Projections: ACC

The first of the conferences I will project is the ACC. This is traditionally a basketball conference. The additions in recent years of Florida State, Miami, and Virginia Tech have brought its football to a whole new level. NFL scouts recognize this, as 12 of 32 picks in the first round of this year's draft came from the ACC. The heart and soul of this conference is still on Tobacco Road, and this is still basketball country. However, the Florida schools, Virginia Tech, and Boston College have brought football power as well as TV sets to the conference.

The ACC, as usual, has a lot of above average to very good teams. I do not see any of them, however, making an appearance in Glendale, Arizona for the national championship game in January.

Atlantic Division
Florida State 6-2 10-2
Clemson 6-2 10-2
Maryland 5-3 7-5
N.C. State 4-4 8-4
Boston College 3-5 7-5
Wake Forest 1-7 3-9

Coastal Division
Virginia Tech 7-1 11-1
Miami 6-2 9-3
Virginia 5-3 8-4
Georgia Tech 4-4 7-5
North Carolina 2-6 5-7
Duke 0-8 1-11

Upset of the year: Notre Dame visits Historic Grant Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Georgia Tech makes them wish they hadn't scheduled that trip to Atlanta.

Collapse in the making: Miami sets themselves up nicely with a win over Virginia Tech. However, they then make back-to-back trips to Maryland and Virginia, and lose both games, costing them a chance at an ACC championship and a BCS bowl.

Championship game: A rematch between Florida State and Virginia Tech. All that talent for FSU underachieved all season last year, but got it together in the championship game, and won a conference championship and a spot in the FedEx Orange Bowl opposite Joe Paterno and Penn State. Look for the Hokies to win a big game and get revenge this year in Jacksonville.

Coming Soon

I haven't forgotten about the blog..

In the next couple of weeks, I will have conference-by-conference projections for the BCS conferences, plus the Mountain West and Conference USA.

Stay tuned...