The ACC made strides in 2013 in its return to prominence with Florida State taking home the national title. The conference had three teams finish the season with at least 10 wins: Clemson, Florida State, and Duke.

Now we flip the page to 2014, with spring practices starting across the conference. There are some teams that will for sure be better in 2014: Duke, Virginia, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and NC State.

Teams like Florida State, Clemson. and Louisville aren’t on the list because they had great seasons in 2013.

Duke

Duke is coming off a surprise season that ended with a loss in the Chick Fil-A Bowl to Texas A&M. The Blue Devils finished 10-4, but things should continue to get better for David Cutcliffe’s group.

The team returns Anthony Boone and Brandon Connette, who both played in the two quarterback system. They have 17 starters returning from a team that did big things in 2013. Cutcliffe is simply one of the best coaches in the business, and I believe he will have his squad ready to improve off the 10-4 mark from a year ago.

Virginia

It’s hard to do much worse than Virginia did last season. The Cavaliers struggled to get any consistency at the quarterback position, but another year of offseason training may help David Watford develop. Greyson Lambert, who was a freshman last season, should also be in the mix to play. Corwin Cutler also comes in this season from Fork Union Military Academy, and could compete for the job.

Virginia brings in two highly-recruited defensive players who should contribute immediately. Quin Blanding and Andrew Brown were both rated 5-star prospects by ESPN. With the help of these freshman the Cavaliers should improve slightly, but there’s too many question marks to call them a contender in the ACC.

North Carolina

The Tar Heels have some momentum coming into spring practice, thanks to a 39-17 win over Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl. North Carolina has some solid offensive weapons in Marquise Williams and Quinshad Davis, who will look to further improve this season.

Williams threw for 15 touchdowns and only six interceptions last season, and Davis caught 10 touchdowns.

I think the Tar Heels are about an 8-4 or 9-3 team this season, and they will have a chance at winning the Coastal division.

 

Pittsburgh

The Panthers are an interesting case because it mostly depends on the development of rising sophomore Chad Voytik at quarterback. He threw for 108 yards in the bowl win over Bowling Green, but doesn’t have much experience under his belt.

If Pittsburgh can develop Voytik into a solid starter, watch out for the Panthers to contend for the Coastal division. Voytik will be blessed with a dynamic receiver in Tyler Boyd, who caught 85 passes last season. James Conner also came on strong in the bowl win, rushing for 229 yards.

The Panthers are an 8-4 or 7-5 team, but it’s hard to predict their outlook this early. After summer practice it will be much easier to gauge where they stand.

NC State

North Carolina State, like Virginia, is on this list simply because it’s hard to do much worse than last season. The Wolfpack failed to win an ACC game in 2013 and finished the season 3-9.

The team struggled at quarterback last season and will need to address that issue this offseason. I think the Wolfpack are likely to improve because of Dave Doeren’s experience with developing quarterbacks. Before this job he was at Northern Illinois, and he did phenomenal work helping to turn Jordan Lynch into a Heisman contender. NC State desperately needs him to develop a quarterback into a solid starter for next season, but I think he can turn it on with the pressure to win.

With a brutal Atlantic division it will be hard for NC State to impress in the win-loss column, but they can certainly do better than the 3-9 mark from a year ago.

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