Why can’t we win the Acc?

Winning the coastal is more feasible than you guys think. Our schedule (outside of that late-season road trip to Clemson) is very fortuitous in terms of when we play our biggest opponents, and our division foes don’t have it easy.

- We open ACC play (and consequently, Mario’s first conference game) with UNC at home. I like our chances, especially with UNC breaking in a new QB and our boys having a seasoned opponent in A&M already under the belt; additionally, vs. Midd Tenn the week prior allows us to work on certain areas that we struggled with in College Station. The Tar Heels also have to play both Wake and NC State from the Atlantic.

- Pitt is the other obstacle, and while they do return a slew of production from 2021, the losses of Pickett, Addison, and OC Mark Whipple might be too much. I’m not a huge believer in Slovis, and we get them on Thanksgiving Week in the regular season finale; which also happens to be at Hard Rock. There’s always cause for concern regarding Northeast Teams and dealing with humidity late in the winter. We also sneaky own Pitt - winners of four in a row, six of the past seven, and fourteen of the past sixteen. If you want to stretch it back to the 80’s, winners of 22/25. Pitt’s toughest conference games are all on the road - UNC, Miami, Louisville and UVA.

- UVA/Duke/VT breaking in new coaches. That road trip to Charlottesville the week prior to FSU might be a trap game, but other than Armstrong…they don’t scare me much. I’m a fan of Grant Wells as well, but Pry has an entire roster overhaul to deal with at VT. Duke is Duke, and GT should be pretty horrific.

“Winning the coastal is more feasible than you guys think.”

-I think winning The Coastal has been feasible since 2004.

2016, that was last time we introduced a coach worth a ****, correct? We hired Mark Richt. What happened in 2016? We didn’t win The Coastal, BUT more importantly, which I continue to harp on, we improved tremendously. It took a few games to get adjusted to the new staff, playbook, habits, etc. 2017 is when we busted through the door to finally win this division.

Again, if in yr 1 we win, LFG; but, this hope & hype needs to be tempered. It’s not a matter of 1 + 1 = 2; if that was the case, we would have at least 8 Coastal Titles in our trophy room. We’re “building” something, which means there might be some kinks & set backs that can’t be accounted for by just looking at the roster/schedule.

I think one of the deadliest things said here on CIS, & I know exactly those who said it (lol), was “we were a few plays away from winning 10 games in 2021.” That is the most bull chit of all bull chit reasoning that was created on this board, & it came from The Manny Brigade. We were fortunate to win 7 games last yr. This whole team’s identity is going to have to change. An infusion of talent is going to need to come in. Learning new language & assignments, etc etc.

I would rather for my brethren to not put the “winning the division” narrative out there, not yr 1. 9 wins w/ a bowl victory is a great start b4 this ships takes off. IF we do win the division in yr 1, retire Mario’s jersey # that same day.
 
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I believe a consensus top 25 recruiting class for the past 3 years would be a completely kosher baseline of talent. The recruiting, including incoming frosh, have flipped to A-1. Could we have a few players get better bc of Mario and staff? Why not? I think we will win 2 out of next 4 college titles. Or once Damon arrives we win 2/3. Can’t put 3/3 on him!!
Need 3 recruiting cycles.
 
“Winning the coastal is more feasible than you guys think.”

-I think winning The Coastal has been feasible since 2004.

2016, that was last time we introduced a coach worth a ****, correct? We hired Mark Richt. What happened in 2016? We didn’t win The Coastal, BUT more importantly, which I continue to harp on, we improved tremendously. It took a few games to get adjusted to the new staff, playbook, habits, etc. 2017 is when we busted through the door to finally win this division.

Again, if in yr 1 we win, LFG; but, this hope & hype needs to be tempered. It’s not a matter of 1 + 1 = 2; if that was the case, we would have at least 8 Coastal Titles in our trophy room. We’re “building” something, which means there might be some kinks & set backs that can’t be accounted for by just looking at the roster/schedule.

I think one of the deadliest things said here on CIS, & I know exactly those who said it (lol), was “we were a few plays away from winning 10 games in 2021.” That is the most bull chit of all bull chit reasoning that was created on this board, & it came from The Manny Brigade. We were fortunate to win 7 games last yr. This whole team’s identity is going to have to change. An infusion of talent is going to need to come in. Learning new language & assignments, etc etc.

