Eric Mac Lain raves about current state of ACC football entering 2022

On3’s JD PicKell hosted ACC Network’s Eric Mac Lain to discuss the pulse of the conference with just under four weeks until the start of the new college football year. While he predicts another Clemson-dominated year, the rest of the ACC won’t be pulling any punches in a very pivotal 2022 season for the league.

“I think Clemson has been the water that helps all ships rise. I really do. I think the standard that was set by them – it just put a sense of urgency on football,” Mac Lain told PicKell. “For a conference that has been so hyper-focused on basketball for so long – and we’ve seen that, we saw last year – man, what a great performance with the Wake Forest team getting 11 wins. A Pittsburgh team getting to a college football New Year’s Six game, with a team like N.C. State that was so close. And of course, Clemson winning 10 games for 11 straight years.

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“So, now we’re gonna see a bunch of quarterbacks back. I think it’s the best conference of quarterbacks – the deepest. And it’s not even close, to be quite frank, when you see the level of play from the quarterback position.”

Around the conference, Clemson returns DJ Uiagalelei with the hopes he can contend for the Heisman. Pittsburgh replaced Kenny Pickett with former USC gunslinger Kedon Slovis, and Sam Hartman returns to Wake Forest looking for another 50-touchdown season – something that has only been done twice ever in the ACC – not to mention Tyler Van Dyke and Devin Leary at Miami and NC State, respectively.

The quarterback group is deeper than ever within the ACC heading into the 2022 college football season. With the collective balance under center down the line, the ACC is in prime positioning to shock the college football world with their play on the field this season.

“There’s a great opportunity here for the ACC. Especially with all the out-of-conference games that they have early in high profile out of conference games to make noise,” Mac Lain said. “Because that’s where the national, kind of, opinion is developed. What can you do when Pitt plays Tennessee? What can you do Miami when you go to Kyle Field and play Texas A&M? That’s where everybody’s going to see, ‘okay, Is the ACC for real? Or is it another bad year for the league?’ So, they’ve got a great opportunity. I hope they can make the most of it.”