Who’s overrated, underrated in early Top 25, plus an ACC lookahead

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Today I’m joined by Grace Raynor to preview the ACC’s players to watch in 2024. But first … rankings!

Ari Wasserman’s Top 25

Overrated, underrated teams

With spring practices over and another transfer portal window behind us, The Athletic’s Ari Wasserman released his preseason Top 25 yesterday. Ohio State and Georgia safely secured the top two spots. As for the rest of the list, here are my picks for one team each that will underperform and overperform compared to Ari’s rating, plus one mystery team I just can’t figure out.

📈 Overrated, No. 5 Notre Dame: The Irish will have a good team, and I’m excited to watch QB Riley Leonard in South Bend. But a spot in the top five feels optimistic. Prove me wrong, Irish!

📉 Underrated, No. 24 Oklahoma State: The Cowboys return RB Ollie Gordon II, who led the nation in rushing yards in 2023. QB Alan Bowman returns for his seventh year of college football, providing plenty of experience as long as he stays healthy. Mike Gundy is a consistent winner, and the Cowboys’ schedule appears favorable.

❓Mystery team, No. 7 Alabama: We’ve made it to the post-Nick Saban Alabama era. Of course, this has to be the mystery team. I’m confident in Kalen DeBoer, and the Crimson Tide return QB Jalen Milroe, but I’m still not ready to say this season will be a seamless turn of the page in Tuscaloosa. The SEC also looks stacked.

Ari discussed his rankings on yesterday’s Until Saturday podcast. Listen to it here.

What’s New in ACC?

Realignment, new head coaches

The ACC will be a 17-team conference in 2024 thanks to the addition of three programs.

SMU: The Mustangs’ AAC finale ended with a conference championship, an 11-win season and a finish at No. 22 in the AP poll. Entering his third season, Rhett Lashlee will look to keep the momentum against a more competitive conference slate.
Cal: The Golden Bears reached bowl eligibility for the first time since 2019 last season. The team’s leading rusher, Jaydn Ott, returns, and the program recently picked up a transfer commitment from WR Kyion Grayes II (Ohio State).
Stanford: Troy Taylor’s first year in charge ended with a 3-9 record, but he inherited a program that was going to take some time to rebuild. The good news is Stanford’s schedule looks a little more manageable in 2024, except for tough road trips to Clemson (Sept. 28) and Notre Dame (Oct. 12).

Additionally, there are three new head coaches in the ACC.

Bill O’Brien at Boston College: O’Brien jumped to the Eagles just three weeks after he was hired as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator. He was the head coach at Penn State from 2012-13 and spent 2021-22 as Alabama’s OC/QBs coach. In the NFL, O’Brien was the head coach for the Houston Texas from 2014-20 and spent last season as the OC/QBs coach of the New England Patriots.
Manny Diaz at Duke: Hired away after spending two seasons as Penn State’s DC, Diaz is an elite defensive coach. His only head coaching stint at Miami from 2019-21 ended with a 21-15 record. The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel graded this hire a B-minus, the best of ACC newcomers.
Fran Brown at Syracuse: The Orange replaced Dino Babers with Brown, Georgia’s former DBs coach. This is Brown’s first head-coaching gig, but he’s known as one of the best recruiters in the game.

Cam Ward threw for 3,736 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2023 for Washington State. (James Snook / USA Today)

I brought in Grace Raynor to tell us about three ACC players she’s most intrigued to watch in 2024. Read more of her ACC coverage here.

Cam Ward, Miami QB: The former Washington State QB pulled his name out of the NFL Draft in January and was one of the most coveted prospects in the portal this offseason. The Hurricanes have recruited incredibly well under coach Mario Cristobal, but the results haven’t followed with Miami having gone just 5-7 in 2022 and 7-6 in 2023. Ward, who has both the requisite talent and experience, could be the difference-maker. He threw for 3,736 yards and 25 touchdowns a season ago and could be the ACC’s top QB.
DJ Uiagalelei, FSU QB: There is arguably no other player in the ACC as intriguing as Uiagalelei. The former five-star recruit started his career at Clemson, transferred to Oregon State last season and is headed back to the ACC to suit up for Clemson’s top league rival. It has been a whirlwind of a college career for Uiagalelei, and this final chapter could be the most fascinating of them all. The Seminoles need to replace their star from a season ago, Jordan Travis, and Uiagalelei knows this league well. But if he struggles, as he did with the Tigers, how long is his leash? Clemson at FSU on the first Saturday in October will be must-see TV.
KC Concepcion, NC State WR: Concepcion was one of the most dynamic receivers in the league a season ago as a true freshman and should only be better as a sophomore. If you love quick, shifty, dominant receiver play, Concepcion is your guy. The ACC’s Rookie of the Year in 2023, Concepcion set NC State’s freshman records for receiving touchdowns with 10 and catches with 71. His 71 receptions were the sixth-most in single-season history at NC State, and his 839 receiving yards ranked second-best in program history by a freshman. Concepcion will have a new QB this season in Coastal Carolina transfer Grayson McCall. Could the duo make NC State a dark horse in the conference race?

Question of the Day

An ACC dark horse?

Now, that you’ve studied up on the ACC, we welcome you to our first Until Saturday Question of the Day segment. As we begin to preview the 2024 season, I’ll ask for your hot takes, predictions, players to watch and more. We’ll start with conference dark horses, beginning with …

Which program is this year’s ACC’s dark horse? Submit your answer here or send your response via email to UntilSaturday@TheAthletic.com.

We’ll share the answers in tomorrow’s newsletter and the Until Saturday podcast crew will break down the results on Friday! Now, let’s take a deeper look at the ACC.

Quick Snaps

Also from Grace: Could this three-star LB go down as Nick Saban’s final big Alabama recruiting find?

Dave Aranda’s on the hot seat. Texpert Sam Khan Jr. dives into a pivotal year for Baylor in a wide-open Big 12.

You can buy tickets to every college football game here.

(Top photo of Marcus Freeman: Quinn Harris / Getty Images)