ACC Preview: Part 1 - Contender Tiers & What Happens After Miami? | College Football

About this episode

The episode previews the ACC for the 2026 season, focusing on Miami's championship hopes and the conference's contender tiers.

In this college football podcast episode, we begin our three-part 2026 ACC preview by zooming out and attempting to make sense of the conference as a whole. Miami enters the season as the clear favorite, with Darian Mensah taking over at quarterback and another roster built to reach the College Football Playoff. But can the Hurricanes finally win their first ACC championship? From there, we sort the rest of the ACC into contender tiers and confront the question that defines the league this season: Who comes after Miami? We debate how much to trust Kevin Jennings and SMU, Jeff Brohm’s latest rebuild at Louisville, Clemson’s return to Chad Morris and the long list of possible challengers lurking in the conference’s crowded middle. We also examine the unusually unsettled quarterback landscape, widespread offensive line turnover, the arrival of James Franklin at Virginia Tech and the pressure facing Mike Norvell at Florida State. Plus, we identify our ACC pet teams, search for surprise storylines and hold an entirely unnecessary conference nickname draft. Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Topics covered

• ACC Preview
• College Football
• Contender Tiers
• Miami Hurricanes
• Quarterback Landscape
• Offensive Line Turnover
• Conference Nickname Draft

Keywords

• ACC
• Miami
• College Football Playoff
• contender tiers
• quarterback
• Louisville
• Florida State
• Virginia Tech
• James Franklin
• Mike Norvell

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Miami, SMU, Louisville, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Florida State

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• Big 12 Preview: Part 1 - Contender Tiers, Dark Horses & the Monster Middle Class | College Football · July 21, 2026 · 1h 9m
• ACC Preview: Part 3 - Clemson’s Crossroads, Virginia Tech’s Reboot & NC State Hope | College Football · July 19, 2026 · 1h 26m
• ACC Preview: Part 2 - Miami’s Title Push, SMU’s Next Step, Mike Norvell's Hot Seat & Notre Dame | College Football · July 16, 2026 · 1h 25m
• G6 Previews: Part 2 - Pac-12, Mountain West & CUSA + UConn | College Football · July 12, 2026 · 1h 34m
• G6 Previews: Part 1 - The American, Sun Belt & MAC Conference Previews | College Football · July 9, 2026 · 1h 35m
• Intro to the 2026 College Football Season · July 7, 2026 · 1h 20m