Which Teams Are Dark Horses to Make the ACC Championship Game

Last year, the Tar Heels finished the year with a 6-7 record and a 3-5 record in conference play. Sophomore quarterback Gio Lopez will hope to lead the Heels to the promised land, but a sneaky difficult schedule may cause a couple of road bumps in Belichick's first year at the helm.

Florida State

Mike Norvell's Seminoles are coming off of an incredibly disappointing 2024 campaign where the Noles only won two games all year. However, a very strong offseason in Tallahassee has created plenty of optimism for the garnet and gold. The biggest addition to the team was not a player, but it came in the form of two new coordinators. 

Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn brings tons of expertise with him to Tallahassee, and with new quarterback Thomas Castellanos from Boston College, the sky is the limit for this offense. Defensively, the Noles hired Tony White from Nebraska, who will look to improve the Noles' defense and limit the 29.9 points per game that they allowed last year.

Virginia Tech

Up in Blacksburg, Kyron Drones and Company will look to further improve their offensive efficiency in the upcoming season. Last year, the offense was inconsistent to say the least. They struggled on third downs and didn't have the ball for long spans of time. Furthermore, Drones barely had time to breathe in the pocket. 

Brent Pry and his staff addressed this in the portal when they added Thomas Rimac from West Virginia in the offseason. The Hokies also added Donavon Greene from Wake Forest to their roster. Greene will surely be a top target for Drones.

Duke

To round off this list is the team from Durham. The Blue Devils were very active in the portal after losing quarterback Maalik Murphy to the Oregon State Beavers. Their replacement, Darien Mensah, comes from the Tulane Green Wave and looks to keep the ball out of the opponents' hands, which was a struggle for Murphy. 

With one of the best offensive lines in the country, Offensive Coordinator Jonathan Brewer has to be licking his chops for this upcoming year with Mensah at the helm. Expect this offense to be very impressive and for the defense to improve under the defensive-minded Manny Diaz.

Prediction

I could see a valid argument for either of these four teams to break into the conversation for the ACC Championship Game. Personally, I believe that the Duke Blue Devils have an excellent opportunity to sneak into the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on December 6th.

Why? Darian Mensah was one of the best quarterbacks in the transfer class this past year. He threw for over 2,700 yards during his time at Tulane. With his 22 touchdowns and only six interceptions, he is very careful with the ball in his hands, which is where Maalik Murphy struggled last season. Mensah will thrive in Durham and will have the weapons to take the Blue Devils to Charlotte.

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