CLEMSON — On Wednesday, the ACC will host its annual Football Kickoff from the Hilton Charlotte Uptown in Charlotte, N.C.

Besides covering the Commissioner’s Forum and talking with players and coaches from all 17 schools, the media will also be asked to list their Preseason All-ACC Football and predict the order of finish in the conference, as well as who will win the 2026 ACC Championship.

For years, the media who cover the ACC were pretty good at predicting the ACC Champion since the event began in 1976. In fact, from 1992-2000, the media picked the correct champion in nine consecutive years.

From 2012-2020, they picked the correct champion in seven of those nine years. In the 50 years since the media started doing a preseason prediction, they have correctly predicted the champion 60 percent of the time.

However, the media is currently in its worst stretch since the early 1980s, when it wrongly picked North Carolina to win the conference in four consecutive years. Since 2021, they have incorrectly picked the champion in four of those five years, including misses in each of the last three seasons.

Of course, last year the media picked Clemson to win the ACC, but the Tigers fell well short of the mark after going 4-4 in league play to finish tied for seventh in the standings.

How will things turn out this year? Great question.

Here is what I think, plus my predicted order of finish, along with conference and overall records.

I think Miami finally gets over the hump and wins the league. The Hurricanes have the best roster in the ACC and without a doubt have the best quarterback in Darian Mensah.

Miami, in my opinion, will play SMU in the championship game. The Mustangs have a lot of new players, but they bring back quarterback Kevin Jennings, who is arguably the second-best quarterback in the conference.

Where do I have the Tigers, I guess you will have to find out below.

My predicted order of finish in the ACC

1. Miami               9-0        11-1
2. SMU                   9-0        11-1
3. Louisville        8-1        10-2
4. Clemson         6-2        9-3
5. NC State          6-2        9-3
6. Virginia Tech 6-3        9-3
7. Virginia             5-3        9-3
8. California       5-4        8-4
9. Pittsburgh      5-4        8-4
10. Duke                  4-5        6-6
11. Georgia Tech 3-5        4-8
12. FSU                    3-6        5-7
13. Boston Coll    2-6        4-8
14. Syracuse         2-7        4-8
15. Wake Forest  1-8        4-8
16. Stanford          1-8        3-9
17. UNC                   0-9        2-10