The ACC has no shortage of storylines ahead of the 2025 season. From UNC's Bill Belichick experiment, Clemson looking to get back to its old self, Florida State's quest to turn things around, and is Miami -- for the millionth time -- truly back?
We dove in to all 17 teams, including the Virginia Cavaliers, and ranked them as we saw fit with the season just around the corner.
We begin the ACC power rankings series series with the top of the pack:
The Tigers underwent a defensive makeover in the offseason, hiring Penn State DC Tom Allen to help improve a defense that allowed 160.6 yards per game on the ground -- one of the worst averages in the last 50+ years among Tiger teams. Allen does have the talent to turn things around, though, specifically on the defensive line with Peter Woods and T.J. Parker both back after All-ACC seasons a year ago. If you think back to Clemson's championship squads in 2016 and 2018, you remember just how dominant guys like Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins were throughout those runs. A similar path may be forged by this year's front.
Clemson should not have trouble putting points on the board through the air. Cade Klubnik enters the year as the preseason ACC Player of the Year and owns some of the best Heisman odds of anyone at +900, tied with LSU's Garrett Nussmeier and only behind Texas' Arch Manning at +600, per BetMGM. The national narrative on Klubnik in 2024 was largely unfair for the majority of the year after Georgia beat the brakes off the Tigers in their opener, 34-3, where Klubnik threw for just 142 yards and an interception. The national media shifted its stance on Klubnik to more of an afterthought as a result. But from Week 2 and on, he was nothing short of spectacular -- throwing for 36 touchdowns and only five interceptions the rest of the season to help the Tigers earn a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Klubnik has a great opportunity to continue, and -- maybe improve upon -- that successful stretch thanks to the continuity of two legit Biletnikoff Award candidates in receivers Antonio Williams and Bryant Wesco Jr. If the running game can get squared away after losing Phil Mafah to the NFL and balance out the offensive attack, the Tigers won't just find themselves back in the CFP for participation points, but as true contenders to hoist another championship trophy.
For the first time in a long time, the Yellow Jackets enter a year where the entire country knows what they are about. Since Brent Key took the job, the Jackets have been one of the toughest, most gritty teams you will see, evidenced by Haynes King's relentlessness at the QB position, and how they nearly knocked off a top-ranked Georgia team on the road in one of the best games of the entire 2024 season. The past two seasons were stepping-stone years, with the Yellow Jackets now having a real shot to get to Charlotte come December.
The loss of receiver Eric Singleton Jr. would typically be a backbreaker for a team like Georgia Tech. But the combination of veteran Malik Rutherford, as well as the additions of FIU transfers Eric Rivers and Dean Patterson, has the room in great shape to cater to King under center. Rutherford finished his junior campaign with 62 catches and two touchdowns, while Rivers and Patterson consistently bullied Conference USA cornerbacks with a combined 112 receptions for 1,857 yards and 19 TDs. Combine that firepower with a replicated pass protection that was the best in the ACC a year ago, and the Jackets will be one heck of an offense to watch throughout the season.
SMU had -- in the words of the great Bill Raftery -- some real "Onions" with the decision to join the ACC, knowing full well the school would not see a dollar from the league's TV contract for years into the future.
The football team backed that move up, taking every team's (except for Clemson's) lunch money in its first season. As a result, they already have the national respect ahead of 2025, with the AP Poll slotting the Mustangs in as the 16th-best team in the country. Rhett Lashlee and co. won't have the luxury of sneaking up on anyone this year with the return of Kevin Jennings, but question marks linger in the backfield with the loss of Brashard Smith and his 1,332 yards of production.
SMU has a handful of players to step into that role, though they are all unproven at the college level. Freshman Derrick McFall and redshirt sophomore Chris Johnson Jr. are options there, as well as TJ Harden, who rushed for 506 yards and two touchdowns at UCLA as a junior.
On the other side of the ball, the Mustangs aim to reload and replicate what was one of the nation's best defenses in 2024. Getting into the backfield figures to be a strength with Isaiah Smith back for one more run after a 6.5 sack year. Add on senior Cameron Robertson and his size on the edge, and you have a recipe for success. The transfer portal will help patch any depth concerns, though the Mustangs did not exactly turn heads with their additions in totality. So where exactly their defensive floor sits is something to watch for early on, but signs point to this group being solid once again.
The elite programs across college football all have a quality to them Miami has struggled to find in the last decade.
Consistency.
After a 10-win season where the Hurricanes failed to make the ACC title game, can Mario Cristobal use 2024 as a building block to achieve sustained success?
Carson Beck transfers over from Georgia, replacing the renaissance that was Cam Ward. Beck leaves behind a stint with the Bulldogs, where the attitude surrounding his second year as a starter a year ago was more negative than positive. There are two ways to look at his performance in Georgia's passing game. One is that Beck simply held the group back from maximizing its full potential, and two is that the receivers failed Beck by dropping the most passes in the country (31). Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Regardless, Miami has a rich supply of talent to go around Beck, so we'll know pretty quickly just how legit his skillset still is or isn't post-injury. CJ Daniels and Keelan Marion highlight a transfer-laden group of pass-catchers, but Miami's biggest asset on offense is in the trenches, a strength that has become an annual tradition under Cristobal. Led by junior Francis Mauigoa at right tackle, the Canes will have little issue pushing around any team they see with not only one of the top offensive lines in the conference, but across the nation.