The ACC will welcome a trio of new members to the league for 2024, and the first big showcase will come when SMU, Cal and Stanford square off in football come fall. But one team probably has a better chance to succeed over the others in the new league.
As of ACC spring meetings in mid-May, On3’s Andy Staples and ESPN’s David Hale think that team might be Cal, given the returning talent at running back and Jaydn Ott and the general experience and depth on the squad. But the overall ceiling still isn’t terribly exciting.
“My answer might be Cal, and that answer might be a 7-5 team, maybe an 8-4 team,” Hale said. “But the schedule’s OK. Justin Wilcox is a much better coach than he gets credit for being.”
Staples concurred.
“Cal’s a hard job. People don’t understand how hard that job is. And to have a star like Jaydn Ott, to keep a player like that, it’s not easy.”
Hale continued, praising the quarterback depth that Wilcox has built behind Fernando Mendoza.
“It’s not, and frankly they’ve done really well in the portal,” Hale said. “They’ve added some quality players this offseason. I think the quarterback situation, because Mendoza showed signs last year. But they bring in Chandler Rogers who had a very good season last year, too, at North Texas. That’ll be an interesting conversation about how that plays out over the season.”
And if not Cal, then Hale and Staples both see SMU as potentially poised for a strong year following a 10-2 campaign.
But they both cautioned about raised expectations for Rhett Lashlee’s squad as it moves from the Group of 5 level to the Power 4 level.
“And you look last year, the four that joined the Big 12 struggled,” Hale said. “They all took a step back. And I remember talking to, of all people, Bobby Petrino about this when Louisville joined the league. And he said ‘It’s not our top end guys can’t go matchup up’ — ”
Satples interjected.
“It’s if you have an injury or two,” Staples said.
Hale concurred.
“Yeah, you can’t survive the attrition that comes with a full season until you’ve had a little bit of time to build up the roster with legit ACC guys or SEC guys or whatever,” He said.
But, on that topic, both Hale and Staples have been impressed with SMU’s transfer haul.
“So if you look at what SMU did in the portal, a lot of linemen they took out of the portal,” Staples said. “And that doesn’t necessarily guarantee you success as the viewers know when I talk about Colorado, you can’t really change your fortunes on the line of scrimmage through the portal. Maybe when somebody gets hurt, you have the swing tackle you need to get your through a game.”
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