Alright as you saw I did a pretty good job last year with this with VT and Pitt basically switching spots. I picked each game going in a little bit blind on some teams but here are my predictions for the Jackets game by game and then the ACC schedule with some notes.
My best case scenario for GT would be 8-4 so for my picks I used that starting with an upset over FSU in Ireland as the baseline for my prediction.
I have GT starting out 4-0 with the first loss coming at Louisville and then losses to Notre Dame in the Benz, Miami here and UGA. Miami/UNC games are interchangeable to me and the NC State/Louisville games could switch as well, but this is my gut feeling right now. So GT could be anywhere from 6-6 to 9-3 (if everything fell into place and there were no significant injuries). That is my range, but my gut says 8-4 is the ceiling and 5-7 is the absolute floor if things go wrong.
Here are my ACC picks
Clemson 11-1
FSU 9-3
Louisville 9-3
Miami 9-3
NC State 9-3
SMU 9-3
GT 8-4
UNC 8-4
VaTech 8-4
Cal 6-6
Syracuse 6-6
Wake Forest 6-6
Pitt 5-7
BC 4-8
Duke 4-8
Stanford 4-8
Virginia 3-9
Louisville, Miami, NC State and SMU really benefit from soft scheduling. For example Louisville plays Austin Peay, Jax State, at UVA, at BC and at Stanford probably the worst ACC teams for this upcoming season as their main conference road games other than a trip to Death Valley. They play in South Bend so that will hurt them.
Cal and SMU will be decent and Stanford is in a full rebuild as far as the new teams go. SMU draws Duke, Stanford, Pitt, BC, UVA and Cal so they are getting the Louisville schedule from last year so I would not be shocked to see them have a really strong season.
I have Clemson and Louisville in the ACC Championship game and the Tigers going undefeated in ACC play. I don't feel great about this but Clemson has a medium level ACC schedule.
This type of season would help the ACC because you'd end up with 5 possible top 25 teams depending on bowl pairings.
I have GT headed to El Paso for the Sun Bowl because that is the type of move the ACC would make.
Clemson as the lone playoff team from the league. I think if FSU gets to 10 wins again they would also be in the playoff, but in my scenario they'd need to beat GT, Clem or ND to make that happen.
Hopefully I did this correctly, I'm sitting in the Dallas Love airport hoping to make it home tonight thanks to shitty weather everywhere.
My best case scenario for GT would be 8-4 so for my picks I used that starting with an upset over FSU in Ireland as the baseline for my prediction.
I have GT starting out 4-0 with the first loss coming at Louisville and then losses to Notre Dame in the Benz, Miami here and UGA. Miami/UNC games are interchangeable to me and the NC State/Louisville games could switch as well, but this is my gut feeling right now. So GT could be anywhere from 6-6 to 9-3 (if everything fell into place and there were no significant injuries). That is my range, but my gut says 8-4 is the ceiling and 5-7 is the absolute floor if things go wrong.
Here are my ACC picks
Clemson 11-1
FSU 9-3
Louisville 9-3
Miami 9-3
NC State 9-3
SMU 9-3
GT 8-4
UNC 8-4
VaTech 8-4
Cal 6-6
Syracuse 6-6
Wake Forest 6-6
Pitt 5-7
BC 4-8
Duke 4-8
Stanford 4-8
Virginia 3-9
Louisville, Miami, NC State and SMU really benefit from soft scheduling. For example Louisville plays Austin Peay, Jax State, at UVA, at BC and at Stanford probably the worst ACC teams for this upcoming season as their main conference road games other than a trip to Death Valley. They play in South Bend so that will hurt them.
Cal and SMU will be decent and Stanford is in a full rebuild as far as the new teams go. SMU draws Duke, Stanford, Pitt, BC, UVA and Cal so they are getting the Louisville schedule from last year so I would not be shocked to see them have a really strong season.
I have Clemson and Louisville in the ACC Championship game and the Tigers going undefeated in ACC play. I don't feel great about this but Clemson has a medium level ACC schedule.
This type of season would help the ACC because you'd end up with 5 possible top 25 teams depending on bowl pairings.
I have GT headed to El Paso for the Sun Bowl because that is the type of move the ACC would make.
Clemson as the lone playoff team from the league. I think if FSU gets to 10 wins again they would also be in the playoff, but in my scenario they'd need to beat GT, Clem or ND to make that happen.
Hopefully I did this correctly, I'm sitting in the Dallas Love airport hoping to make it home tonight thanks to shitty weather everywhere.
