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Predicting ACC football's best, most surprising and most disappointing teams in 2025 season
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- Predicting ACC football's best, most surprising and most disappointing teams in 2025 season
ACC football was full of surprises last season.
SMU had the best conference regular season record after joining the league with Cal and Stanford . The Mustangs made the expanded College Football Playoff with league champion Clemson to send the third-most teams out of any conference.
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There were unpleasant surprises, too, for teams including FSU , going from ACC champion to finishing last in the conference. Pitt started the season with a 7-0 record but lost its final six games.
2025 will be full of more moments, especially with UNC hiring Bill Belichick as its new coach and other notable transfer portal moves throughout the conference. Here's our picks for the ACC's best, most surprising and disappointing teams this season.
Best team: Clemson football, Dabo Swinney continue dominance
The Tigers will be the cream of the ACC crop again. Clemson returned the most production in Division I (80%), per ESPN . Quarterback Cade Klubnik leads the returnees as offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, all three end-of-season starting wide receivers and four starting offensive linemen are back.
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Defensively, Clemson retained its star players, including tackle Peter Woods, edge rusher T.J. Parker and cornerback Avieon Terrell . The Tigers hired Penn State 's Tom Allen as defensive coordinator to help shore up its deficiencies.
The Tigers have won eight of the last 10 ACC championships, and this year's team is arguably its most talented since the 2019 unit that made the national championship. Clemson's combo of talent and experience will seal its bid to the College Football Playoff again.
Most surprising team: Georgia Tech makes first ACC championship since 2014
Other than Clemson, there has been a new team to make the ACC championship game every year since 2019. Georgia Tech will be the school to make this list in 2025.
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MORE: How former Clemson football QB Tajh Boyd matches Tigers' 2025 wide receivers to stars of his era
The Yellow Jackets haven't made the ACC championship since 2014 and had back-to-back seven-win seasons under coach Brent Key. Still, they are built to overcome their estimated seven- or eight-game win total via ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI).
Similar to the Tigers, Georgia Tech has a veteran quarterback in Haynes King . The sixth-year player enters his third full season as a starter after leading ACC quarterbacks in completion percentage and rushing touchdowns despite missing two games with a shoulder injury. Running back Jamal Haynes is back for his fifth season, and Georgia Tech has star players on defense with tackle Jordan van der Berg, linebacker Kyle Efford and cornerback Ahmari Harvey.
The Yellow Jackets have some roster positions to solve, but they can be a breakout team this season if key players remain healthy.
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Most disappointing team: FSU, Mike Norvell's struggles persist
Florida State went from winning the ACC with a 13-0 record and being a College Football Playoff snub in 2023 and to a disastrous two-win season last year. FSU's two wins were its fewest since 1974.
Seminoles coach Mike Norvell hired two new coordinators, returned numerous young players and added 46 new players, highlighted by former Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos . His team is embracing expectations entering 2025, but FSU's schedule will prove to be daunting.
Florida State has the 24th toughest strength of schedule, per ESPN's FPI, with home games against Alabama , Miami, Pitt and Virginia Tech and road matchups against Clemson and Florida. If FSU doesn't win six games, it would be Norvell's fourth year not being bowl eligible in his six-year tenure.
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Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: ACC football predictions 2025: Best, most surprising, disappointing
