Editor’s note: Our annual Top 25 preview week continues with a look at the 25 biggest questions surrounding ACC football in 2022.

Preseason camps have officially begun, so it’s almost time for the talking to stop and the playing to start.

The ACC has a lot to prove this season after a disappointing 2021 that saw it miss out on the College Football Playoff for the first time. 

Here are 25 burning questions concerning the conference and its teams as they prepare to kick off a new season:

25.  Who has the best shot at getting into the College Football Playoff?

The obvious answer is Clemson, given the Tigers’ history and the quality of its defense, combined with the fact that they play their toughest division rival N.C. State at home and their strength of schedule will be enhanced by a date with Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. But don’t count out reigning ACC champion Pittsburgh. Yes, Pittsburgh. If the Panthers can survive winnable high-profile nonconference games against West Virginia and Tennessee to begin the season – both at home – there’s a real chance they can go into their regular-season finale at Miami undefeated and in the thick of the playoff conversation.

24. Does the ACC have any legitimate Heisman Trophy candidates?

Quarterbacks usually get the most attention when it comes to college football’s most prestigious award and there is no shortage of good ones in the conference this season. N.C. State already has started a hype campaign for Devin Leary, the ACC’s preseason Player of the Year, and Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke, Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong, Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman and Louisville’s Malik Cunningham also should be on the early-season radar. Among the non-quarterbacks, Syracuse running back Sean Tucker and UNC wide receiver Josh Downs. Because team success and national name recognition often factor into the Heisman race, most of the players on this list are longshots at best. 

23. What’s the over/under on ACC bowl wins this season?

4. That might seem like a small number, given the fact that the league annually sends double-digit teams to the postseason. But given the ACC’s recent performance during bowl season, it’s actually an optimistic projection. Conference teams went 2-4 in bowls last year with 3 COVID-19 cancellations and even that was an improvement over 2000, when they combined to go 0-6. The last time the ACC posted a winning bowl record was 2016, when it went 9-3.

22. Now that Miami has retired the Turnover Chain, who has the best sideline prop?

In an effort to encourage more turnovers from his team, N.C. State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson decided to throw his players a bone. Literally. It’s a large bone, the kind you find at the pet store for dogs to chew on. It’s painted red and used as an incentive to reward any Wolfpack player returning to the sideline after recording a turnover.

21. How big a job does Brent Pry have ahead of him at Virginia Tech?

Pry got his coaching start as a graduate assistant with the Hokies under Bud Foster and he has spent the past eight seasons as the defensive coordinator at Penn State, so it figures that defense once again will become a defining trait of the program in Blacksburg. The problem is that even with a top-shelf linebacker and leader in Dax Hollifield, he probably doesn’t have the depth or the personnel to fit his scheme from Day 1. The situation on offense is just as iffy, with a pair of transfer quarterbacks vying for the starting job. Pry seems to be a good fit at Tech and he has made a positive first impression, but he’ll be hard pressed to win six games and get to a bowl in his rookie season.

20. Whose seat is the hottest?

Dino Babers was hailed as an up-and-coming star after leading Syracuse to a 10-win season and No. 15 national ranking in 2018. The Orange hasn’t had a winning record since then and has gone just 5-21 in the ACC. His overall mark in 6 seasons is 29-43. Syracuse showed some progress last year by going 5-7 and with the ACC’s best running back among his 16 returning starters, 6 wins and a bowl bid are not out of the question. Anything less likely will send Babers packing. While Babers is the coach who enters the season in the most peril, he isn’t the only one feeling the heat. Scott Satterfield at Louisville,  Mike Norvell at Florida State and Geoff Collins at Georgia Tech also face uncertain futures if their teams don’t show progress.

19. What will it take for Syracuse to move up in the standings and take the heat off its coach?

Babers has revamped his staff in what likely is a last-ditch effort to get the program headed in the right direction. He has enough returning talent to make that kind of move if offensively, quarterback Garrett Shrader is able to adjust quickly to new offensive coordinator Robert Anae’s scheme and provide better balance to take some of the pressure off All-ACC running back Sean Tucker while on the other side of the ball, the Orange needs to completely rebuild a defensive front that lost 4 seniors and a transfer.

18. Should Geoff Collins be on the coaching hot seat?

Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins’ name pops up on virtually everybody’s list of coaches in danger of losing their jobs and with a 9-25 record in 3 seasons, it’s no wonder. But that record doesn’t tell the entire story. Collins was tasked with transitioning the program over from Paul Johnson’s triple-option attack to a more conventional offensive system. That meant recruiting a quarterback who could throw, an entire corps of wide receivers and offensive linemen who could do more than cutblock. It’s a process that was slowed by the COVID-19 year and has little chance of improving this season because of the schedule the Yellow Jackets will have to negotiate. 

