Welcome to Yahoo Sports’ 2018 conference previews. With the official start of the 2018 season just days away, we’re doing things a little differently this year. We’re power ranking the teams in each FBS conference. Like our preseason top 25, these rankings will undoubtedly be wrong.

Previously: Group of Five conferences

14. Syracuse (2017 finish: 4-8, 7th Atlantic Division)

Eric Dungey is a senior in 2018 and we hope he can make it through a full season. He’s started fewer than 10 games in each of his first three seasons with the Orange. Dungey is one of those guys you want to stash on your roster in Yahoo’s College Fantasy Football game. When he’s healthy he puts up strong numbers in coach Dino Babers’ offense.

Syracuse does have to find Dungey some new targets. Receivers Steve Ishmael and Ervin Phillips combined for 194 catches in 2017 and are both gone. A run game would be nice too. Dungey was the team’s leading rusher with 595 yards.

And, finally, some defensive improvement is necessary if Syracuse wants to sniff a bowl game. The Orange has given up more than 30 points a game in each of the last three seasons. The schedule is tough given the landscape of the ACC Atlantic and a neutral site game against Notre Dame. A 6-6 season would be a big accomplishment.

13. Virginia (6-7, 5th Coastal)

The Military Bowl was a disaster but the 2017 season has to be considered a success for the Cavaliers. The 49-7 loss to Navy was Virginia’s first bowl appearance since the 2011 season. A Week 4 upset at Boise State was part of a 5-1 start that made fans wonder just what the heck was happening.

They probably started asking themselves the same question over the second half of the season. A 5-1 start transitioned into a 1-5 finish as Virginia only beat Georgia Tech in its final six games.

WR/RB/Do-it-all Olamide Zaccheus should be one of the most fun players in the ACC and running back Jordan Ellis could challenge the 1,000-yard mark. The defense brings back eight starters but has to replace star players Micah Kiser and Quin Blanding. They combined for 282 tackles.

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12. Pittsburgh (5-7, 4th Coastal)

Who is Pitt going to upset in 2018? The Panthers beat Clemson 43-42 in 2016 and stunned Miami in the final week of the regular season in 2017 to break the Hurricanes’ undefeated season. Miami is on the schedule again in 2018 and so is Central Florida and Notre Dame. All three of those are road games for the Panthers, but so was that Clemson game in 2016.

Led by QB Kenny Pickett, the offense returns just four starters but that may not be a terrible thing. Pitt’s offense took a major step backward in 2017. With offensive coordinator Matt Canada off to LSU — and now the interim head coach at Maryland — the Panthers scored 17 fewer points per game and had 80 fewer yards per game. Those offensive declines offset improvement by the defense. Pitt didn’t have to win shootouts in 2017, but it didn’t have an offense capable of getting into a shootout in the first place.

The defense brings back eight of the team’s top nine tacklers from a year ago. If Pat Narduzzi gets the defense to improve again, an improved offense could put Pitt in the mix in an open Coastal.

11. North Carolina (3-9, 7th Coastal)

Will America decline if North Carolina doesn’t finish in the top half of the division? UNC coach Larry Fedora oddly linked the potential decline of football to the decline of America while at ACC media days. And then a few weeks after that, North Carolina suspended 13 players for selling team-issued shoes on eBay.

One of those players suspended is Chazz Surratt, a player widely expected to be the team’s starting quarterback. He’ll miss the first four games of the season, opening the door for Nathan Elliott to be the team’s starting QB.

Defensive linemen Malik Carney and Tomon Fox are also suspended, though their suspensions will be staggered throughout the season. It’s nice for the Tar Heels that the two starters won’t be absent at the same time. But entering the season knowing you’ll be without a starter on the defensive line for eight games isn’t ideal.

10. Wake Forest (8-5, 3rd Atlantic)

The Demon Deacons have the potential to go bowling again in 2018 but are on the wrong side of the ACC. Quarterback Kendall Hinton is suspended to start the year so the team is rolling with true freshman Sam Hartman to start the season.