Kicking Off the 2008 ACC Season

The ACC season kicks off in just about a week, and by now every fan has read more than their share of season previews. The written words of Bruce Feldman, Phil Steele, Athlon, Lindy's, and Street and Smith's have become the gospel of college football fans.

Depth charts, matchups, and schemes are swirling around the brain, and the words "Hot Seat" and "Breakout Year" are burned into our retinas. Preseason All-ACC picks, freshmen to watch, and divisional champs have been droned on about so frequently that we can all recite them in our sleep.

With only a week to go, let's take a step back and check out the gameday atmosphere of the ACC and the best of what our 12 member institutions have to offer as we get set to experience another fall of ACC football.

Best Stadium: North Carolina

Most folks don't look to Chapel Hill when they think of the best college football stadiums. Most folks also confuse the idea of the best with the biggest.

Kenan Stadium is a simple 60,000-seat horseshoe that is nestled right into the heart of the UNC campus, surrounded by pine trees with a view of the legendary Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower just over the west end zone. Visitors to the venue are never disappointed.

Several publications have ranked Kenan Stadium one of the premier places to enjoy a college football game in the nation, including a paper in the heart of the SEC, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Ringed by the pine trees as well as dormitories, a dining hall, classrooms, the hospital, and the Bell Tower, there is no denying the picturesque qualities of Kenan.

Best Tailgating: Clemson

There are pockets of tailgating greatness scattered throughout the ACC. However, for overall community atmosphere, there are only four true contenders.

The Tigers edge out North Carolina State, Florida State, and Virginia Tech because of the sheer size of their tailgating Saturdays in Pickens County. The spacious fields filled with RVs, law enforcement concerned more with helping and patron safety than ticketing and arresting, as well as committed lifelong tailgaters, make Clemson an environment perfectly conducive to enjoying a fall Saturday.

Generators rumble, grills sizzle, and the Southern rock blares in the air, while televisions set on tables and hung on the side of RVs show the highlights of the college football world. Solid Orange nation offers beers, bourbon, and barbecue to old friends, new friends, and perfect strangers alike.

The aromas of Carolina barbecue, fried turkey, homemade jambalaya, chili, and the rest of a veritable cornucopia of traditional Southern fare mix in the air to produce a heavenly scent that simply screams Southern Football Saturdays. It's a set up that would make any SEC fan proud.

Best Pre-Kickoff Ritual: Clemson, Florida State, and Virginia Tech

With the mixture of old school and new school in the ACC, it was too tough to pick a winner in this category. Hence, three schools share the title.

Howard's Rock, the Hill, Tiger Rag and C-L-E-M-S-O-(wait for it)-N. There really isn't much to explain here, as every self-respecting college football fan knows the story and the drama that surrounds "The Most Exciting 25 Seconds in College Football." It is one of the most original entrances in the game.

The cheery tones of FSU's fight song end with the resounding WHoOOoOO, and then Chief Osceola and Renegade charge out onto Bobby Bowden Field in Tallahassee, a flaming spear held high above his headdress. As the Chief plants the spear at midfield, the 82,000-plus 'Noles fans erupt into the War Chant, and the gravity of the game sets in. FSU, the fans, and their opponents know that the niceties are over: It's time for football.

Virginia Tech's pregame entrance is a baby compared to the traditions of Clemson and FSU—but this baby is an experience that every true fan owes him or herself. At 66,000-plus, Tech's Lane Stadium is modest in size compared to Death Valley and Doak Campbell, but the eerily vertical stands create a noise level capable of rattling most opponents.

As the "Let's Go Hokies" stadium-wide chant gives way to Metallica's "Enter Sandman," the Hokie faithful go wild, making Lane Stadium physically shake under the roar. It's one of the loudest entrances in the nation. Simply put, the Hokies' fans hold their own in Blacksburg.

Honorable mention goes to the Canes' often imitated but never duplicated "Running Through The Smoke," and the Yellow Jackets' coming into the Dodd led by the Rambler.

Best Uniforms: Wake Forest

The ACC has some very intriguing uniform combinations, from the Grimace-inspired all-purple getup of Clemson to the UNC all-blues that would make Papa Smurf proud. Although the Seminoles and Terps both have experimented with all black, the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest do it right.

Jim Grobe's boys don the all-blacks for every ACC home game, and the greatness of the unis is in their simplicity. No multicolor stripes like the all-black duds of FSU. No white helmets offsetting the black jerseys as is the case with the Terps. Just black: basic black uniforms with gold lettering and a whole lot of attitude.

Shifting from the bottom of the barrel just a decade ago to the sleek all-black uniforms let the rest of the ACC know that the Deacs have arrived on the scene.

Best Helmets: Miami

FSU's spears and tomahawk stickers are as crucial to the 'Noles as Bobby Bowden and Renegade. The interlocking NC of the Heels is as recognizable as any in the college football ranks. NC State's giant S and tiny NC has a classical look but strong Wolfpack feel, and BC's basic gold helmet with the lone stripe is about as traditional as it gets.

However, there is only one school that is recognized by a single letter: The U. That orange and green decal on the side of the Hurricane's helmets is uniquely and unabashedly Miami. They don't need to dress it up with stickers: They are the U, and their helmets let the world know.

As simple as the design is, there isn't any doubt that the 'Canes helmet is in the top tier of NCAA headgear along with the likes of Alabama, Nebraska, Michigan, and Penn State.

As it stands now, the ACC has got some solid traditions across the board, and breaking them down to the best and brightest for the sake of ranking them was no small task.

From Chestnut Hill down to Coral Gables, the conference covers more mileage than any other BCS league, and with expansion finalized in 2005, the ACC is still ascending that mountain to the upper echelon of college football.

With a good showing in the 2008 season, the ACC should be well on its way to changing the basketball-first sentiments the league generally evokes.