ACC, Power Five, Predictions

2019 College Football Season Conference Predictions ACC

2019 College Football Season Conference Predictions ACC

The 2019 College Football season is now only a matter of weeks away and its time for us to make our predictions as to how the conferences might pan out. No place better to start than with the home of the National Champions The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

Reigning National Champions Clemson are fancied to repeat in 2019
Editorial credit: JASON TENCH / Shutterstock.com

ACC Atlantic 

This looks by far the strongest and after the top two could be quite open and six teams could end up Bowl eligible.

1st Clemson Tigers

The Tigers reigning National Champions and it would be a brave person who would bet against them not making it back to the playoffs at least. They are sorted at Quarterback with Trevor Lawrence a sophomore and likely future NFL 1st Round Draft Pick, and the OL will be strong again returning four of last seasons starters. He has a couple of big-play receivers in Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross and a dynamic running back in Travis Etienne. Scoring points shouldn’t be an issue.

The defensive line may be a bit less formidable this year with the departure of first-round draft picks Clelin Ferrell, Christian Wilkins & Dexter Lawrence, while Austin Bryant who went in round four will be missed also. Still, they have a pipeline and will no doubt have some future stars waiting to fill in.

If they navigate a tricky September which includes an inter-conference game with Texas A&M on Sept. 7 and a road trip to Syracuse on Sept. 14 then there is a big chance they go 12-0 and are either number one or two in the CFP rankings going into the Conference Championship game.

It’s hard to win back to back National Championships, however, Clemson looks well placed to give it a go.

Predicted record 12-0

2nd Syracuse Orange

The Orange bounced back from recent disappointments with a big 2018 finishing 10-3 including winning  The Camping World Bowl.  This was their best season wins wise since 2001 and they look poised to have another winning season – if not managing double-digit wins. Running Back Abdul Adams has transferred from Oklahoma and looks like a nice addition, and they have a decent QB in sophomore Tommy DeVito. The match up with Clemson on the 14th September will pretty much define their season, pull off a shock in that one and the playoffs could be a possibility, lose it and they will be hoping for a decent bowl game. A winning season looks assured and a similar record is possible.

Predicted record 9-3

3rd Florida State

Florida State had their first losing season in 2018 since way back in 1976 and you can be sure they won’t want a repeat. Their O-Line was awful at times last season and they have taken steps to improve this by appointing Kendal Briles as offensive coordinator. They have a tricky opener against Boise State and ta tough away game at fancied Virginia but if they can win one of those then a 2-1 start should boost their confidence and see them somewhere around 8-3 before their traditional end of season meeting with Florida.

Predicted record 8-4

4th NC State Wolfpack

Looking at their schedule we are fairly confident we can see six wins and three losses leaving three games as toss-ups. The bad news is that all three are on the road at Boston, Wake and Florida State.  Last season was supposed to be a transition year but they ended up winning nine games, before playing in what turned out to be a one-sided Gator Bowl. They have no Ryan Findley at QB this year and three other key players are now in the NFL so they could take a small step back this year. Still, a bowl slot looks likely.

Predicted Record 7-5

5th Wake Forest Deamon Deacons

The Deacons have benefited from having a stable head coach in Dave Clawson who will be going into his 6th season in charge. They finished 7-6 last season thanks to a fun win in the Birmingham Bowland they will be looking for Bowl eligibility again this year. They have a pretty tough schedule starting with a tricky inter-conference match up with Mountain West Utah State who went 11-2 last year and they have to travel to Clemson, Syracuse & Virginia Tech & Boston College (gulp), still, we think they can scrape 6 wins from their other ties.

Predicted Record 6-6

6th Boston College

The Eagles have a season of two halves an easyish start and a horrible slate from early October on. Apart from their opening day trip to Virginia Tech, they should be favourites in all their September games and a 5-1 or even a 6-0 start is a possibility. Thereafter they have a really tough schedule including road trips to Clemson, Syracuse Pittsburgh & Notre Dame.  Getting more than one win from those would be some achievement. So a 6-6 finish is probably as good as they can hope for and 5-7 a possibility. They made the First Responder Bowl last year but it was postponed but they should have more luck this year.

Predicted Record 6-6

7th Louisville Cardinals

Louisville failed miserably to replace Lamar Jackson last year and Bobby Petrino ended up getting fired 10 games in. A 2-10 finish was not what they expected and they have turned to former Appalachian State Coach Scott Satterfield to turn things around. His recent record is impressive with five consecutive winning seasons at the Mountaineers and three Bowl wins. However, turning the Cardinals around this year is a tall order – even if most of the Defence is returning. Their schedule is pretty horrible kicking off against Notre Dame and ending with a game against SEC Kentucky. Wins are hard to spot and they may struggle to make much of an improvement over last year.

