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Louisville football: ACC power rankings week 1

By Presley Meyer

CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 01: Head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers holds the ACC Championship trophy after their 42-10 victory over the Pittsburgh Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on December 1, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 01: Head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers holds the ACC Championship trophy after their 42-10 victory over the Pittsburgh Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on December 1, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – NOVEMBER 30: Tyler Davis #9 celebrates with Ahmarean Brown #10 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets following a touchdown during the first half of the game at Bobby Dodd Stadium on November 30, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – NOVEMBER 30: Tyler Davis #9 celebrates with Ahmarean Brown #10 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets following a touchdown during the first half of the game at Bobby Dodd Stadium on November 30, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

14. Georgia Tech

Last season, Georgia Tech was clearly negatively impacted by the brutal transition in coaching staffs.

Former head coach Paul Johnson ran an effective system for a decade, but his style was highly unusual and he built rosters centered around aggressive defense and heavy run, ball control option offense.

That lent not only a weirdly constructed roster, but an undersized system-oriented group of players to work around for Geoff Collins in year one. He spoke about as much in an interview with 247Sports this Spring.

“We had the second-smallest senior class in the country, the second-smallest physical roster size in America, so there was going to be a time that we had to grow — physically, mentally, all of those things — but the only way to do it and do it right is to be positive. And so, that’s what we attacked.”

Tech figures to continue its steady improvement this season, but there are not too many indicators that things are going to be on the up and up right away.

13. Duke

No coach has done a better job in the ACC, and maybe in all of power five football than Duke head coach David Cutcliffe.

In a brutally difficult place to recruit and build a consistent football program, Cutcliffe has made the Blue Devils a consistent challenger in the coastal division.

However, there has been a significant regression over the last two seasons in Durham, and things are not looking a whole lot better heading into 2020.

Chase Brice was a really solid second option in his time at Clemson, and he could provide a spark for Duke’s offense as a graduate transfer. However, there is not a ton more for Duke to hang its hat on among a group that is largely unproven.

Given Cutcliffe’s track record, Duke could very well have a turnaround season in 2020, but as things stand right now, they have a long way to go.

12. NC State

It is weird to think that the Wolfpack could wind up on the bottom half of this list after the first few years under Dave Doeren. However, the 2019 season did not bring anything that we became accustomed to seeing under this coaching staff.

NC State lacked the strong pass rush that has been a Doeren staple and spent the majority of the season bouncing around from quarterback to quarterback.

There’s certainly a chance for a nice turn-around season in 2020 after the Wolfpack turned over a new leaf of sorts by replacing five coaches. Quarterback Devin Leary showed promise on the back half of the season. However, culture shifts take time and we’ve not seen anything on the field to indicate that State should sit any higher than they did to finish last year.

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