Clemson is the preseason favorite to claim the Atlantic Coast Conference football championship, according to a poll of 158 media members in attendance at the 2015 ACC Football Kickoff at Pinehurst Resort.
The Tigers were also picked over three-time defending ACC champion Florida State to capture the Atlantic Division, while Georgia Tech was favored to repeat as the Coastal Division winner.
Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, who established himself as one of the nation's rising stars as a true freshman last season, was voted the 2015 ACC Preseason Player of the Year.
The Tigers were picked the likely overall champions of the ACC on 84 ballots, followed by Florida State with 41 and Georgia Tech with 20. Virginia Tech (7 votes), North Carolina (3), Miami (2) and NC State (1) rounded out the balloting .
In the Atlantic Division preseason voting, Clemson received 101 first-place votes and finished with 1,032 total points. Florida State received 56 first-place votes and placed second with 992 points, while Louisville had one first-place vote and was third in the voting with 746 points.
NC State was tabbed for a fourth-place Atlantic Division finish, followed by Boston College, Syracuse and Wake Forest.
Georgia Tech was selected the likely Coastal winner by 96 voters and finished with 991 total points, followed by Virginia Tech with 44 first-place votes and 841 points. Miami received seven first-place votes and was third in the voting with 632 total points.
Duke (four first-place votes) placed fourth, followed by North Carolina, Pitt and Virginia. Four voters chose UNC to claim the Coastal Division, while three ave Pitt the nod.
Watson will lead a Clemson offense that also returns talented wide receivers Mike Williams and Artavis Scott. The Tigers, who have won at least 10 games each of the past four seasons, seek their 15th ACC championship and first since 2011.
Watson led the preseason ACC Player of the Year balloting with 69 votes, followed by 2014 ACC leading rusher and Player of the Year James Conner of Pitt with 46. Georgia Tech quarterback Justin Thomas placed third with 13 votes,
Injuries sidelined Watson for part of his freshman season, but the Gainesville, Georgia native still threw for 1,466 yards and 14 touchdowns against only two interceptions in 330 snaps over eight games (five starts). He also made his mark as a rushing threat with 200 yards and five touchdowns on 63 carries.
Watson finished last season ranked first in Clemson history in passing efficiency and completion percentage by a freshman, as well as first in school history in passing yards, passing touchdowns and total offense by a first-year freshman.
ACC Championship Votes
1. Clemson - 84
2. Florida State - 41
3. Georgia Tech - 20
4. Virginia Tech - 7
5. North Carolina - 3
6. Miami - 2
7. NC State - 1
Atlantic Division (First place votes in parenthesis)
1. Clemson (101) - 1,032
2. Florida State (56) - 992
3. Louisville (1) - 746
4. NC State - 673
5. Boston College - 473
6. Syracuse - 291
7. Wake Forest - 217
Coastal Division (First place votes in parenthesis)
1. Georgia Tech (96) - 991
2. Virginia Tech (44) - 841
3. Miami (7) - 632
4. Duke (4) - 615
5. North Carolina (4) - 590
6. Pitt (3) -535
7. Virginia -220
ACC Player of the Year
1. Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson - 69
2. James Conner, RB, Pitt - 46
3. Justin Thomas, QB, Georgia Tech - 13
t-4. Jalen Ramsey, CB Florida State - 7
t-4. Brad Kaaya, QB, Miami -7
t-6. Marquise Williams, QB, North Carolina - 6
t-6. Kendall Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech - 6
8. Tyler Boyd, WR, Pitt – 3
9. Jacoby Brissett, QB, NC State - 1
Comments
uuuuuuggggggggggghhhhhhhh
must have got some fitted knee pads this year
Kiss. Of. Death. From Hell.
Why so much hate? The Hokies are going to surprise a lot of people this year.
STAHP!
Heather, can you just go graze on some trees or something please?
None of my favorite species are native to America, so I'm stuck covering college football instead.
HD still has a job? I honestly didn't know since I have stopped watching/reading ESPN for anything other than live games. She would give us the HD kiss of death. Can she just fade away from college football already? Not like she ever brought anything to the game with her reporting.
Still has a job?
Her work on the ACC blog not only allowed her to keep her job, but got her a major promotion to where she's now one of the lead personalities at ESPN for college football. She's now a regular on air talent for CFB coverage.
Well, ESPN has a knack for picking "superior" talent.
I thought we weren't doing that anymore...
I didn't know about this rule. I do have an even better idea though. We could just ban all mention of her completly.
Why does everyone dislike her that much, I honestly didn't mind her at all.