Predicted Record 2-10

ACC Coastal

The Coastal division looks a lot weaker again this year and as the last few seasons is wide open and hard to predict (six different winners in the last six seasons!) They haven’t won the Conference championship since 2010 and this doesn’t look like changing this year. Still, they should fill a few Bowl Slots.

1st Virginia Cavaliers

The Cavaliers ended 2018 with a bit of a flourish winning the BELK Bowl 28-0, and although they ended up 8-5 overall they had a couple of heartbreaking OT losses on the road to wind up what could have so easily been a double-digit campaign. Bryce Perkins had a nice first season starting all 13 games in 2018 and throwing 25 TDs. He has a good chunk of last years receiving corp returning and Joe Reed, in particular, could have a big season. Apart from Notre Dame on the 28th September the schedule doesn’t look too taxing and we see a floor of 7 wins and a ceiling around 10. Another Bowl win in 2019 should give them a double-digit season.

Predicted Record 9-3

2nd Miami Huricanes

Miami looked to be heading for a New Year’s Bowl Game going into October at 5-1, but then the wheels fell off with four consecutive defeats (three of which were one-score games). They finished with a couple of nice wins including beating the Division winners Pittsburgh to get to the Pinstripe Bowl where they were thrashed by Wisconsin. Their defence was sound but offensively they struggled a bit and they may have rectified this with the transfer of Ohio State QB Tate Martell. Like last year they start off with a tough SEC game, this time against  Florida, however, they should be 3-1 going into what should prove to be the decisive games against Virginia & Virginia Tech. Both of these are at home and they should go at least 1-1 in them. Road Ganes at Florida State & Pittsburgh will not be easy and a road game at C-USA Florida State are no gimmes but we see at least 8 wins and more probably 9. The game against the Cavs could decide the division.

Predicted record  9-3

3rd Virginia Tech

The Hokies had a mediocre 2018 generally winning against poor teams and losing badly at times. The Loss to Old Dominion will haunt them for a while, but their OT win over Virginia effectively gained them a bowl place. finishing 6-6 was about right and they could do a little better this year. They get the chance of revenge against Old Dominion and their non-conference schedule looks pretty easy, the trip to Notre Dame aside.  They should get at least 6 wins and nine is not out of the question.

Predicted record 8-4

4th Pittsburgh Panthers

To almost everyone’s amazement, the Panthers won the Coastal last year (their first ever) all be it with a 7-5 record. The season included some beat downs when they faced ranked teams and they finished with a 7-7 record thanks to three consecutive defeats to round things off. They will miss RB Qadree Ollison who was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons and despite their steady progress under head coach Pat Narduzzi we can’t see a repeat in 2019. They have a pretty tough schedule again and September starts with Virginia and includes Penn State & UCF back to back to h. We can see them struggling to match last seasons win total and might miss out on a bowl game if they don’t get the rub of the green.

Predicted Record 6-6

5th Duke Blue Devils

Duke actually had more wins in the end than division winners Pittsburgh last year, however, they did have 1st round draft pick Daniel Jones under centre. They had impressive wins over Army, Northwestern & at Miami, but lost a shootout with Pittsburgh and finished badly losing their last two games by a combined score of 94-13!. they did manage a convincing win over Temple in the Independence Bowl though to send Daniel Jones off to the NFL on a high (423 yards passing and 5TDs). Duke started 4-0 last year but given they play Alabama in the opener that’s not happening this time and they won’t find their other early non-conference game at Midd Tennessee a walkover. They might struggle to be bowl eligible this year which would be a rarity under David Cutcliffe’s coaching.

Predicted Finish 6-6

6th Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Georgia Tech will have a new head coach, Geoff Collins and a lot of questions regarding how they will perform this year. We think it will be one of transition with a new QB and unproven Wide Receivers being the biggest worry. Next year they should be good but a big step back is likely first especially with this schedule. Their Conference road games are at Clemson, Duke, Miami & Virginia, and of course, they also entertain Playoff probables Georgia in their final game. Even their non-conference slots against the AAC are hard and thus we think they will be lucky to win five games and four wins look more likely.

Predicted Record 4-8

North Carolina Tar Heels

The Tar Heels had a pretty poor 2018 and have turned to former star head coach Mack Brown to try and turn things around. Given this, expectations are high (well higher than last year), however, we doubt he can turn it around in one season and expect a bit of consolidation at best while he looks to recruit for 2020. They finished 2-9 last year and looking at the schedule a similar finish can’t be ruled out, with an 0-5 start a distinct possibility. There are a few close looking games on the slate though and some have got to go their way, so slightly better season is likely but no bowl game.

Predicted Record 3-9

Conference Championship

We expect Clemson to win it fairly easily beating Virginia.

Overall the ACC looks like sending a team to the College Football Playoff and filling their allotted 10 College Bowl slots this year.

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