The ACC may be wide open again in 2022, with several programs eyeing a conference name. Recently, Circa Sports has published updated odds for the 2022 ACC Championship..
Pittsburgh enters the 2022 season as the defending champions, but the team has also lost key offensive players. The Panthers still have talent to repeat, but they will get more competition from other league programs. There are several programs with a realistic image of Charlotte.
Clemson is wrapping up a season in which a team has fallen back but is still full of talent across the field. If the Tigers reach their potential, it will be very difficult to defeat them. In addition, there are other teams like NC State, Wake Forest and Miami that also seem to be within arm’s reach of the ACC Championship.
Here are the updated odds for the 2022 ACC Championship provided by Circa Sports:
Duke Blue Devils | +50000 Duke has won five games in the last two seasons combined and now Mike Elko has replaced David Cutcliffe as head coach. Elko has a lot of work to do to ensure that the Blue Devils once again pose any threat to winning the conference.
Syracuse orange | +20000 Syracuse has shown some progress in 2021, and the team’s goal this fall will be to make it to the bowl game. Running back Sean Tucker gives the Oranges a great offensive playmaker, but it would be very surprising to see them in an ACC Championship game.
Georgia Institute of Technology Yellow Jackets | +15000 Jeff Collins, who is in his fourth year as head coach at Georgia Tech, is expected to show improvement this fall. It will be difficult because the Yellow Jackets have lost their star player in dynamic running back Jameer Gibbs. In the offseason, he moved to Alabama.
Virginia Tech University | +6000 “The Hawks have been stuck in the mud lately and new head coach Brent Pry needs to change that. Former Marshalls quarterback Grant Wells has moved to Virginia Tech, so he might be able to fire up the Hawks, but there are still a lot of questions surrounding this team.
Virginia is another ACC team that underwent a coaching change this offseason, with Bronco Mendenhall retiring and former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott taking over. When Elliot implements his scheme, he does indeed have Brennan Armstrong as a quarterback. Armstrong has had a very productive season with the Cavaliers and every week he turns them into a dangerous team. There is still a lot of room for improvement in defense. Virginia scored 31.8 points per game, ranking 104th in the nation. If this unit can take a few steps forward, the Cavaliers can sneak up on the people in the Coastal Division.
After an injury derailed his 2021 season, quarterback Phil Yurkovec decided to return for the 2022 season, and he’s giving Boston College some offensive play experience. Largely due to an injury to Yurkovets, the Eagles finished last year in the ACC Atlantic Division. The defense was pretty solid, as you’d expect under head coach Jeff Hafley, but the team was only averaging 24.7 points per game. Boston College should be better in this department, but there are some strong teams in this department this year.
The 2022 season will be an important one for Mike Norvell, who is starting his third season at Florida State. The Seminole made some improvements last year, even if the record didn’t necessarily reflect that. The state of Florida is probably not at the championship level yet, which is why there are so few bookmakers on them, but winning the ACC may not be a realistic goal this year. Instead, the Seminoles need to score at least six wins, play the bowl, and make sure they acquire elite talent in the 2023 signing class. If that happens, Florida could be much closer to the top of this list in the near future.
Louisville is 10-14 over the past two seasons and is still a step or two behind the top teams in the top teams in the Atlantic Division. Malik Cunningham has the potential to play a crucial role on offense, but the Cardinals’ schedule may be the biggest hurdle to winning an ACC championship. In the second half of the season, Louisville will face Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Clemson and North Carolina State. It’s a tough way to end the regular season, and Louisville can’t afford to make many mistakes in that stretch.
The Demon Deacons are back from last year’s ACC Championships and have everything they need to wrap up in 2022. In particular, the dynamic duo of quarterback Sam Hartman and wide receiver AT Perry are back to wreak havoc on the ACC defense. To win a conference title, Wake Forest needs to get better defensively. In each of their three losses last year, the Demon Decons have lost at least 45 points. This puts a lot of pressure on the offense to score on every possession.
There were high hopes for the Tar Heels going into the 2021 season but they went 6–6 to finish fifth in the coastal division. Now, if North Carolina wants to win the conference, they’ll have to do it without quarterback Sam Howell. Drake May and Jacolby Criswell competed for the starting role and whoever wins will have a lot of big shoes. North Carolina scored well under Mack Brown, so the team has a talent for winning games. It’s just a matter of putting it all together on the football field.
In 2021, North Carolina State finished second in the Atlantic Division and just missed out on an opportunity to make the ACC Championship game. This year, the Wolf Pack should be good enough to fight for division leadership again. During the off-season, they lost lead hitter Zonovan Knight and lead receiver Emeka Emezi, but quarterback Devin Leary returned. Defensively, North Carolina State received great news when star linebacker Drake Thomas announced he would be returning in 2022. Beating Clemson two years in a row will be tough, but it’s certainly plausible for this NC State team.
Pittsburgh won the ACC championship last season, but the team went through a lot of changes during the offseason. Not only did quarterback Kenny Pickett go to the NFL Draft, but Biletnikoff winner Jordan Addison went to USC. These are two big losses for the Panthers, but they were somewhat offset by former USC quarterback Kedon Slovis, who replaced Pickett. Offensive coordinator Mark Whipple is also gone, which raises another question for Pitt. However, getting Slovis was a great addition and he can be a truly powerful player at his best.
Miami made some big moves this offseason by hiring Mario Cristobal to come home and coach the Hurricanes. There has been a rejuvenation within the program since Cristobal arrived on campus, and there are high hopes that things will be different this fall. On the field, Tyler Van Dyke looked like a promising young quarterback in 2021 and he will provide Cristobal with a legitimate playmaker for the position. Van Dyke would be left without lead wide receiver Charleston Rambo, but Miami added Clemson’s Frank Ladson to support the wide band. The Hurricanes really need to find answers on defense because they scored 28.4 points per game last year, ranking 85th in the nation.
By Clemson’s standards, in 2021 the team took a step back. The Tigers went 10-3 and finished third in the Atlantic Division….
Source: 247sports.com