talent but much tougher schedules. I think they have potential to make a run but have uphill battles ahead of them. Miami, as always, is talented enough to be a contender… I can’t wait to see what trips them up this year.
10) Syracuse
11) UNC
12) Pitt
13) Duke
I think these teams could surprise me but I don’t expect them to be in the running. Syracuse has the talent to pull something off but with a new coach I’m not sure I have confidence in them. UNC has Coach 404 coaching them which is a death flag for that team. I think Pitt and Duke are currently in reload mode.
14) Wake Forest
15) Boston College
16) Stanford
17) Virginia
Barring an abnormality, I expect all these teams to be in the bottom of the barrel. These teams could really be in any order… but Virginia should be on the bottom.
Jack Purdy
- FSU
- Clemson
- NC State
- Virginia Tech
- Georgia Tech
- Miami
- Louisville
- UNC
- Cal
- SMU
- Duke
- Boston College
- Syracuse
- Pitt
- Virginia
- Wake Forest
- Stanford