These Teams Could Contend With Some Luck
- FSU
- Virginia
- Pittsburgh
- Georgia Tech
- Miami
FSU essentially has a whole new team with a few holdovers from last year's debacle. They have two new proven coordinators with a manageable early schedule. If they can find some confidence early and work out the kinks?
Virginia will return some players from last year and did some work in the portal by Virginia's standards. They play FSU and Louisville back-to-back early but avoid Clemson and Miami. The rest of their schedule looks somewhat manageable.
Pittsburgh won their first seven games and lost the final six. The first part of their schedule was soft and two of their six losses were by less than a touchdown. I don't think Pitt is anything special this year, but their early schedule could give them some confidence and Pat Narduzzi has won in this conference before.
Georgia Tech returns a triple threat at QB, RB, and WR on offense. They lost their defensive coordinator, but Brent Key has that team playing hard every game. They play Clemson in week three but it's a very manageable schedule after that.
Look, I'm not sold on any Miami team coached by Mario Cristobal because he'll find a way to lose games. They could have easily lost five games with the No. 1 overall draft pick at QB last year. They have a new quarterback who missed all of spring(who's not elite), and a new defensive coordinator. They had to goto the transfer portal again because they can't develop the young talent they sign every year. Miami opens with Notre Dame and plays Florida in week four and FSU and Louisville after that. They have some talent, but will probably need to luck to make some noise.