As ACC Media Days signifies every single year, the 2025 college football season is almost here. It's time to predict who will win the "All Coast Conference" as 16 teams try and figure out how to chase down Clemson and Dabo Swinney.

Our team of college football analysts here at A to Z Sports came together and ranked every ACC team from 1st to 17th by their chances to win the conference this season. Once we found our consensus each writer submitted their case for a team in the ACC.

How might they make it to the championship? What needs to happen for the best case scenario to play out for all of the major contenders in the ACC? Each team had a writer assigned to convince fans that hope indeed does spring anew for many teams across the conference. So, without further ado, here's how our A to Z Sports team of analysts ranks every team in the ACC for the 2025 college football season.

1. Clemson Tigers

"The easiest thing to love about Clemson is how Dabo Swinney is bringing 16 starters back from what turned out to be a very good team by the end of 2024. Last season's Tigers were extremely young, and it's not a big deal that three of their losses (Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas) came to elite competition with freak athletes all over the field.

Fast-forward to this season, where quarterback Cade Klubnik is my QB1 entering the 2026 NFL Draft season, defensive linemen Peter Woods and T.J. Parker are top-five talents on my board, and wide receiver Bryant Wesco is looming as a premier playmaker in Year 2. Swinney's swag is back alongside a loaded roster that was built eerily similarly to his past title-winning squads." – Ian Valentino, A to Z Sports National College Football Writer

2. SMU Mustangs

"SMU shocked everyone last year by going 11-1 and making it to the ACC Championship Game, followed by the College Football Playoff. Let's be real here, the ACC isn't exactly looking like a powerhouse this year, and the Mustangs have continuity on both sides of the ball and a dynamic playmaker at quarterback in Kevin Jennings.

His presence is going to be huge, as the dual-threat will have another year of experience under his belt, which will be crucial to elevating the Mustangs back to the top of the ACC. Keep an eye on tight end RJ Maryland returning from a season ending injury to be a dominant force for the Mustangs too." – Tyler Forness, A to Z Sports Florida Gators

3. Miami Hurricanes

"Miami has to replace the No. 1 overall pick, Cam Ward, five wide receivers, and a starting running back. In steps former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck. Best case for the Canes is Beck returns to his NFL draft buzz Georgia form and meshes well with one of the best offensive lines in the country. The offense is designed to cater to a quarterback with a big arm. Beck could take advantage of this. Furthermore, Bill Connelly's SP+ Rankings are high on the Canes, projecting it to have the best offense in the country despite eight starters being gone from last year's unit. I expect the offense to start out balanced while slightly run-heavy to let Beck settle in.

Defensively, the unit was 44th per SP+ a year ago and has a real shot at improving the metric this season. New defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman brings an aggressive 4-2-5 defense which helped Minnesota field the nation’s No. 5 defense a year ago." – Zach Berry, A to Z Sports Texas Longhorns

4. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

"The most important player on most teams is their quarterback, but that would be an understatement for Georgia Tech this year. Haynes King proved to be one of the most efficient playmakers in the country last year who consistently made good decisions, keeping the Yellow Jackets in critical games. Despite his low volume passing he ranked seventh among all FBS QBs in pass EPA per play and threw just one interception all year long prior to the bowl game.

The Yellow Jackets return a ton of experience on defense and added a few key transfers on the offense, including highly productive wide receiver Eric Rivers to replace the departed Eric Singleton. If the version of Georgia Tech who faced off with Georgia to end last regular season shows up they can beat anyone in the ACC." – Travis May, A to Z Sports College Football & NFL Managing Editor

5. Louisville Cardinals

"The Cardinals of Louisville have all the makings of a sleeper conference contender this season. Their schedule is not a particularly difficult path, and ten wins is absolutely on the table. Other conference foes are challenged a bit more in their slates.

