CBS Sports college football expert Dennis Dodd is picking Miami to win the ACC in 2022.

With a new coaching staff in charge at Miami, many experts believe the Hurricanes can compete with the best teams in the ACC as soon as this season. This will be head coach Mario Cristobal’s first season at Miami.

Cristobal was hired to fix a program that stalled under Mark Richt and Manny Diaz. In 2021, Miami began the season with a 2-4 record. Diaz managed to guide the Hurricanes to 5 wins in the final 6 games of the season. The strong end to the season was not enough for Diaz to hold on to his job.

Miami replaced Diaz with Cristobal in December and looked ahead to the 2022 season. Dodd saw what Cristobal did at Oregon and believed he will be able to do the same at Miami.

“This is the Canes’ time — Miami will win the ACC. Cristobal has become the East Coast version of Lincoln Riley in flipping the roster. A bunch of transfers and an already talented roster maturing at the right time make it so. Tyler Van Dyke is a budding star at quarterback. Cristobal is building an SEC-like program in South Florida, just like he did at Oregon.”

Cristobal led Oregon to back-to-back Pac-12 Championships in 2019 and 2020. If Dodd’s prediction comes true, Cristobal would capture his 3rd conference championship in the last 4 seasons.

Miami opens the season with Bethune-Cookman on Sept. 3.