Editor’s note: Saturday Road continues its annual Top 25 preview week by peering into the crystal ball and predicting what’s about to happen in 2023.

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Enough about conference realignment, grants of rights, NIL and any other such silliness.

While the old guys in suits make million dollar decisions in the name of higher education, the young men in helmets and pads who generate all that cash are ready to tee it up and start playing again.

It’s time for some football.

Thank goodness.

The ACC as we know it might not be around much longer. But for now there are games to play, records to chase, a championship to win and, of course, predictions to make.

So here goes.

25. Coastal Chaos will be missed

Eliminating the divisional format was the right thing to do. The ACC needs to have its 2 best teams meet in its championship game. But c’mon, you know you’re disappointed about being deprived of the dream scenario of a 7-way tie for the Coastal title.

24. Even without Donavon Greene, Wake Forest will have ACC’s deepest receiving corps

Greene suffered a knee injury in practice and will miss the season. While losing a player with his  experience and production is going to hurt, no one in the league is better equipped to handle the adversity. The Deacons 3 other returning receivers — Jahmal Banks, Taylor Morin and Ke’Shawn Williams — combined for 126 catches and 24 touchdowns in 2022. And 4-star true freshman Micah Mayes will have more of an opportunity to make an immediate impact.

23. Virginia’s Mike Hollins will win the ACC’s Brian Piccolo Award

This is hardly a “bold” prediction. It’s actually kind of a no-brainer. The kid was back on the field less than 4 months after being seriously wounded in the shooting that left 3 Cavaliers teammates dead last December. No matter what he does statistically this season, he’s the embodiment of what the Piccolo Award represents. The “most courageous” football player in the ACC.

22. Pitt stays sack-happy, even without Calijah Kancey

It would be easy to assume that the Panthers will take a step back this season without Kancey and several others that helped them rank 2nd in the ACC and nationally with 48 sacks in 2022. But that won’t happen. As long as Pat Narduzzi is coach, Pitt will always be stout defensively, especially up front. And with 4-star youngster Nahki Johnson among those ready to step, the Panthers will continue giving opposing quarterbacks nightmares.

21. Haynes King starts, but GT will rotate QBs

King, the transfer from Texas A&M, finished spring practice as the frontrunner in a 3-man battle for the starting job. But the gap between him and the other 2, particularly sophomore Zach Pyron, is thin. There’s a real possibility that both quarterbacks, along with the other Zach — holdover Gibson — will also start at least 1 game before all is said and done.

20. Jeff Brohm will be an immediate success at Louisville

The former Cardinals quarterback inherited an 8-win bowl team that brings back a solid defense and has added a large haul of transfers to restock the offense – including a quarterback who’s already familiar with his Air Raid offense from their time together at Purdue. Brohm’s chances for a successful debut are greatly enhanced by a schedule that not only avoids Clemson and Florida State but features only 3 true road games.

19. The Yankee Stadium game will be a home run

Whoever came up with this idea deserves a raise. It’s doubtful that an early November game between Syracuse and Pittsburgh would have generated much of a television audience under normal circumstances. But playing it at Yankee Stadium in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 1st football game played at the original ballpark is a potential ratings bonanza and just the kind of positive national attention the ACC needs.

18. Dave Doeren will become NC State’s all-time winningest coach

Now in his 11th season with the Wolfpack, Doeren needs only 6 more victories to surpass Earle Edwards’ 17-year total of 77. He could get it before the end of October if new offensive coordinator Robert Anae and transfer quarterback Brennan Armstrong click the way they did when they were together at Virginia.

17. Oronde Gadsden II will break his school record for catches and receiving yards

The Syracuse star caught 61 passes for 969 yards last season, the highest single-season totals in program history. He’ll post even bigger numbers in this, his draft year, as coach Dino Babers and offensive coordinator Jason Beck find new ways of getting him the ball.  He’ll also lead the nation again in receiving yards by a tight end. Even though it’s not really fair to call him a tight end as much as he lines up as a wide receiver.

16. Phil Jurkovec will stay healthy and play in all 12 regular-season games

It hasn’t happened in either of the past 2 seasons, so Pittsburgh’s graduate transfer quarterback is due. If he is able to stay in 1 piece for the entire season, he could be the final piece to the puzzle that sends the Panthers back to the ACC Championship Game.

15. Miami’s Kam Kinchens won’t come close to the 6 interceptions he had last season

That doesn’t mean the 1st-team All-ACC selection have a bad year. It just means that opposing quarterbacks will be much more conscious of where the league’s best safety is on the field and try throwing at somebody else.

14. Year 2: Virginia Tech will take a bigger step forward than Virginia

Brent Pry inherited a better roster and made better use of the transfer portal than his in-state rival Tony Elliott. But beyond the action between the lines, the Cavaliers will be carrying a lot of heavy baggage in the aftermath of last year’s tragedy.

