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We complete our series of ESPN's ranking of ACC positional units by compiling each ranking and then assessing the overall strength of each team. What do the numbers look like for the Wake Forest football team?
| Team | Quarterback | Running Back | Receivers | O-Line | Avg. Offense | Front Seven | Secondary | Avg. Defense | Overall Avg. |
| Boston College | 14 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 2.5 | 9.50 |
| Clemson | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2.67 |
| Duke | 8 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8.5 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 9.00 |
| Florida State | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2.5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.00 |
| Georgia Tech | 6 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 8.5 | 13 | 14 | 13.5 | 10.17 |
| Louisville | 2 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 5.5 | 3 | 2 | 2.5 | 4.50 |
| Miami | 3 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 6.67 |
| North Carolina | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3.75 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 4.83 |
| North Carolina State | 11 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 9.5 | 9.17 |
| Pittsburgh | 7 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5.5 | 5.17 |
| Syracuse | 9 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 10.75 | 14 | 13 | 13.5 | 11.67 |
| Virginia | 13 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 12.25 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 11.50 |
| Virginia Tech | 10 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6.5 | 6 | 7 | 6.5 | 6.50 |
| Wake Forest | 12 | 14 | 11 | 14 | 12.75 | 7 | 12 | 9.5 | 11.67 |
Based on these averages, which admittedly are not weighted, Wake Forest has the second worst offense in the conference, putting them just ahead of Boston College. They are also in the same neighborhood as Syracuse and Virginia. The good news for the Deacs? Wake Forest plays all three of those teams at BB&T Field this fall.
Defensively, Wake is projected to be better than Georgia Tech, Duke, Syracuse, Virginia, Miami, and similar to North Carolina State. Wake plays four of those six, which will be beneficial for Wake's offense.
Wake's ACC schedule sets up so that they really don't play an "average" ACC team. For the most part, they either play elite ACC teams like Clemson, Florida State, and Louisville, or they play the lower third of Boston College, Syracuse, and Virginia. Most of the middle of the pack teams are in the Coastal, which is why Wake has this schedule.
Wake is in the bottom third of the conference, but during the previous two years they were pretty clearly at the bottom. The Deacs have closed the gap, and I believe they are objectively better than a number of the other teams in the conference.
It will be fun to revisit these rankings in the fall to see how accurate they are. Wake is still a young team and returns the vast majority of impact players. Wake's rankings should only improve. This is a major year for the Wake football program, and Wake Forest has the schedule to get the results it desires.