The college football season, in 2016, elevated the Atlantic Coast Conference above all others. The ACC boasted the national champion, multiple New Year’s Six bowl wins, a very strong bowl record, and more bowl-winning teams than any other. As the calendar turns to 2017, what will change, and what will stay the same?
ACC
The ACC is poised to remain strong next season. Clemson might not be the favorite in the conference, but the Tigers should still be very good with the quality and depth they have recruited into their program. They should be a 10-win team. Then comes favorite Florida State, with DeAndre Francois at quarterback and a lot of tall, skilled wide receivers plus a defense which will return most of its core. The Seminoles will be the team that should put the ACC back in the College Football Playoff and the national championship chase. Louisville gets Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson back for another season. That in itself makes the Cardinals a legitimate contender for a New Year’s Six bowl and a very strong season. North Carolina State has a ton of returning talent, especially at the skill positions, and should be improved. Syracuse should be better in year two under new coach Dino Babers. Wake Forest should remain solid, a success story under head coach Dave Clawson.
In the Coastal Division, Virginia Tech will be back under head coach Justin Fuente and defensive coordinator Bud Foster. Miami should have an excellent defense. It showed how much progress it is making by throttling West Virginia in the Russell Athletic Bowl. Pittsburgh has a lot of offensive talent. Virginia should be better in year two under coach Bronco Mendenhall. Almost all of the teams in the league should maintain their status relative to last year. The league should remain number one.
Pac-12
The Pac-12 has enhanced itself with coaching hires. Willie Taggart should make Oregon a lot better. Justin Wilcox will probably improve California relative to Sonny Dykes. Chris Petersen has Washington poised to make another run at the national title. David Shaw got 10 wins out of a limited Stanford team. Next year the Cardinal should be even better. Mike Leach gets a lot out of his resources at Washington State. Clay Helton did extremely well in his first year at USC. Mike MacIntyre was national coach of the year on many ballots at Colorado. This league should have several very good teams in 2017 because there are so many good coaches. The league should only improve compared to 2016. It will make its presence felt.
Big Ten
The Big Ten has the heavyweight college football teams – Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and Wisconsin – but Penn State lived on the edge a lot last season and will find it hard to beat Ohio State again. The Nittany Lions will probably regress to a slight extent. Wisconsin loses defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox. On the other hand, Michigan State should be a lot better again. This past season probably won’t repeat itself for the Spartans. The big questions concern Iowa and Nebraska. Can these teams reach a higher level, or will they remain stuck? Unless they improve in a big way, the Big Ten will lag behind the ACC and Pac-12.
SEC
The SEC just wasn’t very good this past year, but the bigger concern is that it wasn’t very good in 2015. Last year was worse. When will the pattern of stagnation (or even slight regression) change and give way to genuine improvement? Maybe LSU with new head coach Ed Orgeron and offensive coordinator Matt Canada could break through. Maybe Ole Miss will become very good again, as it was two years ago. Maybe Georgia with quarterback Jacob Eason will put the pieces together. Maybe Auburn will use quarterback Jarrett Stidham, a transfer from Baylor, as a gateway to renewed success, but all these things seem like questions more than probable occurrences, and they’re definitely not certainties. The SEC has a lot of deficits, and it doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Big 12
The Big 12 was horrible last season, even worse than the SEC. Keep in mind that every non-Alabama SEC team lost at least four games, and yet the Big 12 was worse. Baylor is still recovering from the college football scandal. Kansas State still doesn’t have a passing game. TCU doesn’t have a quarterback it can count on. Texas could be great in 2018, but probably not in 2017. This league remains in trouble.
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