ACC Football preview 2024: Predicted winner, hot seat watch, Heisman chances and more

Of all the Power Four conferences, we face the most uncertainty with the ACC, both in the short-term and the long run.

This may be my boss, FanSided.com and False Start co-host Cody Williams' beloved conference, but I wonder if this league is going to be around in three or four years. Their TV contract with ESPN is slowly killing them. All the while, somebody from this league is going places!

Yes, we have arrived at the fourth of four Power Four previews ahead of the 2024 college football season. I will unpack my thoughts on the Group of Five early next week, as well as the sport at large by this time next week. For now, I attempted to gather my thoughts to try to unpack this league the best I can.

I have an idea of who is going to be good, who is going to be bad, but who really knows?

My favorite thing about really diving into the ACC in the only way I can is that it helps solidify in my mind who is going to make the expanded College Football Playoff. Yes, the ACC is going to be getting a team in this fall, maybe two if the conference is so lucky. Furthermore, I am intrigued to see how the new entrants of Cal, SMU and Stanford do in their new league, one that was in the Eastern Time Zone.

Let's get down to brass tax. What teams do Cody Williams and I have going to Charlotte this season?

Playoffs? You Kiddin' Me?!: Who will play for the ACC Championship?

Not going to lie, Cody Williams and I were all over the place with this. I ended up going with the Miami Hurricanes beating the SMU Mustangs to get the AQ spot out of the ACC this year. Williams ended up going with his wife's alma mater of the North Carolina State Wolfpack beating the up-and-coming Virginia Tech Hokies. We are both bullish on Virginia Tech, but we did not agree on much else with this.

My thought is Miami has the best quarterback/running back tandem in the conference with The Pacific Northwest Step Brothers backfield of Cam Ward and Damien Martinez. Even if Mario Cristobal cannot coach his way out of a wet paper bag, there is simply too much talent for him to thumbscrew this into oblivion like he is Ross Geller or something. I like the Ponies a lot because of Rhett Lashlee.

Williams is big on Grayson McCall coming over from Coastal Carolina to join Dave Doeren's team. I too think making the playoff is in play for the Wolfpack, as it is with the Hokies. My concern is NC State has one of the hardest schedules in the league this year. I have them going 8-4, looking up at 10-2 Virginia Tech and 11-1 Miami and SMU. What about Clemson and Florida State this season?

They have brutal schedules as well, as I have the Seminoles and the Tigers each going 9-3 or so.

It's Gettin' Hot in Herre!: ACC head coaches on hot seat entering 2024

One of the few areas where Cody Williams and I agreed on for the most part is who is on the hot seat in the ACC. We both agreed that this might be it for Tony Elliott at Virginia, as well as Pat Narduzzi at Pittsburgh. Nard Dawg needs to go bowling, while Elliott needs to push for bowl eligibility. I have the Hoos going 3-9 and Pitt only one win better at 4-8. I would be shocked if both are still around in 2025.

After that, we both agreed that we could see Dave Clawson and Troy Taylor out at Wake Forest and Stanford respectively if it hit the fan for their teams. Again, I think Taylor is too new to Stanford to realistically get the axe after only two years on the job, especially with the Cardinal moving from the Pac-12 to the ACC. As for Clawson, the Deacs might need to finish in last for this to even materialize.

Beyond that, I think there could be a forced retirement coming in Chapel Hill for iconic North Carolina head coach Mack Brown. Retirement, termination, whatever, it just might be time. Cody added that one of our favorite coaches in the profession, Justin Wilcox, could be out at the end of the season for Cal reasons. He will get hired immediately either as a head coach or as a defensive coordinator.

A few head coaches will be out at the end of the season in the ACC, but Elliott is pretty much a lock.

LIVE! From Eric Crouch's Couch: Best Heisman contender in the ACC

While Cody Williams and I agreed on our top-two choices to potentially win the Heisman Trophy out of the ACC, it went to hell in a hand basket very quickly after that. He and I like Miami quarterback Cam Ward as our best bet to get to New York, followed by Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones. We are bullish on these two quarterbacks, as we each have one of them playing for the ACC crown.

I rounded out my top five with Ward's Miami teammate in running back Damien Martinez, SMU quarterback Preston Stone and Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos. My sleeper pick is Cal running back Jadyn Ott, who I kept calling Zach for some reason... Cody may have been naught on Ott, but he likes Grayson McCall, Omarion Hampton and D.J. Uiagalelei to round out his top five.

I did consider the NC State quarterback and the Florida State quarterback, but I have a hard time seeing the Tar Heels running back getting to New York. Williams did make a great sleeper pick by biting the bullet and going with Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy. This league will be all about the transfer quarterback, as many of them stand the best shot at possibly winning the Heisman Trophy.

One big name neither of us mentioned was Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, and for good reason!

I'm Trying, Jennifer...: Most likely team to go winless in ACC play

Even though I feel the ACC is balanced toward the middle of the conference, I have four contenders I think could go winless in conference play. Those would be Pittsburgh, Stanford, Virginia and Wake Forest. Naturally, I have all four of their head coaches on the hot seat. To me, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest have too much talent to go winless. After all, they played for an ACC title three seasons ago.

