Who is at the bottom of the ACC? What will the order of finish be? Who is making a bowl game? What about Notre Dame (who plays 6 ACC teams)?
These will be my record predictions for the back half of the ACC AND Notre Dame. I will list every game for the predictions, but the primary takeaway should be the final record. We will also compare my predictions to the over/under win total for each team to see how the betting public feels about the ACC.
Predictions for the top half of the ACC can be found here.
Notre Dame is at the bottom because they refuse to join a conference.
*Odds listed refer to O/U win totals taken from DraftKings at the time of writing
8th – Duke – O/U win total: 6.5
Clemson (Monday) – W
Lafayette – W
Northwestern – W
At UConn – W
Notre Dame (HC) – L
Bye
NC State – W
At Florida State – L
At Louisville – L
Wake Forest (Thursday) – L
At North Carolina – L
At Virginia – W
Pittsburg – W
The highlight of this article is Duke. I have them beating Clemson week 1, and going 7-5. They come in below Wake Forest in the ACC standings because of a head to head loss. Unfortunately for Duke, they have an insane stretch coming out of the bye: 4 good teams from NC State to North Carolina plus a Thursday game. Oof.
Record: 7-5 (4-4)
Pick: Over 6.5
T-9th – Miami – O/U win total: 7.5
Miami (OH) (Friday) – W
Texas A&M – L
Bethune-Cookman (Thursday) – W
At Temple – W
Bye
Georgia Tech – W
At North Carolina – L
Clemson – L
Virginia – W
At NC State – L
At Florida State – L
Louisville – L
At Boston College (Friday) – W
Miami is really hoping I’m wrong here. They desperately want Mario Cristobal to turn things around down there. I just don’t see it though. Miami going 6-6 is actually an improvement over last year, for what that’s worth.
Miami FL vs Miami OH is a cool name matchup. The winner should earn the right to not need the (OH) or (FL) after their name forevermore.
Record: 6-6 (3-5)
Pick: Under 7.5 – Hammer the Under
T-9th – Virginia Tech – O/U win total: 5.5
Old Dominion – W
Purdue – L
At Rutgers – L
At Marshall – L
Pittsburg – L
At Florida State – L
Wake Forest (HC) – W
Bye
Syracuse (Thursday) – W
At Louisville – L
At Boston College – W
NC State – L
At Virginia – L
Long ago, back in the Michael Vick days, this was a team to be reckoned with. Everyone is waiting for them to get back to that level of play… this isn’t the year. My bold take for Virginia Tech, they get swept by a pair of bad B1G teams.
Record: 4-8 (3-5)
Pick: Under 5.5
11th – Virginia – O/U win total: 3.5
Vs Tennessee (Nashville) – L
James Madison – L
At Maryland (Friday) – L
NC State (Friday) – L
At Boston College – L
William & Mary – W
Bye
At North Carolina – L
At Miami – L
Georgia Tech – W
At Louisville (Thursday) – L
Duke – L
Virginia Tech – W
Vegas thinks Virginia will be bad. I think Virginia will be bad. Not much to see here.
Record: 3-9 (2-6)
Pick: Don’t Bet
12th – Georgia Tech – O/U win total: 4.5
Vs Louisville (Friday – Atlanta) – L
South Carolina State – W
At Ole Miss – L
At Wake Forest – L
Bowling Green – W
At Miami – L
Bye
Boston College – W
North Carolina (HC) – L
At Virginia – L
At Clemson – L
Syracuse – W
Georgia – L
The best thing about Georgia Tech last year was QB Jeff Sims. He plays for Nebraska now. This is a program that has no investment from their university. 4 wins feels high, but 2 are cupcakes so that inflates the win total.
Record: 4-8 (2-6)
Pick: Under 4.5
13th – Syracuse – O/U win total: 6.5
Colgate – W
Western Michigan – W
At Purdue – W
Army – W
Clemson (HC) – L
At North Carolina – L
At Florida State – L
Bye
At Virginia Tech (Thursday) – L
Boston College (Friday) – W
Vs Pittsburg (Bronx) – L
At Georgia Tech – L
Wake Forest – L
I don’t love football games in baseball stadiums. But the week 11 matchup commemorates the first meeting between Pitt and Syracuse in Yankee Stadium 100 years ago in 1923. That’s pretty cool.
Record: 5-7 (1-7)
Pick: Don’t Bet – Too much unknown
14th (last) – Boston College – O/U win total: 5.5
Northern Illinois – W
Holy Cross – W
Florida State – L
At Louisville – L
Virginia – W
At Army – L
Bye
At Georgia Tech – L
UConn (HC) – W
At Syracuse (Friday) – L
Virginia Tech – L
At Pittsburg (Thursday) – L
Miami (Friday) – L
Last year’s QB, Phil Jurkovec, now plays for Pitt. Boston is a pro sports town, not so much a college town. I admittedly don’t know much about BC. Maybe that’s why I’m so low on them.
Record: 4-8 (1-7)
Pick: Don’t Bet – Too much unknown
Notre Dame – O/U win total: 8.5
Vs Navy (Week 0 – Ireland) – W
Tennessee State – W
At NC State – W
Central Michigan – W
Ohio State – L
At Duke – W
At Louisville – W
USC – L
Bye
Pittsburg – W
At Clemson – L
Bye
Wake Forest – W
At Stanford – W
Notre Dame is the only P5 team that has 3 opponents with preseason win totals of 10 or higher (USC, OSU, and Clemson). That makes this a very boring prediction. They lose the 3 biggest games on their schedule but beat everyone else. A side note though: I think it’s more likely they lose a 4th game than beat one of the big 3.
They’ve got a week 0 game vs Navy over in Ireland. So the Fighting Irish will play in Ireland, neat. That’s also why they get 2 bye weeks late in the year.
Record: 9-3
Pick: Don’t Bet
Want more Walk On Fan?
Check out this article where we predict every game for every team in the B1G West.
This article was written by Cole Tollison and edited by Hayden Breene