College Football 2024 Conference Preview: ACC

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After two years of possible turmoil with the Big 12 and then the demise of the PAC 12, it seems it’s the ACC’s turn for turmoil going forward!

Nevertheless, it’s still here now, and football will be played.

Time to dive deep into the ACC.

Tier 1: Championship Contenders

Florida State Seminoles

The talk of the whole offseason was Florida State’s snub in the College Football Playoff followed by the whole “they didn’t deserve it” after they got trounced by Georgia.

But what was actually happening, was Mike Norvell retooling his squad to make another run at the ACC title and making sure they don’t miss the playoff this year.

D.J. Uiagelelei takes over for Jordan Travis, and the Noles running back room should make it an easy transition for him to find his feet without having to do too much.

Florida State should easily win this conference.

Louisville Cardinals

The first year back home for Jeff Brohm went a lot better than most expected, with Louisville making the ACC title game with some underwhelming quarterback play.

This year, Louisville will roll out former Texas Tech quarterback Tyler Shough who, if he can stay healthy, will be an improvement.

It’s a well coached, veteran squad.

They should make a run.

Clemson Tigers

This is it.

This is my last decision year with Clemson.

Dabo Swinney brought in a whopping zero (0!!!!) transfers, in a time where transfers are crucial, and they’ve just continuously gotten worse since Trevor Lawrence left.

Still, the high school recruiting is very good, and Cade Klubnik is a good quarterback who got hot at the end of last year.

So this is it.

If Clemson can be conference title contenders this year, we’ll know this strategy works.

If not, and if Dabo continuously doesn’t change his ways, then I’m fully off the train.

Tier 2: Dark Horses

Miami Hurricanes

Mario Cristobal recruits like crazy, both high school and transfers.

That’s great.

But the games are still played on the football field, and that’s where Miami has lacked the results.

If they get them, there’s no reason they won’t be in Charlotte come December playing for a title.

But I still have to see it.

SMU Mustangs

Rhett Lashlee has done a great job at SMU, and even though this is a clear step up in conference difficulty for the Stangs, they’re in good shape.

SMU returns 14 starters from last years team, and the ACC, while better than the AAC, still isn’t exactly a gauntlet.

They can make some noise here.

Virginia Tech Hokies

Football is a “what have you done for me lately?” kind of sport, and what people remember with Virginia Tech is winning 5 of their last 7 games, while returning every single offensive starter and continuing to build defensively.

The Hokies may be last year’s Louisville team who takes everyone by surprise.

NC State Wolfpack

NC State’s defense has, continuously, been outstanding.

The offense has been miserable.

That, however, may change, with dynamic transfer quarterback Grayson McCall coming in to hopefully fix the problems.

If he does, NC State should be in great shape.

Tier 3: Bowl Game Bound

North Carolina Tar Heels

UNC should be a lot better than they are, but I don’t love that there isn’t a set in stone starter at quarterback, and the defense still needs to be seen as good before it can be believed.

Still, Mack Brown will do a good enough job to get 6 wins for UNC.

California Golden Bears

Justin Wilcox, a defensive specialist, had a bad year defensively but a great year offensively for Cal, and it led them to an unexpected bowl appearance.

I would be stunned if Cal’s defense was as bad again, and the offense returns quite a few starters, including running back Jaydn Ott, and signed transfer quarterback Chandler Rogers.

Travel sucks for Cal, but it shouldn’t derail things too badly.

Tier 4: Bowl Game Possible

Syracuse Orange

A lot of people are big on Syracuse.

A LOT.

And I get it! Their schedule is an absolute breeze. They should make a bowl game.

But I can’t put them in the higher tier just yet, because there’s still so many questions for the Orange.

Fran Brown is a first year head coach.

Kyle McCord started and won 11 games for Ohio State last year, which is great and better than anything Syracuse has had, but was also far and away the worst quarterback Ohio State has had under Ryan Day, so there’s no guarantee he plays at a high level.

All signs point to a bowl, but I still have some reservations.

Duke Blue Devils

On the one hand, Mike Elko made Duke a good program, and that is not easy by any means. So that’s good!

But he’s gone.

And now it’s Manny Diaz’s turn to take things over.

The good news is, Diaz hit the portal to get dynamic players including new quarterback Maalik Murphy from Texas, and his defensive background should help as well.

But a year one at this program is hard.

Really hard.

I see a path to 6 wins. I’m just not sure I believe in it.

Tier 5: I’d Be Baffled

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Brent Key has done a great job in Atlanta taking over and fixing the mess Geoff Collins made, and I expect Georgia Tech will be a lot better than their record indicates by the end of the year.

But their schedule is brutal, and they simply aren’t talented enough to overcome facing teams like Florida State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Miami, NC State, and so on.

Pittsburgh Panthers

Pat Narduzzi knows how to coach a defense.

The offense, however, has been good twice in his tenure there, and then both times immediately regressed to the mean.

That didn’t fully matter previously because, as mentioned, Pitt had a good defense.

And maybe they will this year, or maybe their offense will be the third good season.

But Pitt lost a lot of talent defensively, and I’ll refer to the data for the offense.

Boston College Eagles

It’d be hard to get Boston College to a bowl game in normal circumstances, let alone having to hire Bill O’Brien extremely late in the coaching carousel.

I think everyone involved knows this is a “year 0” for Boston College under O’Brien.

Let’s just sit back and see how it goes.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Wake under coach Dave Clawson has historically been excellent for Wake standards.

But last year was rough, and the cupboard looks pretty bare this year as well.

I don’t think it’s anything to panic about with Clawson.

It’s just something to keep an eye on.

Stanford Cardinal

It should be said that Troy Taylor has done a great job at Stanford so far, particularly in recruiting. Stanford isn’t so easy to get recruits.

But the Cardinal knew this was going to be a long haul rebuild, and it’s only year 2.

Patience.

Virginia Cavaliers

Some guys are just better off as coordinators.

I liked Tony Elliott as Clemson’s offensive coordinator, but his time as the head coach of Virginia has been subpar, to say the least.

This may be the year that makes Virginia decide to move on from Elliott.

I hope not, but we’ll see.

Conference Championship Prediction

As mentioned above, Florida State should easily make the conference title game.

The question is, who ends up with them?

There are lots of quality options, but the ACC has always been extremely weird with their conference title game.

Someone always makes it that you never would expect.

So I’ll say SMU finds their way to Charlotte in year one of the ACC, but it still doesn’t matter.

Florida State Wins the ACC.