2023 College Football Predictions: ACC

Photo by Bob Donnan from USA Today Sports

As I am typing this, the PAC-12 and their remaining schools are doing a “will they/won’t they” type dance about signing a new Grant of Rights.

Right now, they stand at “won't they,” but this has flip-flopped constantly the past day or so, so let’s see what happens.

What does that have to do with the ACC? Nothing.

But I think it’d be funny to see if anything else changes while I’m typing this out.

In the meantime, let’s get to the ACC, who no longer has divisions, and will have the top two in the standings heading to Charlotte for the ACC Championship game.

1. Florida State Seminoles

And what better place to start than the school who is very publicly trying to get out of their Grant of Rights and out of the ACC.

But they’re still here now! And they rightly have very high expectations.

Mike Norvell has turned the Noles around quick, and Jordan Travis is a Heisman candidate that might just take them to the next step and back to the college football playoff.

2. Clemson Tigers

Dabo’s first year without Brent Venebles and Tony Elliott wasn’t exactly the best.

It wasn’t bad, mind you. It just wasn’t what Clemson was.

But Dabo Swinney made the switch to 5 star freshman Cade Klubnik midseason, and things finally started to turn around.

Add in taking Garrett Riley from TCU to be the new offensive coordinator, and Clemson should be on their way back to their normal dominant selves.

3. North Carolina Tarheels

Drake Maye, likely the 1st or 2nd overall pick in the upcoming draft, will be the one leading the charge for the Heels.

Then again, the last time UNC had huge expectations with an NFL ready QB of Sam Howell, it went quite wrong.

But I’m betting Mack Brown and company has learned from their mistakes.

4. Miami Hurricanes

The offense can’t be that bad again, right?

Surely it can’t, and Cristobal is making moves to make sure it won’t be, bringing in new members to the staff.

Plus, the hype of Tyler Van Dyke has worn off, and maybe he can relax and just ball.

First years are always tough for coaches. Remember when Saban lost to Louisiana-Monroe and Mississippi State year one?

Miami will be fine.

5. Louisville Cardinals

Louisville has the talent, and has had the talent for years, but never were able to put it all together under Scott Satterfield.

Now, with native son Jeff Brohm back in town, the expectations are high for a good bounce back year for Louisville.

But I must warn Cards fans, native son head coaches returning to their alma mater’s doesn’t always work…

6. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

I know, I know.

Wake lost Sam Hartman to Notre Dame.

And that sucks!

But, while Sam Hartman was fantastic at Wake, the offensive revival goes deeper than just him.

Remember, Dave Clawson lost running back Kenneth Walker in the past, and the offense was totally fine.

This is a very well coached football team, and one of the few lower level P5 schools that has shown to be able to replace missing pieces just fine.

7. Pittsburgh Panthers

Two years ago, Pitt had a fantastic offense with Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison as well as a phenomenal front 7, and they won the ACC Championship.

Last year, Pickett and Addison were gone, as well was offensive coordinator Mark Whipple, and had Pat Narduzzi saying, very strangely, that the offense wasn’t how he liked it despite putting up record numbers.

Still, the front 7 remained excellent and carried Pitt to another good season.

But those pieces are gone, and the uninspiring Narduzzi style of offense remains in Pittsburgh.

They won’t be bad, but they’ll probably just be boring.

And that’s no fun.

8. NC State Wolfpack

NC State had extremely high expectations last year, and did not live up to them.

Head coach Dave Doreen made changes, bringing over Virginia’s offensive coordinator and quarterback who had fantastic years for the Hoos.

But the UVA head coach is now Tony Elliott, the mastermind behind some great Clemson offenses.

Was their success due to them? Or due to Tony Elliott?

I guess we’ll wait and see.

9. Syracuse Orange

Dino Babers was far and away the favorite to be the first coach fired last year.

After all, he had completely underperformed since 2018 when he had a fantastic season with quarterback Eric Dungy.

So how did Dino respond to his inevitable end?

A 6-0 start and bowl appearance that kept him alive for another year.

But then they went 0-6 for the rest of the year, which ruined some of that good will.

I don’t expect ‘Cuse to be back to a bowl game this year.

10. Duke Blue Devils

This is crazy, right?

Duke went 9-4 last year under Mike Elko. What are they doing all the way down here?

Turnovers and one score games are what they are doing down here.

Those two things are the most unsustainable thing to rely on between seasons.

Remember two years ago when the Minnesota Vikings lost every one score game imaginable, and then followed it up by winning every single one?

Duke got lucky last year, and football gods are cruel with their return.

PAC-12 UPDATE: Oregon and Washington are reportedly joining the Big 10.

11. Virginia Cavaliers

Tony Elliott knows how to coach an offense.

The issue is, he lost his quarterback, and the defense is still absolutely terrible.

Eh. Baby steps, I guess.

12. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Remember that one score game thing we talked about earlier?

Georgia Tech’s great late season turn around under Brett Key was full of those.

Not sustainable!

13. Virginia Tech Hokies

Defensively, Virginia Tech is going to probably be very good.

Offensively?

Let’s just say you should probably bet the under for most of these games.

Or don’t bet at all. Invest in stocks. Bury your money in your backyard.

Better yet, bury it on a remote desert island where only crabs can get it.

That’d be a better use of money than expecting VT to score points.

14. Boston College Eagles

What happens when a bad football team loses it’s quarterback who was the only thing keeping them in games?

It can’t mean anything good!

ACC Championship Game: Florida State vs Clemson

These two actually face off week 4 in Clemson, and I expect Florida State gets that win due to the changes in Clemson’s offensive system and with a new quarterback.

Unfortunately for the Noles, the ACC title game is at the end of the year when Garrett Riley and Cade Klubnik have an entire year to fix the rough edges, and that will be their unfortunate undoing.

If only we had one more year where they faced the Coastal winner instead…

Clemson wins the ACC Championship