In what might be the craziest of college football seasons, how good are all of the teams? Here are the CFN ACC Preseason Rankings of every team.
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This is NOT a ranking of where the teams are going to end up. This is only based on how good we think the ACC teams are going into whatever the 2020 season is going to be.
CFN in 60: The CFN Preseason Rankings …
– CFN Preview 2020: All 130 Team Previews
14. Boston College Eagles
Boston College CFN 2020 Preview
Be Excited About … another terrific running game. AJ Dillon might be gone, but David Bailey is another big, pounding runner working behind a great line.
Be Concerned About … the defensive side could use some work up front and in the secondary. It’s not a bad situation, but the D isn’t going to be a rock early on. The Eagles finished dead last in the ACC and 122th in the nation against the pass.
The Season Will Be Successful If … new head coach Jeff Hafley can get the Eagles to a bowl game. It’ll be a fight to battle through the ACC slate, but BC is probably the best of the last-ranked teams among the Power Five conferences. It can get to a bowl.
13. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Be Excited About … the lines that had a year to get the pieces in place. Georgia Tech needed to undergo a total overhaul on offense, but the D line needed help, too. They’ll be better.
Be Concerned About … a passing game that still needs work. The tweaking from the option attack under the old regime will still take a while to get going.
The Season Will Be Successful If … Geoff Collins can make the Yellow Jackets more competitive. There should be a nice turnaround, but the team got blown out seven times last season and lost to Citadel. Flirting with a. bowl game is a must.
12. Syracuse Orange
Be Excited About … a passing game that should be dangerous. As long as the offensive line can keep QB Tommy DeVito from getting beaten up, the Orange will have a potent attack.
Be Concerned About … that O line. That’s still going to be an issue, and the defensive front is still just okay. The secondary will clean up a lot of messes, but the run defense has to be stronger.
The Season Will Be Successful If … the Orange look and play more like the 2018 version that went 10-3. Dino Babers has to turn the program into a consistent threat, but getting to a bowl game would be a good rebound after a losing 2019.
11. Duke Blue Devils
Be Excited About … a really, really good defense that gets a whole lot of key parts back including a sneaky-good pair of defensive ends in Chris Rumph and Victor Dimukeje. It’s Duke – the offense won’t be as bad as it was in the middle of last year.
Be Concerned About … the offense that was really that bad in the middle of last year. Passing efficiency and simply moving the chains were both major problems. Clemson QB transfer Chase Brice might be able to solve both issues.
The Season Will Be Successful If … the Blue Devils can start out fast like they did in 2019 and keep it going, at least offensively. Three bowl appearances in four years would show that last season was just a blip.
10. NC State Wolfpack
Be Excited About … a team that went through an ugly transition last year and should enjoy the payoff. There are still a slew of question marks on both sides of the ball, but the defensive front seven will be great and the kicking game should be among the nation’s best.
Be Concerned About … the passing game that was way too inefficient and an offense that stalled way too often. NC State should bounce back quickly after going 4-8, but now the Dave Doeren era has question marks.
The Season Will Be Successful If … NC State gets to the nine-win mark, or the equivalent of a normal season with that sort of success depending on what the schedule is. Doeren had two straight nine-win seasons before last year’s clunker.
9. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Be Excited About … a passing game that should still be really effective and really fun. Sage Surratt would be among the nation’s better receivers, and QB San Hartman is in for a big year.
Be Concerned About … the running game should be just okay and the secondary will be suspect. The O will put points on the board, and the D might give them up just as quickly.
The Season Will Be Successful If … Wake Forest goes bowling for a fifth straight season. Dave Clawson has done one of the better jobs in college football considering what he has to work with.
8. Florida State Seminoles
Florida State CFN 2020 Preview
Be Excited About … a team loaded with NFL talent on the defensive side of the ball. If new head coach Mike Norvell can do what he does offensively, the other side will take care of the rest.
Be Concerned About … an offensive line that hasn’t been there for years. The Noles haven’t been able to fix the front five, and that’s been the primary issue for the mediocre seasons. It should be better, but the star power is still missing.
The Season Will Be Successful If … FSU looks like it’s about to turn the corner back into superpower status. Norvell is inheriting a nice group to build around. There can’t be any stressing over getting bowl eligible.
7. Louisville Cardinals
Be Excited About … the exciting offense that should be a weekly thrill ride. Scott Satterfield turned the program around in just one year, and now he’s has a loaded receiving corps for the good quarterback options to work with.
