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Last season, Florida State brought home its first ACC Championship since 2014 as the Seminoles defeated Louisville in Charlotte to finish with a perfect record in conference play. Despite losing many of its top producers from last year’s championship team, the Seminoles are favored to defend their conference crown in 2024 according to the 2024 ACC Preseason Media Poll.
170 members of the media, me included, cast their ballot at the 2024 ACC Football Kickoff last week. I found that slating the top half of the conference was rather difficult this year with many good programs in the ACC. However, I picked FSU to repeat knowing that this is the most talented team Mike Norvell has had during his tenure in Tallahassee and I believe he is the best coach in the ACC at maximizing talent. It appears the majority of voters agree. Yet, I truly believe about 6 to 7 teams are contenders this season.
The final tally put Florida State on top with 2,708 total points edging out Clemson by a narrow 51-point margin. The Noles also led in first-place votes with 81. Clemson, who has won 7 of the past 9 ACC titles came in second place and had 55 first-place votes. Miami came in third and was also third in votes to win the conference, but trailed FSU and Clemson by a wide margin with only 17 votes.
Apparently, two voters even think that ACC newcomer Cal will make some noise in their new conference after finishing 10th in the poll but having two first-place votes. The complete poll can be seen below. Georgia Tech also received one first-place vote as did Boston College despite finishing 14th in overall voting. Stanford is projected to have another tough year being voted to finish dead last in their first year in the ACC.
FSU is also the betting favorite to win the conference according to FanDuel (+270 odds). Clemson has the second-best odds at +390. That would slate the two to give us the matchup we thought we would see last season with the two powers having a rematch in Charlotte. The betting odds are pretty much in line with the preseason poll as Miami, Louisville, and Virginia Tech are 3, 4, and 5 there as well.
I weighted my poll heavily on each team’s overall outlook and strength of schedule in the ACC. FSU, Clemson, and Miami are the most talented. Virginia Tech is the most experienced and NC State and SMU have the easiest path from a schedule standpoint. From my estimation, there may be a slim margin of error to make it to Charlotte this season and I can’t wait to see it play out! FSU will kick off ACC play on August 24th against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland. Thanks for reading and Go Noles!
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