Maryland Football: Forget the Ugly Uniforms, Are the Terps an ACC Dark Horse?

Although the Maryland Terrapins defeated the Miami Hurricanes, 32-24, in Week 1, does that automatically make them an ACC dark horse?

Well, yes and no.

Here's why.

For starters, the ACC—other than Florida State and Virginia Tech—is flat out weak.

That being said, the Hokies don't even play one ranked team all season and Florida State only plays Oklahoma (Saturday night) and Florida.

Obviously, neither are ACC schools. Therefore, the Seminoles don't play any ranked ACC schools either until Virginia Tech—which is the expected conference title game.

So, how is Maryland a dark horse?

Well, for one, Clemson and Wake Forest appear to be on the rise in the ACC Atlantic Division, so add them to Florida State and the Terps go on the back-burner.

They are not, however, a dark horse because—other than Virginia Tech—no one is really paying attention to any schools in the ACC Coastal Division.

In turn, much more attention is going to be on the Atlantic Division and who can win the conference other than Florida State.

Plus, even though it's not an ACC game, Maryland got off to a slow start against West Virginia and was down, 34-10, early in the second half.

And with the Big East being considered as the worst BCS conference, it's only going to take away some credit that the ACC has.

Now, if you have to choose between whether or not the Terps are an ACC dark horse, as opposed to making an argument for "yes" and "no" like we just did, simply note that they are a for-sure candidate.

We all know Florida State is the front-runner and Clemson looks like the No. 2 school in the ACC Atlantic Division, with Wake Forest at No. 3.

Maryland gets Clemson at home in mid-October, travels to Tallahassee right after and then Wake Forest in mid-November.

Two of those games are possible (Clemson and Wake), so even if Maryland drops to the Seminoles, coming in second place in the ACC Atlantic to a Top Five school is not a bad thing.

However, regardless of how the season plays out, if the Terps manage to upset the Seminoles on the road, it would immediately open up the ACC Atlantic Division title race.

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