17. How brutal is Georgia Tech’s schedule?

As if the Yellow Jackets don’t have enough to worry about as they try to improve from 3 straight 3-win seasons, they’ll have to find improvement in a schedule ranked among the nation’s toughest. It’s a gauntlet that will start with a prime-time nationally televised game against Clemson on Labor Day night. Then after the only breather against Western Carolina, Georgia Tech must face back-to-back nonconference games against Ole Miss and Central Florida before returning to ACC play against reigning league champion Pittsburgh. And then there’s the season finale against last season’s national champion Georgia.

16. Will Duke win an ACC game?

The Blue Devils went winless in the league in 2021 and currently are on a 13-game ACC losing streak. Although the arrival of new coach Mike Elko has injected a badly needed rush of energy into a program that had stagnated under former coach David Cutcliffe, it’s going to take some time for him to replenish the talent pool. Duke’s best hope for breaking through figures to be Oct. 8 at Georgia Tech.

15. Will Virginia be able to protect Brennan Armstrong?

Brennan Armstrong threw for 4,429 yards and 31 touchdowns last year, impressive enough numbers at face value. But they were even more remarkable considering he was bothered for a large portion of the season by a rib injury, along with various other bumps and bruises. His ability to put up similar numbers this season will depend on who new coach Tony Elliott finds to play in front of him. The Cavaliers lost all 5 starters on the offensive line from last season. Even with a couple of significant pickups off the transfer portal, Armstrong faces the prospect of having less time to throw while getting hit even more this season.

14. Can Louisville figure out how to close games?

The Cardinals went 6-6 in the regular season and earned bowl eligibility, but their record could have been significantly better had they not fallen apart during the fourth quarter so many times. They were either ahead, tied or within a point heading into the final 15 minutes in 4 of their 6 losses – games in which they were outscored 65-23 from that point on. That includes an epic meltdown against Virginia in which they entered the 4th quarter leading 30-13 only to lose 34-33.

13. Could Boston College be a sleeper in the Atlantic Division?

The Eagles followed the opposite trajectory from Florida State last season by winning their first 4 games before losing 6 of the next 8 to finish the schedule. But there was an extenuating circumstance. BC’s season was derailed by a hand injury that forced quarterback Phil Jurkovec to miss 6 games. The Eagles were 4-2 when he was in the lineup and 2-4 when he wasn’t. With a healthy Jurkovec throwing to elite receiver Zay Flowers, the Eagles have the potential to make life difficult for the divisional front-runners, even without 1st-team All-ACC offensive lineman Christian Mahogany, who will miss the season because of a torn ACL.

12. Has Florida State finally turned the corner under Mike Norvell?

Mike Norvell got off to a rocky start with the Seminoles through a combination of poor recruiting by his predecessors and his own missteps and appeared to have 1 foot out the door after losing to Football Championship Subdivision’s Jacksonville State on a 59-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the game last September. FSU hit rock bottom at 0-4 but rallied to win 5 of its final 8 games to nearly qualify for bowl eligibility. Only time will tell if the strong finish was just a mirage or Norvell and the Seminoles can build on that momentum and begin the climb back up the Atlantic Division standings.

11. Who are some of the league’s most impactful transfers?

The list starts with Kedon Slovis, the Pittsburgh quarterback looking to return to the form that helped him earn Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year honors at Southern Cal in 2019. Other transfer portal additions of note include linebacker Noah Taylor (from Virginia) at UNC, defensive tackle Akheem Mesidor (from West Virginia) at Miami, linebacker Jared Verse (from Albany) at Florida State, defensive lineman Jermayne Lole (from Arizona State) at Louisville, wide receiver Darryl Jones (from Maryland) at N.C. State, safeties Ahmari Harvey (from Auburn) and Khari Gee (from Notre Dame) at Georgia Tech, and tight end George Takacs (from Notre Dame) at Boston College.

10. How big of an impact will Gene Chizik have on the North Carolina defense?

For all the attention being given to Clemson and its 2 new coordinators, the most important coaching move this offseason might have been Mack Brown’s decision to bring his former assistant at Texas back to work with his defense. It’s not out of the question for Gene Chizik to bring about a dramatic immediate improvement to a unit that allowed an average of 32.1 points per game and gave up 6.1 yards per play last season. The last time he served as the Tar Heels’ defensive coordinator, under then-coach Larry Fedora, he took over one of the nation’s worst defenses and led an impressive turnaround that helped UNC go 11-3 and win the Coastal Division title in 2015.

9. Who will play quarterback for North Carolina?

The competition to replace NFL draft pick Sam Howell still is undecided as sophomore Jacolby Criswell and former 5-star prospect Drake Maye battle it out for the starting job. Criswell is a solidly built 6-1, 225-pound dual-threat quarterback, and Maye, the brother of former UNC basketball star Luke Maye, at 6-4, 220 is a taller, slimmer passer with a big arm. Conventional wisdom is that Maye, who originally committed to Alabama before flipping to UNC and is the higher-rated of the pair, eventually will win out, although coach Mack Brown has said he’s not adverse to using a 2-quarterback system. Whoever gets the nod, he’ll have the benefit of throwing to Josh Downs, among the best receivers in the country, let alone the ACC.

