Who will meet in Charlotte on December 6th?
Football season is right on the horizon. The joy, the letdown, and everything in between is less than a month away. This year promises nothing less than touchdowns, hard hits, and lots of excitement. So, what can we expect from this upcoming season?
Last season, the eleventh and twelfth seeds, SMU and Clemson respectively, in the College Football Playoff came from the ACC. Ultimately, these two teams fell short in the first round of the Playoff. The conference will look to produce a team that will make an even deeper run this year. Who might that be?
Clemson
At the top of that list is Dabo Sweeney's Clemson Tigers. The Tigers took down SMU in last year's championship game, and many think that a rematch could be in the cards for this upcoming season. Cade Klubnik is certainly someone in that boat.
Klubnik returns to Death Valley this fall and looks to make a deep run with his Tigers as he is remarked as one of the best quarterbacks in the conference. With a powerful defense returning eight starters, the Tigers are hunting yet another ACC Championship. Thus, they were chosen as the Preseason Favorite to win it all this year by the ACC Football Media Poll.
Miami
One team that fell short of the championship game last winter is Mario Cristobal's Hurricanes. They lost star quarterback, Cam Ward, in the NFL Draft as he went first overall to the Tennessee Titans. However, they made a big move for former Georgia quarterback, Carson Beck, this offseason.
Beck will look to terrorize the ACC competition as Ward did in his transition from Pac-12 football to ACC play. With TCU lineman transfer, James Brockermeyer, protecting Beck, watch out for the Georgia transfer to pick apart opposing defenses.
The Hurricanes finished the year in 120th in penalty yards in 2024, so if the Hurricanes can keep that statistic down, they will be in business. Furthermore, with an NFL-caliber edge rusher in Rueben Bain, the Hurricane defense will look to overpower its opponents.
SMU
SMU quarterback, Kevin Jennings, will be thinking the same as he hopes to take his team back to Charlotte come December. Rhett Lashlee returns eight starters to his team this fall.
Lashlee's Mustangs also added 20 players in the transfer portal including some exciting talents such as Woo Carter from Louisville on the defensive side of the ball. It wouldn't be a massive surprise to see both the Mustangs and the Tigers back at Bank of America Stadium this winter.
The Mustangs will be hoping for Jennings to take care of the ball a little better this year. Another item on their wishlist will be a vicious rushing attack from Derrick McFall and TJ Harden. If these pieces come together, SMU's offense could be in business. With a strengthened secondary to back up the defense, the Mustangs will be hoping for an extremely positive point differential.
Louisville
The Louisville Cardinals are a really exciting team in the conference this year. Similar to Miami, the Cardinals lost their quarterback, Tyler Shough, to the NFL Draft. Shough went to the Saints with the 40th overall pick. So, who did the Cardinals turn to?
They went to the West Coast and got USC transfer quarterback Miller Moss. In addition to Moss, the Cardinals added 30 others in the Portal. With Isaac Brown and Duke Watson delivering a one-two punch in the backfield, expect lots of points from Jeff Brohm's team.
An area to watch on this Louisville team is their fully revitalized offensive line. Makylan Pounders makes his way to Louisville from Mississippi State and will look to protect Moss and company on the outside. A returning veteran center, Pete Nygra, will also be key to Louisville's success in 2025.
Georgia Tech
Finally, the last team on the favorites list is the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Entering his sixth season (yes, he is 24 years old), Haynes King looks to go out with a bang in his last season under Brent Key.
King and company finished the year with a 7-6 record and a bowl loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores. Key went to the portal and added 24 players to his roster. With five of those transfers being wide outs, the veteran quarterback will look forward to running opposing defensive coordinators wild.
Defensively, the Yellow Jackets found major success in the transfer portal. Their defensive front gained a couple big names in AJ Hoffler from Clemson and Ronald Triplette from UTSA. Secondary additions, Jyron Gilmore from Georgia State and Kelvin Hill from UAB, will both hope to add a few more interceptions to the rather low Georgia Tech turnover tally.
Who Will Win the ACC? Our Staff Makes Their Predictions
- JD Andress: Clemson vs. Georgia Tech - Winner: Clemson
- Brett Gibbons: Clemson vs. Miami - Winner: Clemson
- Barry Lewis: Clemson vs Miami - Winner: Miami
- Keylor Piers: Clemson vs Louisville - Winner: Clemson
- Blake Robison: Clemson vs SMU - Winner: Clemson
- Ryder Solberg: Clemson vs Louisville - Winner: Louisville
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Ryder is a Junior at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He is studying Accountancy but has a passion for college athletics. He serves as the Treasurer of the Old Gold and Black, Wake Forest’s Student-Run newspaper. He has also served as a play-by-play analyst for his high school’s football and basketball games.