This conference boasts three teams who are threats to make a potential run at a national title and a few other teams who could make some noise before the year is over.
With Virginia Tech leading the way and Miami, Florida State, and Georgia Tech not far behind, this may be the best the ACC has even been.
The conference came in with five teams ranked in the top 25 to start the season and have the chance to play some high profile non-conference games early in the season. North Carolina barely lost to LSU despite missing eleven players to suspension. Virginia Tech will host Boise State on Monday, Miami plays Ohio State and Pittsburgh in the next two weeks. Florida State will take on Oklahoma next Saturday and BYU a week later.
Those are five huge games and, if they can manage to win the majority of them, it would be hard to argue that there is a better conference.
Virginia Tech is the most obvious title contender out of the bunch. The Hokies were ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll and, if they beat Boise State Monday night, they will skyrocket up the polls.
Sophomore running back Ryan Williams is one of the top backs in the nation and senior quarterback Tyrod Taylor is seasoned and has the experience to take this team to the next level. They were close last season finishing 10-3 and look to be stronger this year.
A win over Boise State and they should cruise to 8-0. After that the schedule gets really tough, they face Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and Miami in consecutive weeks. If they manage to win those games, all that would stand in their way of playing in the national championship game would be a matchup with the winner of the Atlantic division in the ACC title game.
First things first, they must get by Boise State.
The next best team in the conference would be the Hurricanes and they have their own early season tests to get through, beginning with Big Ten favorite Ohio State. Beat them and it’s off to take on a vulnerable looking Pittsburgh team. Miami has the talent to play with anybody, the question is do they have the discipline and experience to put it together for an entire season.
The last real threat to come out of the ACC would be the Florida State Seminoles.
Christian Ponder is an experienced leader and this team could pull off a few surprises before the season’s done. Unlike many schools with new coaches who go through the growing pains of adapting to a new style, the Seminoles have played in Jimbo Fisher’s system for years while he served as offensive coordinator under the legendary Bobby Bowden.
“We are going to play one way only,” Fisher told reporters, “and that’s with effort and passion.” They look more than capable of beating Oklahoma in Norman next week and, if they can win there, they should be able to win anywhere.
It’s still too early to tell but if I were a betting man I’d put my money behind the ACC as the best conference in America.
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Tags: 2010, About, College, Football, Learned, new, season, Things