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ACC Season Preview

By Matt Mills

Well fans, its almost that time again. Football season is two days away. What I thought we would do today is take a look at each division in the ACC and see how things might shake out. In the Coastal it appears it will be a 3 team race with Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina fighting for the title. In the Atlantic it will almost certainly be decided between Clemson and Florida State. Inside we will look more in depth at each division to determine the title game participants.

Coastal

The Coastal division will have an early front runner after the Labor Day showdown against the Hokies. The winner of the Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech game has won the division every year since 2005. I expect this trend to continue this year. Virginia Tech faces another huge challenge when they host Florida State (the clear conference front runner) on a Thursday night this fall. However if VT can beat the Jackets to start the season they will still be in the division lead even with a loss to the Seminoles. Georgia Tech has its own challenge when they face Clemson in Death Valley on October 6th. Clemson is very talented and at times can play very well. Georgia Tech will have a tough time winning both games at Virginia Tech and at Clemson. UNC skips both Florida State and Clemson in the cross over games which gives them a huge boost. However after breaking in a new head coach I really can't see them competing for the division title this year. Miami could make some noise but they also feature a two-deep of more than half freshman or sophomores. Virginia and Duke, well, yea, Virginia and Duke. Virginia surprised a lot of people last year and is looking to rebuild this year but it will be tough. My projected order of finish?

  1. Winner of the Virginia Tech/ Georgia Tech game (You didn't think I would put my prediction down yet, did you?)
  2. Loser of the Virginia Tech/ Georgia Tech game
  3. UNC
  4. Virginia
  5. Miami
  6. Duke
Atlantic

The Atlantic is Florida State's for the taking. Call me a homer or an idiot, but Florida State is back this year. If they lose a conference game other than the Thursday Night game in Blacksburg I will be very surprised. Clemson is talented but I don't think they have shown the consistency yet to be considered a favorite for the division crown. Other than that, I could see NC State having a quality year but don't see Maryland, Wake, or BC doing much of anything. Each team has had alot of offseason injuries and just does not bring back that many quality players. The race for the Atlantic division basement will at least be interesting. My projected order of finish?
  1. FSU
  2. Clemson
  3. NC State
  4. Wake
  5. BC
  6. Maryland
Is it alot of chalk? You bet ya, but at this point in the year it really doesn't matter. Each team currently has a 0-0 record in conference play and I am sure each fan base is rooting for their team to get to the ACC Title Game. Check out this fascinating article by Tomahawk Nation that looks into each ACC teams win likelihoods.