When you think ACC you think – Basketball. Programs like North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech are all nationally successful and respected in the hoops world. In 2005 after the ACC expanded to 12 teams nobody could have predicted the effect it would have had on it’s conference’s teams in football. You would have thought that Miami and Florida State, would be the superpowers of the ACC, but both have slipped and fallen of the map recently. While the most successful football teams since the merger have been Boston College & Virginia Tech. Nevertheless, the conference needs Florida State and Miami to return to their winning ways, because the ACC hasn’t had a legit contender for the BCS title in 3 of the past 4 years.

The 2008 season was a weak season for the ACC overall. Last years preseason favorite Clemson Tigers, first debuted in the top 10 was expected to be the ACC’s only national title contender, but they were destroyed in the season’s opener and fell into a downward spiral that terminated their head coach at mid season. No ACC team had a better league record than 5-3 at the end of the season. Boston College and Virginia Tech defending divisional champions met for the 2nd straight season in the ACC Championship Game after both teams won divisional tiebreakers. The end result once again was Virginia Tech blowing out the Golden Eagles to win their 3rd ACC Title in 5 years. The Hokies were the ACC’s top ranked team at #21 in the nation while entering bowl season. Virginia Tech’s Orange Bowl victory over the #12 Cincinnati Bearcats was the ACC’s 1st BCS bowl victory since 2000. After a solid bowl season, 3 ACC teams ended up in the top 25 final rankings.

The 2009-210 ACC season should be much improved. 7 teams return 14 or more starters and the Coastal Division looks to be one of the toughest in the country with 4 teams that could enter the season in the top 25. While, the Atlantic does not have an elite team it is a free for all as 4 teams have great shot at making the conference title game. After rebuilding years many teams featured potential starts last season, and the ACC has high hopes that a few teams could potentially be involved in the National Title discussion. We believe that ’09 could be the ACC’s strongest year since it’s expansion.

OUR 2009 ACC STANDINGS PREDICTIONS

COASTAL:
1. Virginia Tech Hokies
2. North Carolina Tar Heels
3. Miami Hurricanes
4. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
5. Virginia Cavaliers
6. Duke Blue Devils

ATLANTIC :
1. NC State Wolfpack
2. Clemson Tigers
3. Florida State Seminoles
4. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
5. Boston College Golden Eagles
6. Maryland Terrapins

ACC – COASTAL DIVISION

Virginia Tech Hokies

This year was supposed when Virginia Tech won the ACC. But that happened last year, and has caused expectations go to sky rocket this season. If Virginia Tech won the Orange Bowl last season, then there should be no reason why they couldn’t win a national championship title this year. Their greatest hurdle in their way is the season opener against Alabama in Atlanta, GA.

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 7-1)

Virginia Tech 2009 Season Preview – Virginia Tech 2009 Season Schedule

North Carolina Tar Heels

It has been 4 years since the Tar Heels went to a bowl game. Then last year in the Meineke Bowl they lost to West Virginia. Now North Carolina’s goal should be: Win a bowl game. Now in Coach Butch Davis’ third year that is in now a true possibility. Coach Davis has quickly turned this once bad football program into a team that could do big things in the future.

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 6-2)

North Carolina 2009 Season Preview – North Carolina 2009 Season Schedule

Miami Hurricanes

The Miami Hurricane’s under Head Coach Randy Shannon had an very young team last year full of potential talent. Miami still had a very successful season and reached a bowl game, despite having a roster full of underclassmen. This season is time for this team to build and take it to the next level. Now it is time for the Miami Hurricanes to compete in the ACC and begin thinking about an ACC championship.

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 5-3)

Miami 2009 Season Preview – Miami 2009 Season Schedule

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

It did not take long for everyone to find out what would happen when former Navy Coach Paul Johnson ran his option offense at a program with better athletes. The Yellow Jackets surprised the ACC by winning 9 games last season. Which is very impressive for a group learning a new offense and that scares the rest of the league, because they will only get better this season.

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 5-3)

Georgia Tech 2009 Season Preview – Georgia Tech 2009 Season Schedule

Virginia Cavaliers

Virginia Coach Al Groh has been at Virginia for 8 seasons now and the results have been mixed. Despite the consistency of the coach on the sidelines, this season will look very different. The Cavaliers this years have many new Assistant Coaches, most notably former Bowling Green head coach Gregg Brandon and Kansas Stat head coach Ron Prince. And they will all have their hands full if they believe that Virginia can get to a bowl game.