It's not banned, but adhering to that idea isn't a bad posting policy to have of ones own.
I keep reading this sentence, but can't, for the life of me, figure out what you're trying to say.much clearer, thanks. I thought I was missing a strongbad joke
edited above post.
trying to be polite to say just don't do it man...
The increased ratio of Strongbad around here is going to ensure I make it through the next 50 days.
How did NC State get a championship vote when no one picked them to win the division?
#goacc #FTS
Leg for Jagsguy.
That's all it takes to get a leg now a days? Seriously?
/s
Even the criticism of it gets a leg? Seriously?
Jags fans are rather animated...
Even the mascot(a VT alum) is crazy, too bad he is retiring.
Hopefully we will see him on the PGA tour soon.
He would be a great addition to the 16th at Phoenix.
Because many media members half-ass these things?
Probably the same guy that picked Motley to win ACC POTY last year.
Clearly Clemson will win the division; however, they will end up facing a post season ban for all their shenanigans. Naturally, NC State (who finishes second in Atlantic) will assume Clemson's spot in ACCCG and lose to the Hokies.
Its going to be fun watching GT fall on their faces this year.
specifically, when one of them tries to cut block Dadi and he just stiff arms his face into the grass on his way to a monster sack.
They are who we thought they were since 2008.
faking the punt on 4th and 11 only to trip on your own feet two yards behind the LOS? Bold strategy, GiT.
So basically the Coastal comes down to us and GT with spots 3-6 being a jumbled mess and UVA ending up on the bottom. Sounds fair to me.
Did you say 6-3(2OT) being a jumbled mess and UVA ending up on the bottom?
FTS
I have Justin Thomas as ACC POY.
But who do you have for HOY?
Duh! There's only one real choice, I mean he won the Triple Crown...
99AgHokie got it right.
The Acc absolutely got the UVA pick right. # YOU.
My hope is that London gets another extension.
#MoreVotesThanWake
true, but they must be better that LOLUVa. After all, they beat us. DUCKS
anyone know how the votes/points works out? I thought it was 7 pts for a 1st place vote, 6pts for 2nd, etc, but that would mean that at least 62 voters don't believe LOLUVa will come in last place in the coastal and that just doesn't seem right.
Well, based on your theory, and knowing that LOLUVA got exactly 0 1st place votes, technically there are at least 11 voters who did not pick LOLUVA to finish last.
Edit: And considering the likelihood that LOLUVA had as many or more media members than they had fans at their spring game, that means that at least one representative from 11 of the other teams picked them to finish ahead of (probably) Duke
my thinking was this:
if all 158 voters picked them for last place, they would have gotten 158 points (given my scoring system)
They got 220, not 158
220-158=62
Therefore, worst case, for them, 62 voters picked them for 6th and the remaining 96 picked them for 7th
62x2+96x1=220
The average voter had it this way:
GT 1.7 th place
VT 2.7 th place
UM 4 th place
Duke 4.1 th place
Chapel Hill 4.3 rd place
Pitt 4.6 th place
and UVA 6.6 th
So the tiers were: [Top] GT, VT; [Middle] Miami, Duke, Chapel Hill, Pitt; [Bottom] UVA
so I'm at work and my math was kinda funny (wrong) but I was mostly joking. The point I was getting at was that if all of the voters who didn't pick LOLUVA last picked them to finish 1st or 2nd then it would take fewer dissenters to reach a total of 220
joke--------->
_____me
don't be ashamed...it was a poorly structured joke and the math was pretty terrible in retrospect. Here, have some legs :)
Pitt's not going to finish 6th.
Can't argue the rationale for the coastal picks there. Although the atlantic is interesting to me. I lot of talent on clemson's defense left and their OC left and yet they are still picked to win the division. In truth, I pay no attention to anything clemson unless it's referenced on this site so I could be all wrong about this.
Any Clemson pick is just an anti-FSU pick. FSU lost a lot as well, so somebody has to win.
I'm a Coastal believer this year. I think we could 2 to 4 teams ranked throughout the year with as many as two teams finishing higher than any Atlantic team.
Clemson's offense is going to be REALLY good. They might not need to play defense this season.
How has that worked out for UNC the last few years?...
They're completely different programs. Look at Baylor if you want to see all offense and no defense. It can work, and Clemson have the manpower to make it work.
Whenever I hear Baylor defense I think of this...nightmare Oakman
sadly we play defense all year will sporadic offense..
last 4 years have been pretty mediocre here too
I'm eager to find out if Clemson magically figured out how to run block in the offseason. They were worse than us last year.
