Florida State is undefeated and still in the thick of the College Football Playoff race, even without starting quarterback Jordan Travis.

Louisville is in the conference championship game in Jeff Brohm’s first season back at his alma mater.

The league won its head-to-head matchups against the SEC and Big Ten. But’s biggest victory came when North Carolina beat the NCAA in the battle over Tez Walker’s transfer waiver.

Eleven teams are bowl eligible.

And not only did the conference manage to keep its current 14-team football membership intact despite threats and rumors of Florida State and Clemson looking for ways out the door, it actually added 3 new schools while spreading its geographic footprint to a second coast.

All-in-all, it’s been a successful season for the ACC.

Now it’s time to take a look back and see what we learned about each conference team during the 2023 regular season.

Boston College

The Eagles rallied from a 1-3 start to win 5 straight and earn bowl eligibility. So at least from that standpoint, the season can be considered a success. But after 3 straight losses to finish the schedule, including 2 by double-digit margins, it doesn’t exactly feel like it.

Coach Jeff Hafley did, at least, find a quarterback around whom he can build for next year. UCF transfer Thomas Castellanos took over from Emmett Morehead midway through a season-opening loss to Northern Illinois and lit a spark to an offense that ranked dead last in the ACC in 2022. Castellanos led the team in rushing with 957 yards and 11 touchdowns while also throwing for 2,146 and 15 scores.

But with the departure of star guard Christian Mahogany and transfer Kyle Hergel, Hafley will have some rebuilding to do on his offensive line. That is, if it’s still Hafley’s job to do. No matter what happens in the bowl game, this will be the 11th time in the past 13 years that the Eagles have lost at least 6 games.

With the athletic director that hired him now at UCLA, Hafley’s job security is anything but certain. We’ll have to wait to learn if he did enough this season to earn at least another year in Chestnut Hill.

Clemson

The Tigers’ season got off to a self-destructive start with an opening week loss at Duke and was all but over after falling in double overtime at home to Florida State 3 weeks later. Sure, they finished strong by winning their final 4 games, including a revenge victory against rival South Carolina on Saturday. But when you’re Clemson and you’re used to contending for championships, simply beating the Gamecocks doesn’t make for a successful season.

This marks the 3rd straight year Dabo Swinney’s team has been shut out of the College Football Playoff. It’s the 2nd time in the past 3 seasons that it has failed to qualify for the ACC Championship Game.
Those trends, along with the recurring offensive mistakes that helped this current team back, have become a cause for concern in the land of orange tiger paws. Just ask Tyler from Spartanburg, the fan who sparred with Swinney publicly on his radio show after a loss to Miami that dropped the Tigers to 4-4.

Though Swinney’s program is far from falling off a cliff, it’s clearly at a crossroads. In order for Clemson to keep up with its fellow national powers – let alone the rest of the ACC – the stubbornly old-school coach is going to have to make some difficult decisions this offseason, especially when it comes to loyalty and his disdain for transfer portal.

Duke

Everything we learned about the Blue Devils in 2023 went out the window Sunday afternoon when the news began circulating that Mike Elko has left to take the job at Texas A&M.

It’s hardly a surprise. Elko’s name has been mentioned at or near the top of the list for virtually every Power 5 opening since he led Duke to 9 wins and was named ACC Coach of the Year as a rookie last season. But it’s still disappointing in that only a few days earlier, he reportedly told athletic director Nina King that he planned to be back in Durham next year.

And even more disappointing because the progress the Blue Devils made during their short time with Elko is now a thing of the past. Because of graduation and an almost certain migration through the transfer portal, the new coach, whoever he turns out to be, will be starting the process over from scratch.

It fits right in with the overriding theme for the recently completed regular season.

“What if.”

Despite a rash of injuries and a couple of close losses, including a heart-breaking double-overtime setback to rival North Carolina, Duke still managed to win 7 games and go .500 in the ACC against a killer schedule. But what if it would have stopped Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman from gaining 17 on 4th-and-16 in the final minute? What if quarterback Riley Leonard hadn’t gotten hurt a few plays later and again while leading after 3 quarters at Florida State? And what if it would have gotten a call or 2 against North Carolina?

Florida State

We knew the Seminoles were talented. Not only did they return 87% of their offensive and defensive production from a 10-win team that finished 2022 on a 6-game streak, but coach Mike Norvell added to his arsenal by bringing in the nation’s best transfer class.

What we learned as the season went on is that in addition to all that star power, FSU possesses several other important elements all championship teams possess. Things such as poise under pressure, confidence, depth and perseverance. They’ve been instrumental in helping the Seminoles stay on track to accomplish their goals of an ACC championship and Playoff berth.