I would rather for my brethren to not put the “winning the division” narrative out there, not yr 1. 9 wins w/ a bowl victory is a great start b4 this ships takes off. IF we do win the division in yr 1, retire Mario’s jersey # that same day.
While I agree with many of your points, I have us losing 2 ACC games and still winning the coastal. I penciled in a 9-3 regular season (losses to A&M, Clemson, and one game we’re favored in such as @UVA). I don’t think anyone else in the coastal runs the table with a one-loss record. I’m just banking on getting UNC and Pitt at home, the latter of which might decide the division.
 
A lot of our optimism rests on hope as opposed to actual skill...that rarely works out. We just don't have the horses on offense yet, specifically at WR and OL. The OL should be better under Mirabal/Cristobal but we seriously lack size, it'll be very apparent once we visit Clemson and A&M. We lack speed and overall athleticism at WR too. I'm also not sure how well Gattis' offense fits the personnel.

The defense will be fine imo; better coaching should clean up the tackling epidemic and the additions thru transfer/recruiting will aid in a more of a pressure approach on D (think Patriots or Dolphins' defense). Stopping the run may be an issue.

I think the Coastal is attainable but I'll believe winning the ACC when I see it.
 
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While I agree with many of your points, I have us losing 2 ACC games and still winning the coastal. I penciled in a 9-3 regular season (losses to A&M, Clemson, and one game we’re favored in such as @UVA). I don’t think anyone else in the coastal runs the table with a one-loss record. I’m just banking on getting UNC and Pitt at home, the latter of which might decide the division.

Just sayin bro, if we don’t win The Coastal, again if, pls don’t look at it as a disappointment or underachieving season. No matter the coach, no matter the roster, no matter the schedule, it’s really hard to turn chicken chit into a Chicken Cobb Salad. For me, season 1 is beyond W-L. Truth be told, I don’t want a 9-10 win season where we back & luck in to some games. I wanna see a competent football team reinventing themselves back to The U, like ‘99 heading into the ‘00 season.
 
While I agree with many of your points, I have us losing 2 ACC games and still winning the coastal. I penciled in a 9-3 regular season (losses to A&M, Clemson, and one game we’re favored in such as @UVA). I don’t think anyone else in the coastal runs the table with a one-loss record. I’m just banking on getting UNC and Pitt at home, the latter of which might decide the division.
This is exactly how I see it playing out as well. My worries are...

We undercover suck @UVA. We're 1-4 in our last 5 trips to Charlottesville

We're 0-3 in our last 3 vs UNC - and on paper we're not any more talented than UNC

Last 3 Miami Recruiting Class Ranks - 13, 11, 11
Last 3 UNC Recruiting Class Ranks - 11, 14, 16
 
Talent-wise, Miami has the second best team in the league, and it’s not even close IMO. I would argue that at certain positions Miami is every bit as talented, or even more so, than Clemson(QB, RB, TE). Where Clemson has a clear advantage over us, for now, is at D-Line and LB. That being said, even great coaches typically struggle some in their first year...go look at Saban’s first year at Bama and Dabo’s first year at Clemson. At the end of the day, when you factor in our talent level compared to the rest of the conference, the extremely gifted and highly regarded coaching staff, and a schedule that’s not murderers row, I think anything worse than 9-3 would be a disappointment. I believe 10-2 is very attainable though..
 
Miami can ABSOLUTELY win the ACC this year. Is it a forgone conclusion? Of course not. Our roster isn’t quite the level where we can expect to just roll over most of the conference. But……..Pitt won the ACC last year. With a less talented team than we have. **** we beat them last year and they still won the conference. Clemson is still the most talented but if their offense continues to struggle, that means they’re going to have more close games than they’re used to. The outcome of a close game can often come down to a lucky bounce or one big break. Which means Clemson can very much lose to multiple less talented teams again.

I wouldn’t bank on winning the conference but I’d say that we definitely have the second best odds to win it after Clemson.
 
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Just sayin bro, if we don’t win The Coastal, again if, pls don’t look at it as a disappointment or underachieving season. No matter the coach, no matter the roster, no matter the schedule, it’s really hard to turn chicken chit into a Chicken Cobb Salad. For me, season 1 is beyond W-L. Truth be told, I don’t want a 9-10 win season where we back & luck in to some games. I wanna see a competent football team reinventing themselves back to The U, like ‘99 heading into the ‘00 season.
I got you bro; 8-4 is totally realistic. I think 7-5 or worse would be disappointing considering the caliber of our QB, coaching staff, and certain positions…+ weakness of the coastal in general; but I wouldn’t be mad at 8-4.
 
