Last season was make-or-break for Miami's Mario Cristobal. He had choked away leads, come up short in big moments, and squandered a historic season from Cam Ward in 2024, failing to make the College Football Playoff.
But then lightning struck, and Cristobal rewrote his personal history in the span of 30 days.
His Hurricanes got red hot during the College Football Playoff. Miami upset Texas A&M in College Station. Then it chopped down Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl as a nine-point underdog.
With wind in their sails, the Hurricanes dispatched Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss as short favorites in the Fiesta Bowl before coming up just short in the national title game against Indiana.
Cristobal and his Hurricanes silenced all of the doubters, and their CFP run flipped the narrative surrounding the UM program.
They were big-game hunters last season, but that new reputation has caused a significant overcorrection in the futures market.
Miami is now priced as an inevitability in the ACC. Keep in mind, the Canes didn’t even win the conference last season, yet here they are as the most prohibitive Power 4 conference favorite.
This overconfidence in Cristobal and his team has created value in the top ACC contenders, and it’s time to pounce. Let's dive into my college football conference futures and NCAAF picks for the ACC in 2026.
College Football Conference Futures, Picks
Jeff Brohm is a tremendous head coach who has done more with less everywhere he’s been. You don’t win 30 games in three years at Western Kentucky without squeezing the most out of your roster.
While coaching at Purdue, he upset No. 2 Ohio State and knocked the Buckeyes out of the national title hunt in 2018.
In his first season at Louisville, he led the program to the ACC Championship game. And last season, his Cards upset No. 2 Miami after coming up just short in 2024.
Brohm has racked up 28 wins in three years at Louisville and continued to build his brand as a dangerous underdog when facing top-five opponents.
Keep in mind, this is the same Cardinal program that was simply treading water in the three years before his arrival (11-15 in ACC play).
And now U-of-L has broken the bank in the transfer portal. The athletic department and boosters have delivered Brohm a top-20 portal class, complete with a former four-star quarterback in Lincoln Kienholz.
The offensive line has been replenished with experienced options at tackle and guard. And one of the biggest developments of the offseason was the retention of Isaac Brown and Clev Lubin.
When healthy, Brown is a game-breaker with 11 career 100-yard rushing performances. His explosiveness is already the stuff of legend in the Derby City.
Brown has 12 career carries of 40-plus yards from scrimmage. He finished third in back-to-back seasons in “breakaway percentage,” which means that more than 60% of his rushing yardage came on designed runs of 15 or more yards.
Lubin has similarly been a terror from the moment he arrived at Louisville.
The former NJCAA All-American recorded 13.5 tackles for loss last season while forcing three fumbles. He’s unblockable one-on-one, and his mere presence makes life easier on his teammates.
This roster is ACC Championship grade, with legitimate stars on both sides of the ball. The Cardinals also avoid both Miami and Clemson in the regular season, which amounts to hitting the ACC scheduling lottery.
They get two of their three most difficult games at home in SMU and Pitt, and that tricky road trip to Georgia Tech is currently in a flex spot, which means it could be played on Friday or Saturday.
Avoiding a short-week road trip would be the cherry on top of this schedule.
At 11-1, I’m getting an elite coach, a top-three ACC roster complete with potential All-Americans on both sides of the ball, and a cushy schedule that sets them up to control their own destiny in November.
That’s what makes this the best value bet to win a conference on the board this offseason.
Pick: Louisville to Win ACC (+1100 · bet365)