8. Can Wake Forest do it again?

The Deacons were the surprise team of the ACC last season on the way to winning the Atlantic Division and a date with Pittsburgh in the conference championship game. They did it with an offense that averaged 41 points per game. With the return of quarterback Sam Hartman and top receiver A.T. Perry, along with the addition of another deep threat in Donavon Greene – who missed all last year with an injury – Wake figures to be just as potent if not more so this season. In order to contend for a 2nd straight Atlantic title, coach Dave Clawson’s team is going to have to be more consistent on defense, especially against the run after ranking 14th in the league by allowing 195.6 yards per game on the ground in 2021. 

7. How does Pittsburgh replace Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison?

Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison are now making the big bucks, Pickett in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Addison after cashing in on an NIL deal at Southern Cal, but the Panthers return 8 other starters on offense and a typical Pat Narduzzi defense that is as good as anyone’s in the ACC this side of Clemson. With transfer quarterback Kedon Slovis coming in to run new coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr.’s offense, don’t expect a significant dropoff from last season’s conference champions.

6. Is Mario Cristobal finally the answer at Miami?

The Hurricanes have spent the past 2 decades trying to find a coach capable of returning them to their glory days. Randy Shannon, Al Golden, Mark Richt and Manny Diaz all posted winning records in pursuit of that goal. But none were able to win big enough to get The U back into the national spotlight. Now it’s Cristobal’s turn. The former offensive tackle who helped the Hurricanes win national titles in 1989 and ’91 returns to his alma mater after a successful run at Oregon. He has inherited a talented roster, led by quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, and rather than trying to recreate the past as his predecessors did, he’s working to build a new culture for the program. Now all he has to do is “get better and start elevating things to a certain standard.” which he said is the “best way to honor the past.”

5. Is NC State’s linebacking corps the best in the ACC?

It would be hard to argue otherwise, although the folks at Clemson might. Of the 3 players chosen to the preseason all-conference team, 2 were from the Wolfpack – Drake Thomas and Payton Wilson. The other member of the N.C. State unit, Isaiah Moore, is just as good and even more important as the steady leader of one of the league’s best defenses. Thomas led his team in tackles (100), tackles for loss (13.5) and interceptions (3) last season. Wilson led the ACC in tackles per game in 2020 before spending most of last season sidelined by a shoulder injury while middle linebacker Moore, who wears the No. 1 as the team’s captain, led all Power 5 players at the position with 27 tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage. “I think you can look around the country, you can check our resume’s up against any others,” Moore said. “I think there’s not too many in the country that compare.”

4. Is NC State really good enough to win its first ACC championship since 1979?

The Wolfpack returns 17 starters, the most in the ACC, including quarterback Devin Leary – the conference’s preseason player of the year – and all but one member of a defense that ranked 2nd in the league in points allowed in 2021. So on paper, the answer definitely is yes, coach Dave Doeren’s team definitely is poised to make a serious run at the title. For that to happen, though, the Wolfpack will have to find a way to win at Clemson for the first time in 20 years and defy a long history of underachieving when expectations are the highest.

3. How long will DJ Uiagalelei remain Clemson’s starting quarterback?

Coach Dabo Swinney continually professed his confidence in DJ Uiagalelei at the ACC Football Kickoff media event last month and the former top quarterback recruit in the nation looked fit and trimmer than he was a year ago. But the reality is that Uiagaleli struggled last year, throwing more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (9) in his 1st season as the Tigers’ starter. With another top-rated recruit waiting in the wings in freshman Cade Klubnik – as Trevor Lawrence was for Kelly Bryant during 2018 – Swinney won’t hesitate to make a change if Uiagaleli gets off to a slow start.

2. Can Clemson bounce back from a “down” year in 2021

It sounds silly to call a 10-win season in which the losses came to the eventual national champion, in double-overtime and on the road to the eventual ACC champion, but by Clemson standards, it was. The Tigers saw their 6-year streak of league titles come to an end and failed to make the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2014 with an offense that ranked next-to-last in the ACC at 359.1 yards per game. This year’s team returns an NFL-caliber defense, a healthy running back corps, a slimmed down quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei and a hunger to return to the top of the standings. But with new coordinators on both sides of the ball, questions remain for Dabo Swinney’s team.

1. Why did the ACC wait until next season to do away with its divisional format?

It was a matter of timing, since the decision to change to the new 3-5-5 plan didn’t come until early June, long after this year’s schedules were finalized. It’s a shame, though, since there is a clear gap in the balance of power between the Atlantic and Coastal divisions this season. While the Atlantic features seven returning starters at quarterback and arguably the league’s three best teams – Clemson, NC State and Wake Forest – the Coastal has even more uncertainty with four new coaches, Instead of the best two teams playing for the championship, it’s conceivable that a one-loss team from the Atlantic could get shut out of this year’s title game in favor of a Coastal champion with a lesser record.