Be Concerned About … an offensive line that allowed the most tackles for loss in college football. The defensive side has to be better against the run after finishing second-to-last in the ACC.
The Season Will Be Successful If … the Cardinal offense firmly establishes itself as a thing the rest of the ACC has to freak out about on a regular basis. ing considered one of the league’s top five teams would be a great step forward.
6. Virginia Cavaliers
Be Excited About … a rock-solid team under Bronco Mendenhall that might have lost QB Bryce Perkins, but doesn’t have any major weaknesses. There might not be a whole lot of flash, but the special teams, coaching, and defensive back seven are going to be outstanding.
Be Concerned About … Bryce Perkins. It’s not like the offense will fall off the map, but there wasn’t enough of a ground game and now the Cavaliers have to go on without its heart-and-soul quarterback.
The Season Will Be Successful If … Virginia goes into the regular season finale with a shot at the Coastal. This isn’t going to be the team that won the division and went to the ACC Championship and Orange Bowl, but it should be able to be a factor in the race.
NEXT: ACC Preseason Rankings Top Five
5. Miami Hurricanes
Be Excited About … new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee and Houston transfer QB D’Eriq King. All of a sudden, the Miami offense should go from nothing to amazing, to go along with a defense that’s going to be fantastic at getting into the backfield.
Be Concerned About … the offense that has a long way to go. It was second-to-last in the nation in third down conversions and had no running game whatsoever.
The Season Will Be Successful If … Miami wins the Coastal. King should make a night-and-day difference for the offense, and the defense is going to be ACC-championship good.
4. Pitt Panthers
Be Excited About … an oh-dear-heavens pass rush that led the nation in sacks and is almost unfairly deep coming into the season. There are at least three future All-ACC performers on the line, and the safeties are special, too.
Be Concerned About … the ground game. It carried Pitt to the ACC title game two years ago, and it went bye-bye last season averaging just 119 yards per game. The O line is okay, but nothing great.
The Season Will Be Successful If … Pitt plays for the ACC Championship for the second time in three years. The defense is going to be too devastating to not be thinking a shot at the whole conference ball of wax is possible.
3. North Carolina Tar Heels
North Carolina CFN 2020 Preview
Be Excited About … the passing game, and more of the passing game. Sam Howell is one of the brightest young quarterbacking stars in the nation, and he’s got a phenomenal receiving corps to work with.
Be Concerned About … the offensive line that almost got Howell killed has to be a whole lot better, and the team as a whole has to be a lot more consistent. As bright as things seem, it still took two wins in the final two games just to get bowl eligible.
The Season Will Be Successful If … the Tar Heels play for the ACC Championship. It might be a year too early – more like two – with the phenomenal recruiting class coming in for 2021, but Mack Brown has the pieces to take the Coastal.
2. Virginia Tech Hokies
Virginia Tech CFN 2020 Preview
Be Excited About … a whale of a defense that might not be quite as flashy as what Pitt and Miami are putting out there, and it’s not going to have the talent of Clemson’s, but it has the experience and talent to be a big deal. QB Hendon Hooker is going to be a blast.
Be Concerned About … giving the ball away. The defense will be great, Hooker and the offense should be even better, and the talent is there to win the Coastal. Now the Hokies have to not be the third-worst team in America in fumbles. They turned the ball over 23 times in total.
The Season Will Be Successful If … there isn’t just a trip to the ACC Championship, but there’s a big push to actually win it. Just about everyone else from the Coastal would be happy just to be there, but there’s enough in the bag to not be a speed bump for the …
1. Clemson Tigers
Be Excited About … an NFL backfield starting with a franchise quarterback who should be a Cincinnati Bengal right now. Of course Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne will get the spotlight, but go ahead and start hinting that the defensive front might has the upside to be as strong as the epic front four of two years ago.
Be Concerned About … at Notre Dame on November 7th. The Irish are going to be good enough this year to pull that off, leaving no margin for error for the Tigers against an improved ACC. To nitpick, the special teams are okay, but they might not be special.
The Season Will Be Successful If … Clemson wins a third national title in four years. Think of it this way. It took a team that finished with the greatest season in the 150-year history of college football to keep the Tigers from taking down a second straight CFP national title. It’s not fair to ask any program to set the bar at national-championship-or-failure, but … win the national championship.
