Are you ready? Your Saturdays are about to be booked again. RSVP, “no” to that wedding, pray that your kid has the early tee ball game slot, and under no circumstances are you allowed to go pumpkin picking at noon. College football has arrived and your plans are set between now and January when a team, maybe yours, gets to raise the trophy. Will a powerhouse like Alabama or Ohio State raise the crown jewel this year? Maybe a team that’s been knocking on the door for years like Oregon will have its time to shine. Or it could be a Cinderella team like Indiana who takes it home. We are previewing every conference for you. Here’s our 2026 ACC football preview.
Last Year
Duke. Yeah seriously, Duke. They won the ACC Championship a year ago. No, you aren’t reading a basketball preview. This is all about football and the Blue Devils proved they belong. They took down Virginia in the ACC Title game and won the conference with a 9-5 record. The actual best team in the conference was Miami. They finished the year 13-3 and came up just short in the National Championship game against Indiana. UVA was fun to watch. For a school that typically fields an okay team and has some nice wins, they ended their season with 11 victories and were perhaps a win away from getting a spot in the CFP.
What to Watch
Virginia Tech has entered a new era. James Franklin is taking over after 12 seasons at Penn State. Franklin was never able to win the big game with the Nittany Lions. Here’s the thing, he doesn’t need to really do that with the Hokies. The bar is much lower. He revamped the roster and flipped a bunch of recruits to come over with him. They could have a new look and more success with a stable head coach.
Miami went from Cam Ward to Carson Beck and nearly won a National Championship. They came up just short against Indiana. Mario Cristobal turned in his best performance yet as a head coach. He now has Darian Mensah who comes over after a brilliant season at Duke where he threw for nearly 4,000 yards.
Heisman Candidate
I am going with two players from Miami who should have a lot of Heisman talk around them. The first is the Mensah. He is going into a system that is successful and the last two Miami QBs have been great. He has a big arm and could rack up yards and touchdowns.
Funny enough, I think the biggest benefactor to that will be his wide receiver Malachi Toney. He had 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns in the passing games a year ago. Toney was so good last year that you’re probably confused why he wasn’t in the draft this April. Well…Toney was a true freshman last season and is entering his second year. I can see Toney going off.
Prediction
I have Miami over SMU in the ACC Title game this season. Mario Cristobal finally turned in a season that made me feel confident in the Miami program as a whole. Go Canes.