College football rankings: Biggest hits and misses from the ACC preseason media poll

I can guarantee you that at least one of the 17 teams will be making the College Football Playoff this season. When it comes to the ACC, I cannot guarantee you much more than that. While the league has around four serious playoff hopefuls, the middle is not as good as in other leagues and the bottom of the barrel should be left alone for no one to look at. College football will be returning soon.

For the most part, it feels like a league where either Clemson or Florida State is going to end up winning it. This has been the case for the most part for the better part of the playoff era. Yes, you will occasionally get a team like 2021 Pitt, but don't kid yourselves. This league is top-heavy, which has led to its depreciation in recent years. It is why they added three new teams in Cal, Stanford and SMU.

Before we lose our collective minds completely, here is how the media sized up the ACC this season.

1. Florida State Seminoles (81 first-place votes)
2. Clemson Tigers (55)
3. Miami Hurricanes (17)
4. North Carolina State Wolfpack (8)
5. Louisville Cardinals
6. Virginia Tech Hokies (5)
7. SMU Mustangs
8. North Carolina Tar Heels
9. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (1)
10. California Golden Bears (2)
11. Duke Blue Devils
12. Syracuse Orange
13. Pittsburgh Panthers
14. Boston College Eagles (1)
15. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
16. Virginia Cavaliers
17. Stanford Cardinal

Florida State and Clemson are at the top of the league with 81 and 55 first-place votes respectively, while Miami and North Carolina State round out the top four with 17 and eight first-place votes. The upper middle features Louisville, Virginia Tech, SMU, North Carolina and Georgia Tech, while Cal and Duke start us off in double digits. Down at the very bottom are Wake Forest, Virginia and Stanford...

I get a feeling that teams ranked between No. 5 and No. 14 are much closer than we all even realize.

Without delay, here are three things that the media got the most right, and three they got most wrong.

Hit: SMU Mustangs (No. 7)

I find Rhett Lashlee's SMU Mustangs to be properly rated as the seventh-best team in the ACC. Had they have not made the leap up to the Power Four from the Group of Five, I may have had the Ponies as my pick to make the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff out of that so-called competitive designation. Truth be told, I think they are going to take the ACC by storm because they really want to.

Unlike Cal or Stanford, I don't get any sense that SMU is a reluctant partner in this. SMU wanted to do whatever it took to get back into the highest level of college athletics. The Mustangs are willing to forego some seven or eight year's worth of ACC television revenue to be in their league. I envision SMU being as consistently good in the new ACC as their bitter rival TCU has been over in the Big 12.

SMU is not quite good enough to get to Charlotte this season, but they will get there soon enough.

Miss: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (No. 9)

I know, I know, I know. I shouldn't be doing this as a Georgia alum, but I will give the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets some flowers to polinate and whatnot here. For the first time since George O'Leary was their head coach, I feel like the Jackets are trying to be a serious football team. The Chan Gailey era had its moments, but the Paul Johnson triple-option tore away at its fabric for the sake of wins.

Enter Brent Key. He was one of O'Leary's former players in the 1990s. He may hate Georgia with a fiery passion. Although I am skeptical that the Jackets will ever be a serious rival to the Dawgs again, given how well Kirby Smart has that program humming, but this team is for real in the ACC. With Haynes King back under center for another season, this is far better than the ACC's ninth-best team.

I don't know if I would put them as high as Louisville sitting at No. 5, but they are better than No. 9.

Hit: North Carolina State Wolfpack (No. 4)

Thank you! Water has met its level with everyone's sneaky-good pick to win the ACC in the North Carolina State Wolfpack. I may love that Dave Doeren was able to land former Coastal Carolina star Grayson McCall ahead of what will be his final college season. While there is a strong possibility that this team gets to Charlotte and makes the College Football Playoff, they need to prove it to us first.

There is a clear delineation between the top four teams in the ACC and everyone else. North Carolina State should definitely be in the top four, but they don't have the recent championship-caliber success of rivals Florida State and Clemson, nor do they have the mystique, sexiness or whatnot that makes Miami the hardest program to quit. I may like NC State more than Miami, but not by very much.

How I feel about North Carolina State is on par with how I feel about Oklahoma State in the Big 12.

Miss: Boston College Eagles (No. 14)

I don't get it. Maybe I am ahead of the curve or something? Maybe I just want to believe? That could be it. If Jeff Hafley was still in Chestnut Hill, the Boston College Eagles would be viewed as a top-eight team in the ACC. Thomas Castellanos returns and he is one of the most fun watches in the entire league at quarterbac. Enter Bill O'Brien, a head coach who actually wants to be here with the Eagles.

Even if I am getting to the Bill O'Brien Boston College party a season early, I want to be there when this thing really takes flight. We have a chance to see BC be as good as they were when Matt Ryan was their quarterback. The type of enthusiasm I am feeling about this team is the antithesis of how I feel about Pitt. So why are the Panthers ranked one spot ahead of the Eagles at No. 13? No idea, man.

Boston College should be a top-10 team in the ACC this season, not one of the league's four worst.

Hit: Clemson Tigers (No. 2)

As with North Carolina State coming in at No. 4 in the ACC preseason media poll, I am totally good with where the Clemson Tigers are slotted in at No. 2. For some strange reason, I feel more comfortable with the product I could potentially see coming out of Death Valley than what could be emanating out of Doak Campbell down in Tallahassee. One of these teams will be winning the league.

Does this mean I don't agree with the media putting Florida State No. 1? No, but I kind of like Clemson laying low in the tall grass, waiting to pounce at No. 2. It is all about quarterback play in the end at the top of the ACC. I may like Cam Ward and Grayson McCall more than I do D.J. Uiagalelei and Cade Klubnik, but I know they were more sought-after recruits coming out of high school for a reason, too.

Clemson is probably going to win around 10 games this year. Maybe that is enough for the playoff?

Miss: North Carolina Tar Heels (No. 8)

My FanSided.com colleague and False Start co-host Cody Williams' opinions are starting to rub off on me. He has been adamant about fading his beloved North Carolina Tar Heels. He thinks that Mack Brown is old as sin, that Geoff Collins was not a great defensive coordinator hire and then going with Max Johnson as the starting quarterback was the straw that broke the camel's back. So he is all out!

I may think North Carolina is still a bowl-caliber team for ACC program wins reasons, but I cannot see them being anything more than a 7-5 squad. For that reason, I cannot in good faith have them as a top-eight team in the league. Maybe swap the Heels with Cal at No. 10, or unbelievably, Duke at No. 11. At least with Duke I am excited about their head coach and quarterback combo for this season.

I will take Manny Diaz and Maalik Murphy over Brown and Johnson every day and twice on Saturday.