Mission Impossible: Predicting ACC Football

Among the many things that make College Football so amazing: Parody has to be near the top of the list. It is almost impossible to predict how the College Football season is going to go, so I thought it would be fun to see just how incredibly wrong I would be. Of course the first Conference that I chose has to be one of the most up in the air conferences this year in the NCAA, which makes it very hard to predict. Last year 4 of the 12 teams had conference leading 5-3 records. This year it may be a little different as we see some of these teams pull away from the pack and some may fall back because of rebuilding years. 

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

Florida State should be the team to beat in the Atlantic Division... the only team that should give them a run for their money if there offense stays consistent is Wake Forest. Wake has a great QB in Riley Skinner, who may be the best in the division. That being said they will be trailing FSU throughout the season. FSU has all of there Offensive line back and QB Christian Ponder showed flashes of greatness last year. Clemson may be a team to keep an eye out as they continue to mature, Death Valley is a tough place to play and they have 7 home games. NC State will struggle, and Maryland who will be looking for consistency will miss the speedy Darius Heyward-Bey. Boston College will have major trouble after losing B.J. Raji and Ron Brace, which made for one of the best interior lines in the nation let alone the ACC. 

Coastal Division
1) Georgia Tech (11-1)(7-1)
2) Virginia Tech (10-2)(7-1)
3) North Carolina (10-2)(6-2)
4) Miami (6-6)(4-4)
5) Virginia (4-8)(1-7)
6) Duke (3-9)(0-8)

The Coastal Division is where the fun begins in the ACC. While many experts believe that the Hokies are the team to beat the ACC, I believe the the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are. Last year the Jackets established a heck of a running game with the fullback turned running back Jonathan Dwyer. QB Josh Nesbitt will pick up some rushing yardage with his speed as well. The other thing that makes Georgia so good is that all 4 players of their lockdown secondary are returning. The only question marks surrounding Georgia Tech is an inexperienced Interior line and the arm of Josh Nesbitt. A manageable schedule will allow these Jackets to fight for the ACC title. Most people will tell you that the Virginia Tech Hokies will win the division, and there is do doubt that they will be fighting for the ACC title. Tyrod Taylor has to stay healthy if they want to win. Taylor will also have show better than 55 percent completion center. The Hokies start it off tough with an opener in Atlanta against the Crimson Tide, and will play a tough game against Nebraska just a couple weeks later. It may come down to the game at Georgia Tech to decide who wins the Division. North Carolina did not lose many of their players and have a great recruiting class. Losing Hakeem Nicks may hurt them a bit though, although they return a lot of their starters on both sides of the football. The the achilles heel of North Carolina though is having to go to Atlanta against Georgia Tech and will play Virginia Tech in Charlottesville, both hostile environments. Randy Shannon has definitely improved the Miami Hurricanes the past couple of years, but are still inexperienced and it will take another year for all of Shannon's recruits to come in. Virginia and Duke don't have much of a chance, Virginia is in the middle of another rebuilding year and Duke is showing signs of competing with the rest of the ACC but is just not there yet. 

The winner of the Coastal Division should go on to win the ACC. You can pretty much guarantee that Florida State will be there in the Championship game against either Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech, I give the advantage to the Wramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech. I think that the rushing attack of the Jackets will be too much to handle for most of the ACC and it will be no different for a game against FSU in the championship. 

Georgia Tech is my pick to win the 2009 ACC championship.