13. Wake will finish in top 3 in scoring offense for the 4th straight season

It’s the system, remember? Warren Ruggiero’s slow-mesh RPO attack isn’t the only reason to bank on the Deacons putting up big offensive numbers again this season. Hartman’s replacement Mitch Griffis has been groomed for the job for 3 years now and is blessed with 1 of the best wide receiver rooms in the ACC. Defend at your own risk.

12. Dave Clawson or Mike Elko will be frontrunner for every major job

One is already an annual occurrence. The other will be once Duke again exceeds its preseason expectations.

11. Duke won’t match last year’s 9-win total

The Blue Devils will exceed expectations after being picked to finish 6th in the ACC’s preseason poll. But winning 9 games against this schedule is simply too big an ask.

10. North Carolina will beat South Carolina in the opener in Charlotte

Drake Maye kicks off his Heisman campaign with a winning performance in the Queen City and helps the Tar Heels get a measure of revenge for that bowl loss to the Gamecocks 2 years earlier. Shame there won’t be a mayo dump afterwards.

9. Dino Babers will be back on the hot seat after Syracuse regresses

Babers earned another season with the Orange by going 7-6 last year. But just barely. With Sean Tucker having moved on, Garrett Shrader’s health a question, some major holes to fill on defense and a difficult conference schedule to face, higher temperatures might be in the forecast this fall.

8. Jeff Hafley will do enough at BC to save his job

Hafley is this year’s version of Babers. Win or else after going 3-9 last season. If the bar is winning 6 games and getting back to a bowl, the embattled Eagles coach stands a solid chance. Star tackle Christian Mahogany is back from injury. There’s an underrated talent at quarterback in Emmett Morehead. And the schedule is manageable with a nonconference slate that includes games against Northern Illinois, Holy Cross, Army and UConn.

7. Miami will make bowl … barely

Give Mario Cristobal credit. He successfully laid the blame for last year’s 5-7 disappointment on his predecessor Manny Diaz by cleaning house and restocking his roster with a new group of his own players through the transfer portal and a top-5 recruiting class. He also hired 2 new coordinators. The changes will result in improvement, but the hill is too steep to climb in just 1 year.

6. Gene Chizik’s influence will show in a vastly improved UNC defense

The Tar Heels don’t have to do much to be better on defense after finishing dead last in virtually every statistical category last year. And Mack Brown insists there there will be incremental improvement in Year 2 under coordinator Gene Chizik. But just in case, he’s upgraded the talent level on the unit by bringing in an entirely new secondary and elite transfer pass rusher Amari Gainer from Florida State to an already solid linebacking corps.

5. Garrett Riley’s influence will help more than just Cade Klubnik put up big numbers

We all saw what Riley did for Max Duggan and TCU last year. He was brought to Clemson to have the same kind of positive effect on Klubnik. But the young quarterback isn’t the only member of the Tigers who stands to benefit from the arrival of college football’s offensive boy genius. The Air Raid style offense he’s installing will also make an unheralded group of receivers better by finding them more open space to operate downfield. And star running back Will Shipley will have more opportunities to shine in the passing game.

4. An ACC team will beat Notre Dame

At some point, a conference team is bound to beat the Irish. It hasn’t happened since November 2017, 28 regular season games ago. The league has 5 chances to end its losing streak this year. Clemson, which owns a pair postseason wins against Notre Dame, figures to have the best shot since its Nov. 4 matchup is at Death Valley. NC State also owns a win against the Irish, in the middle of a hurricane in 2016. The Wolfpack will get their shot on Sept. 9. Maybe they’ll invite Jim Cantore to be there. Duke, Louisville and Pittsburgh are the other ACC teams on the Irish’s schedule in 2023.

3. Drake Maye will get to New York as a Heisman finalist but won’t win

The UNC quarterback has the arm, the football IQ and surrounding cast to put up numbers equal to or better than his record-setting freshman season. Even if transfer receiver Tez Walker doesn’t win his appeal. Maye came within a game or 2 of getting to New York as a finalist in 2022. He’ll get there this time. But because his Tar Heels won’t win enough games to be in the national conversation, he’ll finish as a distant runnerup to repeat winner Caleb Williams.

2. FSU will be 2-2 after 4 games, but still play Clemson in the ACC title game

Things won’t start well for the Seminoles. A loss to LSU in Orlando on Labor Day Sunday and a close defeat at the hands of Clemson 3 weeks later with put them in a hole. But Mike Norvell’s team has the talent and the experience to bounce back, run the table the rest of the way and earn a rematch with the Tigers on a neutral field in Charlotte on the 1st Saturday in December.

1. Clemson will get the ACC back into the College Football Playoff

Despite getting a second crack at the Tigers, the result will be the same for the Seminoles. Not only will Dabo Swinney’s team successfully defend its ACC championship, it will also end its 2-year drought by returning to the Playoff as the No. 3 seed.