I believe a consensus top 25 recruiting class for the past 3 years would be a completely kosher baseline of talent. The recruiting, including incoming frosh, have flipped to A-1. Could we have a few players get better bc of Mario and staff? Why not? I think we will win 2 out of next 4 college titles. Or once Damon arrives we win 2/3. Can’t put 3/3 on him!!
Well we were told that we were merely a competent HC away from the glory days last year, so insert that + his elite staff and CIS math has us winning it based on that alone.

Realistically we can, but let’s not under estimate the depth needed and the rebuild we are in.
 
Well we were told that we were merely a competent HC away from the glory days last year, so insert that + his elite staff and CIS math has us winning it based on that alone.

Realistically we can, but let’s not under estimate the depth needed and the rebuild we are in.
Who told u that and why did u believe them lol
 
Who told u that and why did u believe them lol
It was CIS anti-Manny ranting. Good reason to have been anti-Manny, not good to be that blind.

I didn’t believe that foolishness, which is why I tend to mockingly drop in that reminder from time to time …

Let’s relax and let Mario do his work. It may take a few minutes.(I’ve been following @Brooklyndee ’s lead of patience since Mario was on board in December ish)
 
Shaky OL; blurry WR picture; RBs coming off injury; 85th in defense in 2021
 
I believe a consensus top 25 recruiting class for the past 3 years would be a completely kosher baseline of talent. The recruiting, including incoming frosh, have flipped to A-1. Could we have a few players get better bc of Mario and staff? Why not? I think we will win 2 out of next 4 college titles. Or once Damon arrives we win 2/3. Can’t put 3/3 on him!!
No reason we can’t. Clemson has a mediocre qb unless one of the young guga balls out. They also have a mediocre oline except for their left tackle.. they don’t the depth at the other offensive positions. on defense, they should still be very good..
 
It's doable this year. The only reason Miami "can't" is because they haven't in the past 18 tries.

One trip to the conference title game in 2017 and blown out of the stadium like they were a high school squad, in comparison to Clemson—a shutout if Richt doesn't opt for the late morale building field goal.

The ACC Coastal is beyond winnable this year and most-likely pits Miami in a rematch against Clemson—who they'll face in Death Valley late November. The Tigers should cakewalk to an Atlantic title this fall as their conference schedule is abysmal (Miami and Georgia Tech from the Coastal.)

Clemson has been in big games and has that muscle memory Miami had years ago when it was a contender; the Tigers winning the ACC often, winning Playoff games and getting a few national titles as of late. Miami's lone signature win this past decade was routing #3 Notre Dame in 2017.

There's enough talent to win the ACC this year; just a matter of Miami stepping up in big moments when the spotlight is on them, instead of cowering—while also taking care of business week in and week out; none of the conference brain fart moments we've seen over the years—laying an egg at Virginia, no-showing against Georgia Tech, slipping up against the likes of Duke. Those days need to be gone immediately.
 
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No reason we can’t. Clemson has a mediocre qb unless one of the young guga balls out. They also have a mediocre oline except for their left tackle.. they don’t the depth at the other offensive positions. on defense, they should still be very good..

DJ Uiagalelei is far from "mediocre". He stumbled out the gate last year, but is more than capable of bouncing back. Kid was a consensus 5-Start coming out of St. John Bosco a few years back and was a can't-miss kid, who didn't hit the ground running at Clemson. Would hardly be shocked if the kid had a stellar 2022. All the tools are there; the head and heart just weren't there last year.
 
Because clemson. They lost three games last year, one to the eventual national champion, a 2ot loss to nc state who finished ranked, and to pitt who won the acc. Their defense may take a step back this year because they lost Venables and the offense needs to figure out the qb situation but they still have massively out recruited the rest of the acc including us. Last four classes for them 7, 10, 3, and 5. Us 8, 27, 17, and 11. Most years their recruit average is usually 3 to 4 points higher than ours so the rankings don't tell the full difference in the players they get. Last year was the first year they missed the playoffs since 2015. Mario probably can't change all that in one offseason. We may be on par coaching wise but we aren't close player wise.
 
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