Superb quarterback play helped make the ACC college football’s best conference in 2016. The league went 10-4 vs. the once-mighty SEC last season, raising the ACC’s record against its geographic neighbor to 19-13 since 2014 after posting a 30-53 record vs. the SEC from 2004-13.
Quarterbacks Deshaun Watson, Lamar Jackson, Deondre Francois, Mitch Trubisky, Jerod Evans, Brad Kayaa and Nathan Peterman helped change the narrative of ACC football. But only Francois and Jackson, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner who slumped late in the season, return from that group. (Trubisky, Watson, Peterman and Kaaya heard their names called in last weekend’s NFL Draft.)
To stay at the top, the ACC first had to get there. Now the ACC faces an intriguing question in 2017: Will the conference’s depth turn into a one-year wonder due to so many good quarterbacks leaving, or will the ACC’s strong group of offensive-minded coaches turn this into an opportunity for sustained success?
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