For the past 20 months, the Atlantic Coast Conference has been a poster child for college football’s tumultuous landscape. Starting with undefeated Florida State’s exclusion from the 2023 season’s College Football Playoff, the league has faced uncertainty and scrutiny, including in-fighting among members.
With a variety of its programs in important Week 1 contests, the 2025 season could help ACC football shift the narrative — even if only for a weekend.
One popular school of thought in support of expanding the postseason suggested it would encourage more ambitious non-conference scheduling. That line of thinking met immediate pushback when South Carolina was among the assortment of three-loss SEC teams left out of the Playoff.
Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer unloaded in December following his team’s 17-14 win at rival Clemson, once the Playoff committee made clear the Tigers playing their way in with an ACC championship would not guarantee South Carolina an at-large bid. Beamer’s public lament included ominous language about scheduling up out-of-conference.
“If you’re asking is there anything to gain by playing in some of these games that you play out of conference? I think it’s something that not just us but every team needs to look at,” he said.
Beamer’s implications — intentional or not — lost some of their bite when South Carolina lost its bowl matchup with Illinois. A Week 1 meeting with Virginia Tech in Atlanta marks the team’s first action since that 21-17 setback in the Citrus Bowl.
And while Virginia Tech isn’t the marquee opponent it was 20 or even 10 years ago, the Gamecocks are in no position to lay an egg after an offseason of crowing. As for the Hokies, they are at a pivotal juncture in the Brent Pry era coming off consecutive 6-6 regular seasons.
Virginia Tech has yet to click since the retirement of Shane Beamer’s father, Frank, in 2015. Last season, however, all five of the Hokies’ six regular-season losses were by one score — two in overtime. With quarterback Kyron Drones and linebacker Caleb Woodson returning to lead the offense and defense, Tech could have the pieces to turn such close losses into wins and become a surprise Playoff contender in its own right. Week 1 sets a critical tone for the rest of the slate.
And the Hokies are not the only ACC program playing Week 1 Sunday faced with such a scenario. Miami — one of those teams to eke out a win over Virginia Tech in 2024 — had its Playoff dreams dashed in the final week of the regular season vs. Syracuse.
Regular-season defeats totaling nine points kept the Hurricanes out of the ACC Championship Game — and, in turn, the Playoff picture. Opening at home against last year’s national runner-up, Notre Dame, breaking in new starting quarterback Carson Beck after Cam Ward went No. 1 overall in the NFL draft, will dictate Miami’s response to last year’s heartbreak.
No Playoff heartbreak quite compares to that of Miami rival Florida State, however. The Seminoles became the only undefeated power-conference champion excluded from the four-team Playoff — a clear indicator of the sport’s overlords’ view of the ACC as a power conference — then were destroyed in a 63-3 Orange Bowl laugher against Georgia.
The depleted Florida State roster’s bias-confirming loss to close the 2023 campaign served as a fitting prelude to one of the worst seasons in Seminoles history. A comedy of errors in a Week 0 loss to Georgia Tech in Ireland laid the foundation for a 2-10 finish that casts uncertainty on the Mike Norvell era.
Up first in 2025 is Alabama — which, ironically enough, may be under more pressure than Florida State to bounce back this season. Kalen DeBoer entered a difficult enough situation following the greatest coach in college football history, Nick Saban. But a 9-4 debut with a loss to Vanderbilt and an embarrassing showing against a mediocre Oklahoma team only heightens the scrutiny on the second-year Crimson Tide coach.
Exploiting any vulnerability Alabama may have is critical for Florida State, which features a wholly remade roster, including exciting dual-threat quarterback Tommy Castellanos.
On the topic of excitement, Week 1 ends with the ACC program sparking the most media-fueled buzz of any team in college football this offseason: North Carolina. The Tar Heels’ hire of six-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick became a circus, as Belichick has publicly feuded with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and news program 60 Minutes.
The frenzy surrounding Belichick is reminiscent of Deion Sanders’ debut at Colorado two years ago — a debut that came against TCU, North Carolina’s Week 1 opponent. While not comparable to reaching the national championship game as it had in the 2022 season, TCU begins this campaign coming off a strong 9-4 showing, and is a virtual afterthought against the opposing head coach.
For the Horned Frogs, a Week 1 visit to North Carolina on Labor Day night is a chance to make a resounding statement at the expense of a program that needs to validate its $10 million hiring of the 73-year-old, curmudgeonly Belichick.
