Greg McElroy breaks down how ACC has been a surprise

While the ACC has been repeatedly ripped by fans across the country as being one of the weaker conferences in college football, it’s been surprisingly strong with depth during the 2023 campaign.

Florida State and North Carolina have been carrying the flag for the conference early on this year, and they both currently remain undefeated. And the Duke Blue Devils continue to be one of the more impressive turnaround stories in college football the past two years under Mike Elko.

Recently on his “Always College Football” podcast, ESPN’s Greg McElroy broke down how the ACC has been a surprise this year.

Greg McElroy on the surprise teams in the ACC this year

“The ACC as a whole is probably a significant surprise. When you have four teams that are currently ranked. Two that are ranked in the Top 10 and neither of those two are Clemson. Clearly, it’s doing something right. You’ve got Louisville, who got a big win against Notre Dame. Duke’s been a feel good story all season long. Florida State’s obviously playing in a top tier championship caliber. Then you have the possibility of two undefeateds that could run the table to an ACC Championship Game there in Charlotte, North Carolina,” McElroy began.

“But I’m not surprised by Florida State. That’s not surprising. So, what’s one of the best surprises right now in college football? It’d be North Carolina. They’ve played five of their six games against Power Five conference opponents. Many of them aren’t great. But the win against Miami stands out to me as one that’s probably going to stand the test of time. Now, Miami’s schedule gets a lot tougher down the stretch. But at 8-4, that’s progress for Mario Cristobal. And you look just at how that game was, it was a pretty convincing victory until Miami made it interesting down the stretch,” McElroy continued.

“Now, Miami also had moments in the first half when they could have run it in. They fumbled in their own end zone. But North Carolina’s been so improved defensively, and I think their offense is just starting to scratch the surface of what they’re ultimately going to be. Bring back Tez Walker. Drake Maye all of a sudden just got really hot the last three weeks. Touchdown numbers were down drastically, earlier in the year. Well over the last three weeks, he’s got eight touchdown passes against no interceptions. You bring back what might be one of the most dynamic weapons in the ACC in Tez Walker. And they start cooking with gas,” McElroy said on Wednesday.

“You’ve already got Nate McCollum. You already got really capable tight ends in Kamari Morales and you have Bryson Nesbit, who I think’s a matchup nightmare, plus J.J. Jones on the outside. Man, this is a deep receiver corps and a capable rushing attack with a defense that can get after you if the other team is playing from behind. North Carolina has been a huge surprise. I didn’t have them in the Top 25 in the preseason, but now they’re firmly entrenched in the Top 10,” the former Alabama quarterback explained.

“I already mentioned Duke briefly. Duke’s been really exciting. I gotta give them a ton of credit, too. Because I looked at the Duke Blue Devils last season. And while I was so impressed with what Mike Elko had done, I also acknowledged pretty quickly that they did so last year against a really underwhelming conference schedule. They didn’t get any of the big dogs. They didn’t beat any of the teams that were really, really high end. They beat the teams that were average and as a result, their record was pretty dang impressive. Well, this year, it’s been no joke. Even in their loss against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They had that ball in their rack and if not for an injury to Riley Leonard, who knows how that thing would have ultimately played out. Man, they were right there against a really good team that I respect drastically. So, Duke has been a pleasant surprise this year as well,” McElroy noted.

North Carolina faces off against Virginia on Saturday, Oct. 21. Kick time for that one is slated for 6:30 PM EST. Duke and Florida State will square off on Saturday, as well. Kick time for that one is slated for 7:30 PM EST.