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 3-5)

Virginia 2009 Season Preview – Virginia 2009 Season Schedule

Duke Blue Devils

4 victories in the win column does not sound impressive. And since 2 of those wins were against James Madison and Navy, it makes it even worse. But, over the previous 4 years, the Blue Devils have won just 4 games. And then David Cutcliffe arrives and matches that many wins in one season. For the Duke Football Program, that is a huge step and now the fans in Durham have reason to look forward to football season, and not only basketball.

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 1-7)

Duke 2009 Season Preview – Duke 2009 Season Schedule

ACC – ATLANTIC DIVISION

North Carolina State Wolfpack

It may not seem like it, but the Wolfpack is heading in the right direction. It will take Tom O’Brien some time to turn things around and going to a bowl game in his 2nd year at the helm of North Carolina State but they are certainly on track. Year 3 could be even better and this is a team that can pull off some major upsets.

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 5-3)

North Carolina State 2009 Season Preview – North Carolina State 2009 Season Schedule

Clemson Tigers

Tommy Bowden was let go during mid season and Dabo Swinney stepped into the head coaching position. Clemson played some of their best football of the season under Coach Swinney and the Tigers managed to make a bowl game after things looked very unlikely mid October. Now that the interim tag has been taken off of Swinney’s job description his team has plenty of work to do.

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 5-3)

Clemson 2009 Season Preview – Clemson 2009 Season Schedule

Florida State Seminoles

The Seminoles exceeded everyone’s expectations last season and ended up with an impressive 9-4 record, which included a big bowl victory over the Wisconsin Badgers. Now the big question is whether Coach Bobby Bowden can keep the positive momentum going or will his team go back to the mediocre type of Florida State team that we have seen over the last few seasons?

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 4-4)

Florida State 2009 Season Preview – Florida State 2009 Season Schedule

Boston College Eagles

It was an odd off season for the Boston College Eagles. But now Coach Jeff Jagodzinski is out and former defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani is the new head coach. While there are new coaches on the sideline, it falls short to all the new players that will be on the field. The Eagles returns 7 starters on both sides of the football, but some of their big names are missing.

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 3-5)

Boston College 2009 Season Preview – Boston College 2009 Season Schedule

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Under Coach Jim Grobe the Demon Deacons have gone from a continual bottom feeder to a top contender in the ACC. The 2008 season was not their best, ending with a 4-4 conference record, but this is still a team headed on the right path. However, that path may take a turn for the worse this season as Wake Forest must replace a large majority of their defense.

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 3-5)

Wake Forest 2009 Season Preview – Wake Forest 2009 Season Schedule

Maryland Terrapins

Will this be the season that that the Terrapins get over the hump and gets to the ACC title game? We doubt it, because Maryland was one of the most inconsistent teams in the country. This is a program that lost to Middle Tennessee State one week, then beat Cal the next week. Followed by a blow out loss to Virginia in between victories over top 25 ranked Clemson and Wake Forest. With more consistency, the Terrapins could be a surprise team in the conference.

(Our Predicted 2009 Conference Record: 1-7)

Maryland 2009 Season Preview – Maryland 2009 Season Schedule

ACC – 2009 Football Season Overview

Last year the ACC was the most even league in the nation last season as 9 different teams were in the ACC title hunt during the season’s final two weeks. With that type of parity, it was no surprise that the conference did not have a single team in the BCS title chase.

This year, things look to be different. First, there is a clear separation in the caliber of the divisions. The Coastal division is loaded up top and we think that any of the top 4 teams would be the favorite if they were in the other division. Moreover, the Atlantic division has 5 different teams with a legit shot at competing for the crown and we expect a similar year to 2008 in that no one will be counted out until very late in the season.

The Coastal division race is fascinating with 4 teams in the preseason top 25 but we think the most talented team is Virginia Tech. On top of that, Virginia Tech host 2 of the other 3 top contenders and have the most favorable draw from the Atlantic division. With a veteran team that should be ready to play from the get go, the Hokies are our choice to win the Coastal division and if they defeat Alabama to open the year then they will have a shot at the BCS title game.

The Atlantic division race is interesting as well but there is no clear-cut favorite and we do not expect to see more than one ranked team in the preseason. North Carolina State has the conference’s best quarterback, the Clemson Tigers have an excellent defense, Florida State may have the most talent, Boston College is flush with recent successes and Wake Forest has a four year starter at QB. But we think Clemson and North Carolina State have the best chance to emerge from the division and we are picking NC State to win the Atlantic division on the strength of their quarterback.

The ACC title game will match up the Virginia Tech Hokies and North Carolina State Wolfpack. We expect Virginia Tech to be ranked higher and favored in this match up and we expect that their strength defensively will give the Wolfpack’s excellent QB trouble. In the end, a multidimensional Hokies attack will be too much for the upstart NC State to handle and we expect Virginia Tech to win their third consecutive ACC Championship.