Contender Hot Takes: ACC - Florida State Missing Out On ACC Title? | GSMC College Football Podcast

all righty welcome back everyone we just got into the big time stretches for the big four teams going into this year Georgia Ohio State Texas and Oregon and kind of decided where their stretch is going to be where they become a BigTime Championship Contender and don't just become a team that has Championship aspirations but hasn't realized them yet so definitely will be really interesting to watch that unfold but let's get into the ACC here and give some hot takes for the conference contenders in that conference frankly I think there's a number of conference contenders technically but only about six teams that I would really give a genuine shot to win this conference this upcoming year so I have six for you today and we'll break down this and I'll start with Florida State and this is one that I've gone back and forth on probably a million times throughout this offseason Florida state has been one of the more confusing teams in my you know trying to get ready for the season I can't figure out how good Florida state is going to be this year but I'm going to roll with Florida State's portal moves would just not be enough to win uh AC title it might be enough to get there but I don't think this team has the guys that are going to make the big time plays that you saw in the past so I've kind of unpacked this a little bit before but my main worry is DJ I don't think necessarily he's going to make the championship quote unquote plays that need to be made that Jordan Travis absolutely was capable of making so uh I've said this kind of analogy but I think in the past they've been able to get A+ transfers they've been able to get a transfers I think this uh cycle they got B+ maybe B transfers and they're not bad players by any means and they have plenty of really really fabulous players on this team but at the end of the day I don't think you know Keon Coleman uh is or excuse me I don't think Malik Benson is Keon Coleman I don't think royell Williams is Trey Benson so it's kind of one of those battles back and forth where I don't really know how good this team is going to be I don't really know how well these guys are going to fit together and I think they have plenty of talent but at the end of the day someone has to make those big big- time winning plays and maybe it's hem Williams on the outside maybe the defense is so good that they don't really have to worry about too much stuff offensively but overall I just don't necessarily see those big time plays and those Championship level plays being made by the group that they brought in and particularly at the quarterback position because what Jordan Travis did was open up this offense to insane amounts because of his running ability DJ brings that a little bit but not nearly to the same level of Jordan Travis and I think that was as big of a part of Florida Florida State success on offense as really anything last year so I think that's the biggest worry that I have so I think this is a remarkable team I think they have so many things going in the right direction and I think they brought in a lot of good players I just don't think their Championship level good so I think they're going to be on the other side of that ACC title game and not necessarily be on The Winning Side this time around but it'll be very interesting to watch and are definitely one of those teams that are really hard to pck down going into this year but let's move on to Clemson here and I want to get in oh excuse me I apologize for that um I want to get into Bryant Wesco because I think this is going to be the leading receiver on this team this upcoming year I understand that uh Clemson you know has some experienced Guys Tyler Moore being the main among them that I think could make some noise but I think there's difference makers on this team at wide receiver and they're both freshmen I think it's Bryant Wesco and TJ Moore are Just A Cut Above athletically of some of these other guys Brown is kind of on that level as well but overall I think this is a group that absolutely can be really good and I think it almost has to be led by the young guys if it's going to be that way because they play at a different level than some of these other guys do so it might take them a little bit of time to get going it might not necessarily be the smoothest transition into things especially playing Georgia that first week of the season but overall I think this is a team that is a little bit more dangerous than some people are giving him credit for partly because not a lot of people like to give Davos Sweeney any credit but that's beside the point uh I do think this is a team that has a lot of ability on the outside and I think Bryant Wesco is one of those guys that can really open up this offense and although he's a freshman can definitely be a big time player and they might just need him to be if they're going to make the noise that they want to make this upcoming season so I really expect this guy to be the leading receiver on the team and I expect him to be one of the better receivers we've seen come through Clemson in quite some time over the next couple of years but let's move on to Miami here and break down Ruben Bane I think he's going to lead the power four in sacks I think he is that good of a player obviously there's usually a group of five guy that goes for like 16 in the half or something absolutely crazy so I'm not necessarily ready to say he's going to lead FBS in sacks but he might be close um I think when you look at this conference there's not an offensive tackle that I can see at least that can really handle this guy for four quarters that can absolutely match up with this guy without doubt going into this um uh next little bit so I think it'll be really really interesting to watch and I think when you look into all of the different things that can happen around this season this is a really really dangerous player and one of those guys that yeah he's on the defensive side of the ball but he can turn over this entire conference he's coming off a seven and a half sack year and a year where he was a freshman in a year where he faced some better offensive tackles and in the year where he didn't have a guy across from him like Elijah Alon that's going to be scary for offensive tackles in his own right so I think he's going to get more one-on ones and I don't think there's one-on-one where he cannot win so Ruben Bane is one of those players that I