The depth and perseverance have become especially apparent during the past week since Travis was lost to a season-ending leg injury. With playmakers Trey Benson, Johnny Wilson, Jared Verse, Kalen DeLoach and others rallying around Travis’ replacement, Tate Rodemaker, FSU was able to grind out a win at Florida on Saturday to complete the 7th undefeated regular season in program history and officially welcome the Seminoles “back” as one of college football’s elite.

Georgia Tech

The Yellow Jackets opted for substance over salesmanship when they chose no-nonsense offensive line coach Brent Key to replace Geoff Collins midway through last season, then gave him the job permanently after a strong finish.

Now that Key’s first full regular season is in the books, it appears as though it was the right decision. Tech has become a much more organized, disciplined and competitive team in winning 6 games and earning bowl eligibility for the first time since 2018.

The improvement in the program was most visible on offense thanks to the play calling of offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, who came over from rival Georgia, and the passing of Texas A&M transfer Haynes King. The next step in the building process will need to come on the defensive side of the ball, where Key switched coordinators after a disappointing performance against Bowling Green on Sept. 30.

Louisville

Brohm exceeded all expectations in his 1st season back at Louisville. The former Cardinals quarterback produced only the 2nd 10-win season in school history, scored an epic upset of Notre Dame and has his team headed for next week’s ACC Championship Game.

He did it with a mix of returning talents, including league sacks leader Ashton Gillotte and ace running back Jawhar Jordan, and an influx of impact transfers. Brohm and his team also showed a versatility that enabled them to win games in different ways – through the air against Boston College and Miami, on the ground against Notre Dame and Virginia Tech and with defense against NC State and Duke.

And yet, despite all the positive things the Cardinals accomplished and still have a chance at accomplishing, we learned that even with a new coach and a roster full of new players, they still can’t figure out a way to beat rival Kentucky. Saturday’s loss was Louisville’s 5th straight in the Governor’s Cup rivalry.

Miami

Mario Cristobal almost completely overhauled his roster through the transfer portal and replaced both coordinators in his 2nd season back at his alma mater. The improvement it produced, however, was only modest.

Cristobal shoulders some of the blame for that. Had he and his offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson called for their quarterback to take a knee in the final minute against Georgia Tech, the Hurricanes would be 8-4. And maybe we’d be looking at the season in a little bit more positive light.

So did Miami underachieve?

If we’ve learned anything since the Hurricanes joined the ACC, it’s that their expectations always exceed reality. And that no matter how badly their fan base and some in the national media want them to be “back,” they’re still not there yet.

Expect Cristobal to hit the portal again hard this offseason. Maybe it will finally happen next year.

North Carolina

Mack Brown is good at recruiting future NFL quarterbacks. That much is indisputable. But as we learned with Sam Howell and now again with Drake Maye, he doesn’t have a great track record for taking full advantage of their talents once he gets them into Carolina blue.

The Tar Heels are a pedestrian 38-26 in its 5 seasons with Howell and Maye running its offense. And in each of the past 2 seasons, they’ve squandered promising starts that put them squarely into the College Football Playoff conversation by stumbling to the finish line.

While many of the causes were the same – a defense that couldn’t stop anyone, a once-potent offense that inexplicably lost its rhythm and never got it back and losses to double-digit underdogs – this latest collapse was even more spectacular than the first. At least in 2022, UNC ended up with something to show for its efforts by winning the Coastal Division and advancing to the conference championship game.

This year’s team will simply go quietly into the night, or more accurately to a forgettable mid-tier bowl, after losing 4 of its last 6 punctuated by Saturday’s 3rd straight loss to rival NC State. Brown, who is 72, has already said he plans on returning next year. But it’s almost certain that his long-time friend and defensive coordinator Gene Chizik won’t be back. It’s just one of the many changes that are likely to be made during what promises to be an eventful offseason.

NC State

The Wolfpack were picked to be one of the top teams in the ACC and they fulfilled that promise by going 9-3 overall and finishing tied with Louisville for 2nd in the league at 6-2.

They just didn’t get there in the conventional way.

Dave Doeren’s team was foundering heading into their early October open date. They were 4-3, they’d benched graduate transfer quarterback Brennan Armstrong and were coming off a 24-3 loss at Duke that was so embarrassing that star linebacker Payton Wilson felt the need to publicly apologize for his team’s effort.

But as we’ve learned many times in the past, Doeren and State are usually at their best when they’re forced to make chicken salad out of chicken droppings. And they did it again.

