Who sees Desmond Howard as ‘the class of the ACC right now’

In an episode of Secondary school Football Live This week, a number of ESPN analysts reacted to the latest AP Poll rankings.

Miami (No. 8) is the highest-ranked ACC team in the latest AP Top 25, followed by Louisville (No. 19) and Clemson (No. 21).

On Secondary school Football LiveESPN’s Desmond Howard was asked if he thinks Miami is the best team in the league.

“I really do,” he said. “And when we went into the season, we did our preview show, I picked Miami to win the ACC because I think they won the lottery with (Washington State transfer) Cam Ward. I mean, he’s just an exceptional quarterback. He makes the team better, offensively and defensively. I’ve seen him in practice. I’ve talked to some of his teammates, and they talk about the juice he brings.

“So, you’re looking at an ACC conference that’s still trying to figure out Clemson, right? They got blown out of proportion by Georgia early in the season. Florida State, their season is basically over. So I think the Miami Hurricanes are the class of the ACC right now.”

Florida State, which has started 0-3, is just the third team to go from a preseason AP top 10 spot to unranked in the first poll of the regular season.

The Seminoles, the 2023 ACC Champions, were tipped to win the 2024 ACC title in the ACC preseason media poll. Behind Florida State (81 first-place votes), Clemson (55 first-place votes) and Miami (17 first-place votes) finished second and third, respectively, in the ACC preseason media poll.

The Tigers do not play the Hurricanes during the regular season. Clemson opens conference play against NC State on Saturday in Death Valley before hosting Stanford on Sept. 28 and then traveling to Florida State on Oct. 5.

The 2024 ACC Football Championship Game kicks off in primetime at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC on Saturday, December 7 from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. For the second straight season, the top two teams based on regular-season conference win percentage will compete.