ACC Football Power Rankings: Who follows Clemson in 2019’s final edition?

This wasn’t the season David Cutcliffe and the Blue Devils envisioned even with Daniel Jones going to the NFL.

The narrative for the Blue Devils season is “we were hit with the wrong injuries.” They weren’t the MASH unit some teams were, but they were hit by the bug in the worst way. They lost one of their better offensive linemen in spring camp and lost two of the best offensive players during the season. What’s worse is the Blue Devils lack of explosive playmaking was exposed early and teams dared them to push the ball down field — they couldn’t.

Next season: Who starts at quarterback for Duke next season? When you are in this region of the power rankings, quarterback is an issue most times and Duke is no different. Sophomore quarterback Chris Katrenick is the leading candidate, but whoever they start will lack experience. Good thing they’ll have three running backs to hand the ball off to; hopefully the offensive line won’t fall off.

The Orange ended their season winning two of their last three games. To say this season was a disaster for the Orange is an understatement. Offensively, they weren’t in sync most of the season, and the defense was a tremendous let down despite generating 30 sacks. They lost a lot when Eric Dungy graduated, but this was supposed to be the year Dino Babers and the Orange showed their progression as a program. That did not happen.

Next season: It’s difficult to say what was broken with the Orange this season. Maybe last season they were the beneficiaries of an easier schedule, or they had so much veteran leadership they didn’t have this season. One thing’s for sure, Babers needs to step up the recruiting. The Orange are lagging behind the rest of the ACC; they’re getting worse while the rest of the league is getting better. They don’t have the best recruiting footprint, but maybe they need to re-invent that.

The Boston College Eagles decided six or seven wins is not their high water mark, and decided to part ways with head coach Steve Addazio. Eagles administration, specifically their new athletic director Martin Jarmond, thinks seven wins isn’t good enough. He thinks they can do better.

The Eagles are launching a  $150 million campaign to overhaul their athletics. The Eagles need competitive facilities and amenities since they have arguably the worst recruiting footprint in the country: New England.

Next season: There’s no shortage of qualified candidates to fill the head coaching vacancy at “The Heights”. Given Jarmond’s connections to Columbus, look for the Eagles to pluck from the Urban Meyer/Ryan Day coaching tree specifically one of their two defensive coordinators. That makes sense as the Eagles have pieces on offense to work with.

Even if AJ Dillon bolts for the NFL, David Bailey is prepared to pick up the slack, along with a returning Anthony Brown at quarterback and Kobay White at receiver. The next coach will be tasked with fixing a defense that finished 96th in the country.