As the Summer slowly passes by, the gears of the Fake College Football world are starting to slowly kick into action as rumor has it that we are less than a month away from the Opening Kickoff of Season 3. Plenty of Storylines to go around in the ACC. Can NC State make the ACC Title for the 3rd year in a row with a 3rd coach? Who will fill the void left by Pitt after their coach went to Notre Dame? How will the new coaches to the ACC at NC State and Virginia fare in their 1st season in the ACC?

Now I will be giving my Preseason Predictions on the ACC records of each team and putting the teams in tiers. The predictions and the Power Rankings won’t line up exactly here as Predictions are more of my thoughts and the Power Rankings are based mostly on the 1st 2 seasons.

Tier I: Legit National Title Contenders

1.) Georgia Tech- 6-2, 3rd in Coastal. Georgia Tech comes in as the obvious favorite in the ACC after being dead last in these Power Rankings for almost every week last season with the hire of NC State’s coach and the departure of Pitt’s coach. Coming of an ACC Title appearance and a trip to the Playoffs they look to be one of the favorites to bring home the Season 3 National Championship but they will definitely have to earn it as they play one of the toughest schedules in the Nation. Their 1st 4 games have to be the toughest in the National as they play Penn State, NC State, Virginia Tech, and UMass all in a row. That could bit them hard as teams from Season 2 showed.

2.) NC State– 6-2, 1st in Atlantic. NC State enters as the Atlantic favorite looking to be the 1st team to make 3 Conference Title games in a row and this would be on their 3rd coach as they hired Cal’s coach in the offseason. It will be interesting to see if their success from the PAC-12 can translate to the ACC. Playing in the weaker Atlantic will definitely make the transition easier on them.

Tier II: Legit ACC Title Continders

3.) Duke– 5-3, 4th in Coastal. Duke enters as one of the most stable teams in the ACC as they are one of the few teams in the nation who have had the same coach throughout the entire history of the league. Having shown success in both prior seasons as a Top 25 team, they look to take the next step and make the ACC Championship this season but the Coastal won’t make that easy on them as their are 5 teams who all have a great shot to get to Charlotte. It will also be interesting to see if the offense continues to light the world on fire like they did the final 3 games of this past season or if they return to a more defensive-based team.

4.) Boston College– 5-3, 2nd in Atlantic. Boston College also enters the season as one of more consistent teams in the ACC as their 1st two seasons followed a very similar pattern of starting off looking like a playoff contender then collapsing down the stretch. If Boston College can piece together an entire season like their 1st halves have been then they will be a very real threat to NC State’s reign of terror over the Atlantic but until they can prove that they can do that they will be viewed as 2nd fiddle to NC State.

5.) Virginia Tech– 6-2, 2nd in Coastal. Virginia Tech looks to climb to the top of the ACC Standings this season with the hire of Louisville’s coach who also looks to get over the hump and make the ACC Championship. Virginia Tech appears to be the type of team where a couple of massive plays will swing their season which could either push them to the Top of the ACC or into mediocrity at the bottom of the 5 team scramble for the Coastal.

6.) North Carolina– 6-2, 1st in Coastal. North Carolina also looks to be the team who arises from the mess of the Coastal with the hire of Virginia Tech’s coach who has shown they can beat the best of the best but he’s also shown that he can lay an egg against weaker teams which might be the Achilles heel of this team as well as they fact they have to play NC State in cross-division play.

7.) Virginia– 5-3, 5th in Coastal. Of the 5 team scramble in the Coastal, Virginia is the most uncertain of them as they hired Arkansas’s coach from the SEC. The jump from the SEC West to the ACC Coastal has to be one of the biggest of any coach in the same tier as FIU’s new coach’s jump from the Big 10 West to the C-USA East. UVA has the lowest floor of any of these 5 teams here in my opinion which what places them at the bottom of the group but make no mistake they have the potential to make it out of here as Coastal Champs.

Tier III: Need some luck but have a realistic shot at making the ACC Title

8.) Clemson– 5-3, 3rd in Atlantic. Clemson had to be one of the strangest teams in the Nation as they lost some awful games to Ball State, Georgia Tech, and Temple while also beating BC, Virginia, and Louisville and being a call or 2 way from beating NC State and making the ACC Championship. If Clemson can add some consistency they could very well make the Atlantic Race a lot more interesting but they could also go the other direction as well. This team might have the widest range between their floor and ceiling of any team in the ACC.

9.) Syracuse– 4-4, 4th in Atlantic. Syracuse was similar to Clemson in many ways as Syracuse seemed to either be very hot or very cold all season with no in between. It seemed they were either on some long winning or losing streak all season. Less extreme version of Clemson and if they can get hot at the right time they could realistically sneak into Charlotte.

Tier IV: The Bottom Feeders

10.) Wake Forest– 1-7, 7th in Atlantic. The only real thing Wake has going for it is Stability at the coaching position as they don’t show signs of being able to hang with the good teams of the ACC and there is nothing of excitement from this team.

11.) Florida State– 2-6, 6th in Atlantic. Florida State was mostly a victim of a brutal SOS as 6 of their 7 losses came against Top 51 teams. They just never had the chance to play teams in the 60-90 range which makes it hard to figure out where they fit in last season. Stability at the coaching position should help them out.

12.) Pittsburgh– 2-6, 6th in Coastal. Pittsburgh ruled the ACC team last season taking home the ACC Crown and making it to the Semifinals of the Playoffs but their coach left for the greener pasture of South Bend which had them scrambling and hiring UNC’s coach from last season. They don’t show much promise this season as especially with the strength of the Coastal this season which doesn’t leave them much room to gain confidence.

13.) Miami– 1-7, 7th in Coastal. Miami had one of the worst offenses in league history last season as they only scored 20 points or more three times all season and this wasn’t against all that good SOS. They didn’t beat a team inside the Top 85 last season. There isn’t much to look forward to for Miami fans.

14.) Louisville– 2-6, 5th in Atlantic. I would be naive to put anyone else here other than the team coached by the former GT coach who held this last place spot for almost every week last season. They started to play better towards the end of the season and I’d say they have more upside than either Pitt or Miami as they play in the weaker Atlantic.

Atlantic (Projected ACC Record) Coastal (Projected ACC Record) 1. NC State (6-2) 1. North Carolina (6-2) 2. Boston College (5-3) 2. Virginia Tech (6-2) 3. Clemson (5-3) 3. Georgia Tech (6-2) 4. Syracuse (4-4) 4. Duke (5-3) 5. Louisville (2-6) 5. Virginia (5-3) 6. Florida State (2-6) 6. Pittsburgh (2-6) 7. Wake Forest (1-7) 7. Miami (1-7)

Projected ACC Title Game: NC State defeats North Carolina 42-38.