Winners and Losers of 2015 ACC Media Days
Conference media days are in full swing, and the ACC joined the preseason party Monday and Tuesday with its annual Football Kickoff event in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Each of the ACC's 14 schools sent its head coach and two player representatives to face the media and preview the upcoming season.
Several players and coaches livened up the proceedings with their quotes, while the preseason poll results were unfortunate for a few teams.
Then, of course, there was the eye-opening phrase in the media guide that thrust the conference into the spotlight Monday afternoon.
With the event wrapping up Tuesday following the head coaches' turns at the podium, let's recap the ACC's media days with some winners and losers from the event.
Winner: ACC Commissioner John Swofford
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In his introductory address Monday, ACC Commissioner John Swofford made several great points about the future of the conference and college football in general.
According to Chip Patterson of CBS Sports, Swofford said he understands those who want the College Football Playoff to expand from four to eight teams. However, he noted that college football should stay a one-semester sport, which would be in the best interests of the university presidents who make the final decisions—and the student-athletes themselves.
Swofford also addressed reforming the NFL draft process for players who want to declare early. He spoke of a desire to find "the right sweet spot" between the desires of the athletes and their programs.
"You know, there's no easy fixes to it, and every change you make sways one way or the other," Swofford said, via Patterson. "But I feel like just in a general sense, we may be being too rigid in regard with our rules."
Swofford also announced the addition of two medical staffers who will help with injury detection at every game.
The ACC commissioner revealed his thoughts on some key issues and announced a few helpful changes for the conference. You can't ask for much more than that from a state-of-the-conference presser.
Loser: Virginia
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The ACC's Coastal Division has a ton of parity, and the balance between teams in the division has kept media members guessing for the last several seasons. According to David Teel of the Daily Press, only 11 of 327 preseason ballots in the last three years have correctly picked the division's champion.
That parity was apparent this season as well. While Georgia Tech led the way with 96 first-place votes, six different teams were picked to win the division—everyone except Virginia.
Mike London's Cavaliers return just 10 starters from a team that was 5-7 last season. Virginia has finished at the bottom of the division in each of the last three years, and the media expect them to be right there again after facing a tough 2015 schedule.
"The schedule is the schedule," London said. "You look at the glass as half-empty. I look at the glass as half-filled. I look at it as, 'What does it need?' It needs to be filled. My goal is to get this team, this program, players, coaches alike, to buy into the fact that there are opportunities for this team."
London might be trying to stay positive, but being widely expected to finish last in what is usually a wide-open division is a tough pill to swallow.
Winner: Clemson
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Before Dabo Swinney started fielding questions Tuesday in Pinehurst, his Clemson team was already being heralded as the preseason favorite in the ACC's media poll.
Clemson was picked by media members in attendance to win the conference title this season, and sophomore quarterback Deshaun Watson got the preseason nod for the ACC's Player of the Year.
Swinney doubled down on the buzz surrounding Watson on Tuesday.
"He's as advertised," Swinney told reporters. "You all are picking him to be the preseason Player of the Year and all that stuff based on what you all have seen. He's beyond what you've seen. He is a great football player, there's no question about that."
And despite the fact that the Tigers lost most of the starters from the nation's No. 1 defense, senior defensive tackle D.J. Reader said the team is ready to live up to expectations again this year.
"I think we're really comfortable," Reader said. "We have this saying that we play Clemson 12 times a year on our schedule. If we can control the things we can control, execute our plan, we can live with any outcome we get. ... We know we're going to get everybody's best shots."
The Tigers didn't shy away from the added hype at media days—they embraced it. Soon it'll be time to see if their walk matches their talk.
Loser: The Media Member Who Picked NC State to Win the ACC
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This isn't a slam against the Wolfpack by any means. NC State has been projected by some media members to break out this season and throw off the Florida State-Clemson stranglehold atop the Atlantic Division.
One media member went so far as to pick the Wolfpack as his or her ACC champion. There's only one problem: That person didn't pick NC State to win the Atlantic Division.
Winning your division is, you know, a requirement to win the conference. Adam Gold of the Adam and Joe Show on 99.9 The Fan highlighted the absurdity of the pick on Twitter.