Isaac Brown is one of the most underrated (and talented) running backs in the country, wide receiver Chris Bell garnered early NFL Draft grades from scouting services this offseason, and Miller Moss has the potential to be one of the upper echelon starting QBs in the ACC. Add in a few notable transfer pieces on defense and Jeff Brohm’s team should be in the mix for a top spot in the conference this season." – Adam Holt, A to Z Sports National College Football Writer

6. Duke Blue Devils

"It seems most have already forgotten that Manny Diaz's Duke Blue Devils finished 9-3 last regular season with a top 15 defense in the country via several key metrics like adjusted EPA per play, pass success rate, yards per play allowed, and more. Now they add the number one Group of Five conference quarterback in the country with Darian Mensah (from Tulane) who just posted 10.1 AY/A, over 14 yards per completion, and the sixth highest passer rating in the nation a year ago.

This team is going to shock most every college football fan this season with just how good they are. This is not your older brother's Duke Blue Devils team. It's an absolutely stacked roster top to bottom that may have more talent than every ACC team besides Clemson and Miami." – Travis May, A to Z Sports College Football & NFL Managing Editor

7. NC State Wolfpack

"This season's NC State squad is starting some young second year players in a few key positions like CJ Bailey at quarterback, a couple wide receivers, and perhaps at nickel, but beyond that this is one of the most veteran groups in the nation. Yes, they lost star wide receiver Kevin Concepcion, but beyond that much of their offense remains intact. All but two defensive starters were with the team a year ago.

While it's true the team went 6-6 last regular season, four of those losses came on 17 combined points (all one possession, average margin of loss ~4 points). This team was close to potential greatness already a year ago. – Travis May, A to Z Sports College Football & NFL Draft Managing Editor

8. Florida State Seminoles

"The Florida State Seminoles are coming off one of their worst seasons since the 1970s, so I understand why there would be push back on them being even decent in 2025. However, the reality is that last year was likely an anomaly. Yes, they were a bad team, but something strange happened–something that I highly doubt happens again. They dealt with crazy injuries, bad scheme fits, rough offensive line play, and absolutely horrific quarterback play that put the defense in bad situations.

Florida State hit the portal hard and grabbed a pretty good quarterback while there in Tommy Castellanos. They added weapons around the QB with some very good transfer portal receivers and running backs. The defense found some playmakers of their own. Overall, this roster is much better on paper. This is a hot seat type of year for Mike Norvell, and it just feels like he will certainly have his team ready to play. They open their season against Alabama, so that certainly doesn't help, but their schedule is fairly easy beyond that." – Justin Churchill, A to Z Sports Oklahoma Sooners

Wildcard ACC contenders

9. Syracuse Orange
10. North Carolina Tar Heels
11. Pittsburgh Panthers

This tier of ACC teams all likely have a near zero chance at winning the conference this year, but offer some true wildcard upside if everything breaks just right.

Syracuse went 10-3 in their first season with Fran Brown, but need to plug in a new quarterback quickly–whether that's the young dual threat Rickie Collins or veteran transfer Steve Angeli. North Carolina has Bill Belichick at the helm and at least a dozen new starters, including transfer QB Gio Lopez, so there's almost no way to know what they are exactly this year. The Pitt Panthers need a big leap in consistency from hyper-athletic quarterback Eli Holstein, but at his best he looked phenomenal.

This tier most likely plays spoilers for a few of the real contenders this season given that their rosters do have significant talent.

Best of the rest in the ACC

12. Boston College Eagles
13. Virginia Tech Hokies
14. Virginia Cavaliers
15. California Golden Bears
16. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
17. Stanford Cardinal

There is only one team in this tier of six squads that sports books give better than 70 to 1 odds at winning the ACC this season. One of these teams likely emerges as a complete surprise because that's how the ACC generally works every single year, but there's a reason exactly none of these teams won more than seven games last year, finishing at or below .500 in conference play.

Boston College and Virginia Tech might win some games with their skill talent and underrated quarterbacks. Virginia at least tried to revamp both sides of the ball with 10 new starters from the transfer portal. This tier is still likely going to struggle overall to keep up.

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