Saturday Blitz
Fansided

ACC Football: 3 early storylines heading into 2020 season

By Jackson Caudell

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 13: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Clemson Tigers runs with the ball during the fourth quarter of the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the LSU Tigers at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The LSU Tigers topped the Clemson Tigers, 42-25. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JANUARY 13: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Clemson Tigers runs with the ball during the fourth quarter of the College Football Playoff National Championship game against the LSU Tigers at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on January 13, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The LSU Tigers topped the Clemson Tigers, 42-25. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

3. Second-year head coaches

The 2019 season featured two of the most unexpected turnarounds in college football in Chapel Hill and in Louisville.

Mack Brown came into the 2019 season with low expectations but finished the year at 7-6 and all six losses came by single digits and they were the only team to give Clemson anything resembling a scare in the regular season. Louisville’s Scott Satterfield was walking into one of the toughest situations in college football last season. Coming off a 3-9 season, things looked bleak for the Cardinals heading into last season, but they managed to finish 7-6 as well in what should be considered one of the most impressive coaching jobs in the entire country last season.

Louisville and North Carolina both rank in the top 20 in the country in returning production according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly and look to improve upon last season.

Miami’s Manny Diaz had the exact opposite type of first season than his other second-year peers. The Hurricanes entered 2019 with decent expectations and were an abject disaster, finishing the season 6-7 with losses to FIU, Duke, Georgia Tech and Louisiana Tech. The Hurricanes are hoping that new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee and Houston quarterback transfer D’Eriq King can help turn them around this season and contend in the ACC Coastal.

Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins still has a big uphill battle in turning the Yellow Jackets around, but a decent recruiting class and the second-most returning production in all of college football has things looking up in Atlanta for the future but even a bowl appearance would be a big surprise in 2020 for Georgia Tech.

Home/ACC