Challenged by their coach to treat the final 5 games as a separate new season, the Wolfpack responded. They won all 5, including the final 3 after Armstrong returned to the starting role after his replacement MJ Morris decided to preserve his redshirt. In the process, they helped Doeren become the all-time winningest coach in school history and posted a 4th straight season of 8 or more wins for the first time ever. That’s a remarkable record of consistency, especially considering that this one was anything but.

Pittsburgh

A lot of the blame for the Panthers’ dismal 3-9 season will inevitably be placed on the quarterback situation, where coach Pat Narduzzi swung and missed with a transfer addition for the 2nd straight season. But after closer inspection, we learn that the real culprits were breakdowns in the 2 areas that have become Pitt’s trademarks during Narduzzi’s 9 seasons at the helm.

Defense and the running game.

Pitt was still able to put pressure on opposing passers, though not as often as in the past, by recording 31 sacks – a figure that ranked 5th in the ACC. But there was a significant drop-off in virtually every other area. Offensively, the Panthers were dead last in the league in rushing at only 101 yards per game after averaging 183 per game a year ago. Some of that disparity can be traced to the loss of Israel Abanikanda, the ACC’s leading rusher in 2023. But injury issues along the offensive line were also a major contributor.

Narduzzi has already fired offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. Other changes are likely to come. Narduzzi is fortunate that his athletic director Heather Lykes has shown patience with her coaches, because the Panthers have taken 2 consecutive steps backward since winning their first ACC title in 2021.

Syracuse

We learned that a 2nd straight 6-win bowl season wasn’t enough to keep coach Dino Babers from losing his job. The end, which seemed inevitable after a 5-game midseason losing streak that negated the first perfect 4-0 nonconference record in program history to start the season.

We also learned that the Orange’s offense is a lot better when it has an actual quarterback playing quarterback. They were reduced to having running back LeQuint Allen and tight end Dan Villari take direct snaps over the past few weeks because of injuries to starter Garrett Shrader and backup Carlos Del Rio-Wilson.

Shrader was healthy enough to throw the ball in Saturday’s regular season finale against Wake Forest and he completed 3 touchdown passes in leading Syracuse to 35 points, its highest-scoring effort since Week 3 against Purdue.

Although Saturday’s win means that the Orange will have another game to play this season, Job 1 for athletic director John Wildhack will be finding a new coach capable of getting the program over the just getting bowl eligible hump.

Virginia

It was around this time last year that the Cavaliers taught us that there are more important things than winning and losing football games. The lesson we learned this season is that progress can’t always be measured in a team’s final record.

Things didn’t end on a high note after a 55-17 beatdown at the hands of rival Virginia Tech. But considering the adversity Tony Elliott’s program has experienced, both off the field following the shooting deaths of 3 team members in November 2022 and on the field with an 0-5 start and a string of close losses, there’s reason for optimism moving forward.

Not only did UVa rally from its difficult start to go 3-4 over its final 7 games, but it discovered a number of young players – including true freshman quarterback Anthony Colandrea linebacker Kam Robinson and safety Caleb Hardy – around whom Elliott and his staff can build as they look to take the next step in the building process by showing improvement in the win column.

Virginia Tech

Nothing will derail a season faster than a significant injury, especially when it involves a starting quarterback. But as we learned from the Hokies this season, they can sometimes turn out to be a turning point for the better. That was the case when Grant Wells went down in a Week 2 loss to Purdue.

Wells’ injury opened the door for Baylor transfer Kyron Drones to take over leadership of the offense. And Tech took off from there. Combining with fellow transfers Bhayshul Tuten and Jaylin Lane, Drones energized an offense that averaged a touchdown more per game than it did a year ago and helped elevate the Hokies from a 1-3 start to bowl eligibility – with a brief flirtation with conference championship game contention a long way.

Defensively, another transfer – edge rusher Antwaun Ryland-Powell from Florida – was the catalyst for an improvement that in addition to manifesting itself in the win column, saw the Hokies go from last in the league in sacks in 2022 to No. 1 in the conference this season.

Wake Forest

Sam Hartman transferred to Notre Dame for his final season of eligibility to prove to the NFL scouts that he was more than just a “system quarterback.” We won’t know if he accomplished his goal until the draft next spring. But we certainly learned that the Deacons’ offensive success over the past 5 years was more about the quarterback than the system.

After averaging better than 30 points per game in every season since 2017, Wake plummeted to 20.3 this season. There are a number of reasons for the drop-off, among them an offensive line that yielded a league-leading 49 sacks.

The biggest problem was the quarterback position. Mitch Griffis wasn’t the answer. Santino Marucci came in and led the team to a win against Pitt, but didn’t exactly distinguish himself. And while Michael Kern finished strong Saturday against a bad Syracuse defense, Clawson will likely have to hit the portal in order to improve the position in 2024.