I think Clemson has enough talent to win their division, but I have real concerns about a couple of spots on their team.
Part of me will enjoy LOLUVA being dead last but another small part of me wants them to have a decent/good record, still have a chance at the ACC Championship game and then lay another 38-0 on their asses.
And if you're last, you're probably LOLUVA.
OR this guy
Can't....stop....watching. My goodness that looks painful. I think I can see the mark his right knee leaves on the asphalt. EEEEWWWWW!!!
NC State is my darkhorse for Atlantic Division champ. Brissett and their RB duo of Thornton and Dayes are all elite talents and they have 3/5 OL returning. All comes down to whether the 8 returning starters on their defense can step up their game.
They open with a really light OOC schedule, which while it won't temper them in the hot flames of playing a preseason #1, it will give them time to get everything in sync on O and D.
Then they get Louisville and Clemson at home.
They do have to play us and FSU on the road but I think FSU is vulnerable this season, and NCSU played them really close last year.
If they can take down Clemson I think they'll win the Atlantic with a 7-1 ACC record (losing to us in Blacksburg of course)
I'm sorry but if NC State beats Clemson they probably roll against us as well. granted I say this without seeing our offensive line and offense play 1 snap..
we're 1 OL going down and then its an absolute crap shoot for who plays where.
Clemson's D lost a ton of key contributors. I can see NC State putting up 40 on them. Sure Clemson has the horses to score 40-50 right back, but I think NC State has a legit chance.
Against us however, they're going to get locked down to <20 points and I like our offense's chances to score 30 on them. Then again I'm putting a decent amount of faith in Teller & Co.
I agree if anyone is being over hyped its clemson 10000%. they lost 80% of their 2 deep for o line....
I think FSU will be just fine and win Atlantic for sure, if mcguire doesn't get it done early on Golson will start and pick up right where crab legs left off.
I think out 1st O-line group is great and hope to god we can stay healthy. We have the talent and lefty seems to be excited but like any team a couple injury's and the rest is chaos control.
I agree. I really do not understand the Clemson hype. Lost a lot on D, OL, and Watson is being REALLY overhyped, IMO. Yeah, he showed some great flashes as a freshman. 14 total TDs, ~1500 yards passing. Definitely good, but I don't see how he is suddenly a Heisman front runner. He was injured a lot last year, and they lost Chad Morris. Do not understand their hype at all. FSU is the clear favorite in that division to me.
Also do not understand the hype for GT. Yeah, their system creates some problems, and they have a good QB returning, but they lost basically everyone else on O if I'm not mistaken. Plus, they have a BRUTAL ACC schedule, facing both Clemson and FSU from the Atlantic. Don't see how they're the overwhelming frontrunner with some questions, a tough schedule, and other very good teams in the division.
we were 1 incomplete pass away from icing the GT game... and then fuller slipped :(
May well be overhyped, and shouldn't be any sort of front runner, but statline doesn't show the whole story there with Watson. That was 8 games, including out games with broken hand before the knee ended his year. If healthy, he is pretty good.
FSU has just as many question marks as Clemson. As of right now (pending resolution of Dalvin Cook's suspension) FSU lost their QB from last year, 3 of their top 4 rushers including their top 2, 4 of their top 6 receivers including their top 2, and 4 offensive lineman- almost all of which won accolades. They have a grand total of 2/3 returning starters on offense and only return 5 starts on OL, which is probably the lowest number among power 5 teams.
An inconsistent defense that was mediocre at times lost 4 of its best 5 players and all of their linebackers were out this spring with injury.
I'm not sure that anyone can be declared a clear favorite in the ACC. Feels like a lot of teams are gonna be bunched up in the 20s through 40s range in the rankings.
Yeah I'm interested to see how they do without Chad Morris. Every game they played he was talked up a lot and seems to be the key to that teams success. I don't know who replaced him but we'll see. It wouldn't surprise me to see the Atlantic be just like the coastal usually is and have everyone beating everyone else and have some wierd tiebreaker to get to the ACCCG.
Would you have said that if Wake Forest beats us last year then they would roll Syracuse, UVA, or perhaps UNC or Duke? There is no transitive property in football.
then where did I get this national championship t-shirt?
I pretty much agree, but I have a hard time seeing NC State making it through @VT, @FSU, vs. Clemson, vs. Louisville, and @BC (who they much up poorly with) with only 1 conference loss.
Hell, we made it through wake forest with only one conference loss
Ouch. For the love of all that is Hokie, don't, just don't.