The big 2014 ACC football guide, from Wake Forest to Florida State

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I cannot say for sure that fans of Florida State’s rivals and college football in general followed each of the five stages of grief when it came to FSU’s revival. There was certainly plenty of Stage 1 (denial), and at least a little bit of Stage 2 (anger). And if SB Nation’s primary Florida representatives are any indication, there’s certainly plenty of Stage 4 (depression) to go around, about FSU and plenty of other matters.

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I basically punted on making a Virginia Tech prediction last year.

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Two years ago, Clemson had me confused. The Tigers were regressing on paper, but they had managed to win the ACC anyway. The offense was beginning to show immense potential, and the defense was an unmitigated disaster. A 10-win 2011 campaign was a sign of a breakthrough, while a 70-33 loss to West Virginia in the Orange Bowl was a debacle in every possible way. Getting an accurate read on the program as a whole was nearly impossible.

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Three years into his tenure as Miami’s head coach, Al Golden has made it difficult to get a read on his performance. So let’s play a little game of What We Know.

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In Johnny Majors’ fourth year at the University of Pittsburgh, the Panthers went 12-0 and won the national title. In Jackie Sherrill’s fourth year, they went 11-1 and finished second. In Walt Harris’ fourth year of rebuilding after Majors’ second, less successful tenure, Pitt won seven games for the first time in 11 years. In Dave Wannstedt’s fourth year, Pitt improved from 5-7 to 9-4.

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Hiring Bobby Petrino will allow you to meet a goal you want to accomplish. You won’t feel good about yourself, and you’ll probably end up with regrets. But he will do the one thing you’re asking him to do.

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About six and a half years ago, Georgia Tech set about on an experiment. Under Chan Gailey, the Ramblin’ Wreck had hit a pretty clear ceiling. They went either 7-5 or 7-6 five times in six seasons (despite game-breaking talent like Calvin Johnson), and the one time they did better than that (9-5 in 2006), they missed out on a golden opportunity to win the ACC by falling to Wake Forest, 9-6, in perhaps the least watchable conference title game in the history of conference title games.

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If you read enough of these previews, you catch me making the same categorizations over and over. It’s just what happens when you speak as in-depth as possible about 128 teams each year -- some have similarities, and memes develop. And if we’re going full meme, here’s how to summarize NC State: the Wolfpack escaped Glen Mason Territory and found themselves in a unique Year 0 variation.

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It wasn’t hard to see a dropoff coming for Syracuse in 2013.