This season, the ACC has been turned into the conference of chaos as it seems each weekend the presumed front runner to win the conference falls in truly shocking fashion. As things currently stand, there's a 5 way tie atop the ACC with teams who have a loss in league play while all except for Georgia Tech have lost multiple games on the season.
The ACC will likely be a 1-bid league into the College Football Playoff as the chaos in the league has diminished several teams and their resume. As the ACC will most likely get a bid into the Playoff even as they've struggled, you can start to look at teams in other leagues and wonder how they would've fared.
These 3 Non-ACC flops could've won the ACC with ease
Coming into the year, many viewed Missouri as a potential College Football Playoff contender and they looked the part with a 5-0 start. The Tigers have since lost 3 of their last 4 in part due to the injury to starting quarterback Beau Pribula. Had Pribula stayed healthy, and Missouri was in the ACC, the Tigers rushing attack alone would've been good enough to win the conference while their defense allows less points per game than every ACC defense except for Miami's.
The Illinois Fighting Illini came into the season with the hope of making the College Football Playoff, yet their hopes were dashed in October when they took their 3rd loss of the season. When you look at Illinois' losses, two of them have come against the Top 2 teams in the Country in Ohio State and Indiana. When Illinois faced Duke it showed what it could do to ACC competition with a dominant 45-19 win. If Illinois was in the ACC, this would be one of the most feared rosters, and it'd be hard too envision them not winning the league.
The LSU Tigers have been a disaster in 2025, but if they played in the ACC this season, Brian Kelly may still have his job, and this team may even have National Championship buzz. The Tigers defense has been dominant this season, and it'd be hands down the best unit in the ACC giving the Tigers a clear path to the Playoff. The biggest weakness for LSU has been their offensive line which we saw slow the best defensive front in the ACC against Clemson which makes it hard to believe they couldn't win the league.