Athlon predicts Clemson football's ACC finish

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Athlon Sports released its 2024 ACC football predictions recently, pitting two familiar rivals in the ACC Championship.

The national outlet joins the refrain nationally of picking Florida State to come out on top, beating Clemson in Charlotte.

"A year after winning the ACC and getting snubbed from the CFB Playoff, coach Mike Norvell has work to do in order to keep Florida State at the top of the conference. The 'Noles bring back only eight starters and will be looking to mesh another top-rated class of transfers to keep this program at the top of the ACC," Athlon's Steven Lassan writes. "The portal also brought a handful of key contributors to Norvell's offense. Former Clemson/Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei is a steady option under center, and the offense can lean on a deep stable of running backs that includes Alabama transfer Roydell Williams, Caziah Holmes, and Lawrance Toafili. Another Alabama transfer (Malik Benson) could become the No. 1 target in the passing game. Three starters are back to form a strong foundation in the trenches."

On the ACC runner-ups, Lassan also makes a transfer portal reference.

"Coach Dabo Swinney's lack of activity in the transfer portal garnered most of the offseason attention for Clemson, but this team is still positioned to return to the top of the ACC. Although the Tigers have slipped just a bit in recent years, this program is 30-10 since '21," Lassan said. "For Swinney's team to win the conference and return to the CFB Playoff, jumpstarting the offense is the top offseason priority...Although the defense returns only two starters, the concerns about this group are minimal."

The ACC Top 5 is Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Louisville and NC State.

Welcomed to the ACC on Monday officially, SMU is picked seventh, Cal is picked 10th and Stanford is picked last (17th).

Clemson is ranked 15th nationally by the outlet, where Florida State is 12th, Miami is 20th, Louisville is 24th and NC State is 25th.

Tigers linebacker Barrett Carter was named first-team All-America by Athlon and offensive tackle Blake Miller picked up a fourth-team nod. Clemson had the fourth-most All-ACC nods with 12 for Athlon.

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