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None of the Triangle’s ACC football teams were picked to finish near the top of the league, including two were selected to finish in the bottom half.
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N.C. State led the area after being picked No. 7, earning 1,964 points. Duke was selected to finish No. 10 (1,4522 points) and North Carolina was selected at No. 15 (831).
Miami, SMU, Louisville, Clemson, Georgia Tech and Virginia were picked first through sixth.
Only 19 points separated Virginia (1,981 points), N.C. State and Virginia Tech at No. 8 (1,962 points). The poll was voted on by 188 members of the media.
The Wolfpack, however, has a path to a higher finish, assuming there are no major deviations from the predictions. Of the teams ranked higher, N.C. State only plays Louisville and Virginia. It opens the season on the road in Charlottesville and hosts the Cardinals at home on Oct. 3. N.C. State’s seven other opponents are picked to finish 10th or lower.
A year ago, the Pack finished 4-4 in the ACC after defeating Wake Forest, then-undefeated Georgia Tech, Florida State and North Carolina. Three of its ACC victories came in November.
Duke, meanwhile, plays five teams expected to finish higher: Miami, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia and N.C. State. It then faces four of the bottom five.
The Blue Devils went 6-2 in 2025 and earned a spot in the 2025 ACC Championship due to tiebreakers. Duke upset Virginia in the championship game and finished the season with a Sun Bowl win. Tiebreakers put Duke in the title game over Miami, which went on to play in the national championship.
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Finally, North Carolina enters its second season under head coach Bill Belichick. After going 2-6 in conference play, the Tar Heels look to turn things around this year. They will face eight of the teams picked to finish among the ACC’s top 10, with Miami, Louisville, Clemson, Virginia, N.C. State, Pitt and Duke on the schedule.
UNC only faces eight ACC teams and instead hosts Notre Dame on Oct. 3.
Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren doesn’t put much stock into the preseason polls or expected strength of schedule.
“I don’t focus on preseason rankings because they’re (expletive),” Doeren said at ACC Kickoff.
He also said strength of schedule analytics don’t mean anything until the season ends. At the end of 2025, Doeren said the Pack ended up playing more nine-win teams than any other program.
“Talk to me at the end of the season about how hard our schedule is,” Doeren said.
N.C. State and UNC open the season during Week 0 on Aug. 29. The Wolfpack heads to Charlottesville for its game against Virginia, while the Tar Heels travel to Ireland for a nonconference matchup against TCU. Duke starts the season on Sept. 5 against Tulane.
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Miami (165) – 3,159
SMU (6) – 2,794
Louisville (4) – 2,569
Clemson (7) – 2,520
Georgia Tech (2) – 2,006
Virginia – 1,981
NC State – 1,964
Virginia Tech – 1,962
Pitt – 1,740
Duke – 1,452
Florida State (3) – 1,439
California – 1,392
Wake Forest – 1,103
Syracuse – 878
North Carolina – 831
Boston College – 491
Stanford (1) – 483
First-place votes in parentheses
This story was originally published July 28, 2026 at 6:04 PM.