So, between Stanford and Virginia, I would have to go with the Cardinal. It is a combination of Troy Taylor only entering his second season at the helm, as well as the team joining a conference that is largely three time zones ahead of West Coast time in Palo Alto, California. Yes, I understand that other teams will have to play Stanford down on The Farm, but going West to East sounds like a nightmare.

In truth, I don't think any team is going winless in ACC play. Stanford could beat crosstown rival Cal, and Virginia could conceivably knock off a traditional rival, someone like a North Carolina or a Virginia Tech. What is important to understand is even if the bottom of the ACC is bad, the top of the league could still get got. There are very few games I can see where someone does not stand a chance.

Stanford might get the benefit of the doubt, but going winless would be rough for the other three.

The Paul Finch Satin Kimono: Biggest pretender in the ACC

One of the biggest revelations from Episode 102 of False Start for our ACC preview is that Cody Williams and I felt strongly that any candidate for The Paul Finch Satin Kimono could also be a candidate for the Definitely, Maybe. It is all about spin and context. I had three up for the Satin Kimono and Cody had two. I settled on Georgia Tech and he went with Clemson. We had our reasons for this.

My thing with the Ramblin' Wreck is the Yellow Jackets' schedule is brutal. I only have them winning five games, and that includes an upset of North Carolina State. Cody is more down on Clemson than I am, who I had as my tertiary. He has questions about the coaching staff, as well as Cade Klubnik and Dabo Swinney's never-ending hatred for the transfer portal. I felt the same away about Clemson, too.

As for our secondaries, I went with North Carolina State because of the Wolfpack's schedule. He was down on SMU because of the Mustangs making the move up from the AAC, as well as the play of quarterback Preston Stone. The funny part is we felt the exact opposite about both teams. We think the other's Satin Kimono candidate Definitely, Maybe might be good. Again, this is the ACC after all.

I think the real big takeaway is nobody is buying into what Swinney is selling at Clemson any longer.

Definitely, Maybe Might Be Good: Most underrated team in the ACC

While we did not have as many teams up for consideration for Definitely, Maybe, I had three worthy of discussing, including the lone one Cody Williams is all about. As stated before, I am all-in on SMU, as I have the Mustangs going to Charlotte and losing to Miami. My secondary candidate for the Definitely, Maybe was Cody's lone choice in the Virginia Tech Hokies. This feels like a team that'll win 10 games.

The last time I had in consideration for those was the Boston College Eagles. I may be more bullish on BC than most, but this is a job Bill O'Brien ran to when Jeff Hafley left to go be the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator. He is a great offensive mind, as illustrated by his prolific coaching career. Thomas Castellanos may not be nearly as good as what Bryce Young was, but he is fun to watch play!

The one big thing that stands out to me when it came to picking teams that Definitely, Maybe Might Be Good is that we are just really down on the ACC as a whole. This is a team that may only get its AQ spot into the recently expanded College Football Playoff. If Notre Dame was not a national independent and played eight conference games, the Irish would wipe the floor with nearly everyone.

The big key here is people are buying in more and more to what Brent Pry is doing up in Blacksburg.

Du Hast or Du Hasst?: Will the ACC get multiple teams into the playoff?

Now that I have picked win totals for all four Power Four conferences, this is a no-brainer. Du Hasst, two s. While there could be as many as six teams in my estimation that could get to Charlotte and conceivably win it, I am dubious that we will get two teams to 11 wins in this league. This is because teams like Miami and North Carolina State are creeping in on Florida State and Clemson's territory.

I still need to figure out who is going to represent the Group of Five this year, but I only have one ACC team getting in. That would be the Miami Hurricanes who I have winning the league. If we want to count Notre Dame as an ACC team, then that makes two, I suppose. I have the Golden Domers going undefeated and into the first-round of the College Football Playoff. Can you say No. 5 seed, Irish?

I think the big question now is does the Big 12 get two in. We know the Big Ten will get in at least three and the SEC in at least four. Again, there are only so many spots to be had, even in an expanded playoff field. For now, we have to accept the fact that these are the new rules everybody wanted with five AQ spots, plus seven at-large teams. This may crush the ACC long-term, but they have a seat...

The only way the ACC gets two teams in is if Clemson and Florida State look dominant once again.

Pat the Doc: How will conference realignment impact the ACC in 2024?

I hate to say it, but the latest wave of conference realignment may have the potential to end the ACC in the next few years. Even though they gained three new teams for this season in Cal, Stanford and SMU, who else has odd number teams in its league? Great thinking there, Jim Phillips... More importantly, they may have only got ACC invitations out of technicalities and fear of a total collapse.

If you did the math, these could be the three schools to offset the ACC potentially losing Clemson, Florida and maybe even North Carolina in a few years. Clemson and Florida State may want out of the utterly atrocious Grant of Rights, but it is North Carolina, as well as Virginia, that every other league in the Power Four would love to add. If UNC and UVA decide they want out, the ACC will be so cooked.

Yes, the addition of SMU has many people's intrigue. I love the fact that they want to move up a level in competition more than anything in the world. They are foregoing nine years of ACC TV revenue to make this happen. Who cares? They are loaded anyway. As for Cal and Stanford, these felt like panic additions. Their fans may be excited about a new league, but the schools feel like reluctant partners.

Phillips and the ACC will need to reinvent itself on the fly in the next year or so in order to survive.