Last week, Auburn was picked to be the 2015 SEC champion at the conference's media days but didn't receive the most points in the Western division (Alabama did). But at least Auburn had some votes to win the West (more than Alabama, in fact), unlike NC State in the Atlantic.
I can't tell which is a worse voting flaw. The college football media as a whole should work on their math skills next offseason.
Winner: Florida State CB Jalen Ramsey
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Jalen Ramsey was in a tough spot heading into the ACC Kickoff. As one of Florida State's player representatives for the annual event, he would face plenty of questions about the Seminoles' recent off-field issues the day before Jimbo Fisher took the podium.
But according to Chip Patterson of CBS Sports, Ramsey stood out in Pinehurst on Monday with how he handled the media.
"Ramsey fielded questions on the off-field issues with patience, refusing to comment directly on either De'Andre Johnson's dismissal or Dalvin Cook's suspension—though his tone indicated a belief of innocence regarding the accusations against Cook—but offering thoughtful commentary in response to those inquiries," Patterson wrote.
Ramsey also tackled questions about his standout track career, his battle with Virginia Tech's Kendall Fuller to be the conference's best corner and welcoming transfer quarterback Everett Golson—whom the FSU standout picked off on his first pass his way. He also torched a reporter about a question regarding his home state, saying, "I couldn't care less about Tennessee."
Ramsey is already a star for Florida State, and his appearance at media days made him an even more prominent face of the defending ACC champions.
Loser: Twitter
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Twitter was a hot topic during Tuesday's portion of the ACC Football Kickoff, but the social media network didn't quite receive ringing endorsements from the conference's head coaches.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said he once had an account but decided to part ways with it.
"I'm what they call a Twitter quitter," Swinney said, according to Tony Crumpton of TigerNet. "I think I quit in like '09. I didn't last very long. Yeah, I don't tweet. I don't really think people really care what I'm doing or what my opinion is on certain things from day to day. I'm not really interested in having a bunch of followers or whatever."
NC State head coach Dave Doeren told Zac Ellis of Sports Illustrated that he didn't know how much time he spent on Twitter, but his wife "will tell you it's too much."
He also noted to CBS Sports' Chip Patterson that he's backed off recruits before for what they put on Twitter. Whoops.
Finally, Duke's David Cutcliffe may be an old-school guy, but he's up to date with Twitter. He doesn't like its effect on him, however, telling Ellis, "Twitter kinda uses me, more than I use it."
Winner: Duke Safety Jeremy Cash
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Duke might be predicted to have a down season this year, but star safety Jeremy Cash said Monday that it wasn't time to count the Blue Devils out.
Cash specifically mentioned the amount of experience and talent Duke is returning in his area, the secondary. The Blue Devils can rely on Cash, fellow safety Deondre Singleton, cornerbacks Bryon Fields and Breon Borders and a host of noteworthy backups.
"We return our three-deep at the position," Cash said, according to Powell Latimer of the News and Record. "We've built trust with each other, and we understand each other."
Cash also had one of the best quotes of the event. He told reporters he wants to be a special agent in the FBI when he gets done with football.
"I've already been practicing," Cash told the Daily Tar Heel. "I'll pull out my wallet sometimes (and say), 'Special agent Jeremy Cash.'"
Loser: Proofreading
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The moment that got the most national attention at ACC media days was one the conference wishes would have never happened.
On page 145 of this year's ACC media guide, an extremely NSFW phrase followed a list of the 2014 schedules and results for each of the league's 14 teams. Images of the phrase went viral on Twitter, along with plenty of jokes at the expense of the conference.
"We sincerely apologize for the offensive error in the media guide. It has been appropriately updated," the ACC said in a statement, according to ESPN.com's Matt Fortuna.
Obviously someone was fed up with all that typing they had to do—or maybe they were looking at Wake Forest's rushing statistics from last season. Either way, the ACC staff will definitely remember to be more diligent when proofreading its media guide next year.
All quotes are from the ACC's official website unless otherwise noted.
Justin Ferguson is an on-call college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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