think is on that level of a James Pierce Jr a Michel Williams a jack Sawyer he's just a little bit younger that's the only difference between those two guys and I think he's someone that can be an Elite pass rusher and against some o lines that might not be you know at the elite level that they need to be to contain a guy like that so I think he's going to be an absolute game wer and I think he's the most important player on this team that is not named cam Ward I feel pretty confident in that and if he can you know do this and lead the power four and sacks you might just find Miami in the playoff and that will be just incredible to watch this guy go up against some of the SEC and Big 10 tackles that are definitely a little bit higher level but it'll be fascinating to watch if you can still dominate those guys all the same um but let's move on to Virginia Tech here and I think they're going to finish this regular season 10 and two or better um and when I look at this season this isn't that crazy of a take frankly there's that Miami and Clemson game other than that they have every single game should be not necessarily easy to win but they should be favored by maybe even double digits in most of these games the two other games that I'm watching Pretty closely are Rutgers and Georgia Tech but at the end of the day both of those games should be wins both of those games should not really be huge issues for Virginia Tech and that opens up a very interesting door where they do have to go down to Miami and say you lose that game that's all well and good but you walk into that Clemson game with one loss or hypothetically if you beat Miami you walk in undefeated that place is going to be on fire and there's going to be ACC title implications they're going to be college football playoff implications you could even punch your ticket to the ACC title and maybe the playoff on that day if you were able to beat Clemson so I think this is one of those uh teams and programs that has been sitting dormant just for a little bit here but absolutely has a lot of uh big things going on in 2024 and can be one of those teams that can make some noise in this conference and win they tile and get into the playoff and maybe knock off some teams while they're there but it all starts with the regular season and frankly I think they're going to have just a really really remarkable one this upcoming year so really awesome to watch that team and just cannot wait to watch Kiron drones go to work that's for sure and then we have uh Noah Rogers in North Carolina State and that's a team that has been really really interesting here but I think Noah Rogers is going to lead this team in receptions and this is a little bit of cheating I'm not going to lie because I would go with receiving yards but Kevin seion absolutely has like a 200 yard 250 yard game in him this year so I don't necessarily feel too good about that so I don't necessarily want to say that um I think it's going to be one of those things where you now have a counter punch you now have a guy that you can't just worry about number 10 on the field you got to find number five as well and I think he's one of those guys that can be a third down option can be that middle of the field option for Grayson McCall where he's really succeeded in the past and he's had really good players and Grayson McCall as well goes the tight end Dayton Justin Jolie coming over from Yukon is going to be huge kind of that Isaiah likely connection is what they're hoping for down there and I think it'll be really interesting to watch but no Rogers to me is one of the biggest pickups in the portal for really any team across the country this year because I think it totally changes this offense's complexion I think it makes them a lot more dangerous makes them not as you know gimmicky not as you know gadget Play oriented with Kevin concepion you have a real like complete receiver that absolutely can make every play Kev Kevin concepion is plenty complete not to say he's not but I definitely think it opens so many different doors and take some of the attention off uh concepion where you can use him in handoffs you can use him in jet sweeps end rounds what have you and be really really dangerous with that guy on the edge so I think he's someone that maybe won't have you know Big Time chunk plays maybe he doesn't make that 50 yard catch down the field like Kevin concepion can make but he's going to make maybe five catches to get them in position to make that play or he's going to make that 5 yard catch that you absolutely need on the third down so I think he's one of those guys that has been to the Ohio State so he's been a little bit under the radar because so many good wide receivers just roll in and out of that place but I think NC State is a fantastic place for him to just really open up his uh college football career and be a really dangerous player so I think he's someone that I absolutely love going into the ACC and he's someone that can really make this team an ACC Contender and possibly even win the conference for them because of how dangerous he is and just because of how complete he makes this offense look so I really like this player I really like this team and I think it's one of those that the passing attack used to always be Kevin concepion and then live with whatever else happens that's not going to be the case this year you're going to have a number of different targets and I think Noah Rogers might just get the majority of those Targets this upcoming year so it'll be really interesting to watch all of those kind of unfold because the ACC is one of those conferences where I Circle these six teams as the teams that really have a shot in this conference but doesn't necessarily mean this is the end I'll be all oh that's only five teams excuse me the five teams that I really Circle in this conference but definitely some other teams that could make some noise and make me look a little bit Goofy for not putting them in this segment but at the end of the day it'll be really interesting to watch that on full but that'll do it for this edition of the gsmc college football podcast brought to you by the gsmc sports network your support means a lot to us so please remember to subscribe to the show leave a positive review it does make a huge difference for us also follow us on Facebook Twitter Tik Tok Instagram all the social pages for all the content and updates you could possibly need um but thank you once again for listening and I will see you guys tomorrow