The ACC is a fun conference to watch each and every week, this year there are 4 teams that can win the Coastal according to various preseason publications: UNC, Miami, Georgia Tech, & Virginia Tech; not to mention none of these teams won the Coastal last year, Duke (no respect if the ball has points, … if you bounce it, it goes all funny, … Ok, for you dopes, I’m saying the Devils only get respect it B-Ball) won the division! In 2013, Duke was 6-2, Miami, Va Tech & G-Tech were all 5-3 & North Carolina (UNC) was 4-4 in over-all league play. Not to mention would be an oversight, Mike London has recruited really well at Virginia and Paul Chryst’s team at Pitt will be improved in his third year! Put simply, the Coastal is wide open again and I, for one, will be watching this divisional race with a great deal of interest! I do not know of another division in the FBS that is as unpredictable as the Coastal going into the 2014 Season! That said, quite the opposite perspective for the Atlantic Division in 2014. Let’s just give FSU the crown, Clemson has lost Tajh Boyd, Sammy Watkins, & et al and simply does not have the roster to challenge the Seminoles! Louisville lost its QB, Teddy Bridgewater & Head Coach, Charlie Strong, to Texas, while Syracuse, Wake Forest (WF), NC State, & Boston College (BC) are all @ various stages of rebuilding! Remember, this preseason stuff is all about whose best on paper … speculation … that’s why we play the games … because …. anything can and often does happen!
As mentioned the Atlantic Division has seven team and its breakdown is the same as the SEC & Big Ten; 84 total games (7 teams x 12 games), 56 conferences tilts (7 x 8), which leaves 28 Non-Conference (NC) games for each school to schedule as they see fit! So lets see how many Power Conferences (PC) programs they are willing to take on! Florida State is stepping up big time, Oklahoma State (B-12) @ a neutral site, Arlington’s AT&T Stadium (Old Cowboy Stadium), and Notre Dame (IND) & Florida (SEC) @ home. Clemson is right with FSU in taking on big time NC opponents, the Tigers play @ Georgia and hosts South Carolina, two of the SEC’s best teams. Louisville travels to ND (the Cardinals 1st meeting ever with the Irish) & play in state rival Kentucky (SEC) at home. Syracuse takes on Maryland (B-10 … as strange as that sounds) & then travels to South Bend to take on Notre Dame! BC plays USC (PAC 12) @ home in Alumni Stadium. NC State & WF have elected not to schedule a team from a PC in 2014. Please Note: these ACC / ND games are part of the quasi relationship the Atlantic Coast Conference & ND put in place to assist one another in the new Play-off Era. The ACC’s strength of NC scheduling goes up playing ND (5 games each year, although only 4 in 2014 do to scheduling issues) & the Irish get access to ACC bowl considerations, similar to the deal they had with the Big East in football!
Now the Coastal Division: UNC plays @ ND (IND), first meeting since 2008, a 29-24, Tar Heel win @ Chapel Hill, in fact, it’s UNC’s only win vs Irish, (1-11). Virginia Tech travels to the Horse Shoe to battle Ohio State (B-10), first meeting between these schools. Miami travels to the Heartland to take on the Cornhuskers (B-10) in Lincoln, NE, a site where Miami has never won (0-3)! Pitt welcomes Iowa (B-10) to Heinz Field, last meeting @ Kinnick, Panthers lost a an 17 point 4th quarter lead and fell to the Hawks, 31-27! Georgia Tech heads down the road to Athens, to rumble with in-state rival Georgia (SEC). Duke welcomes Kansas (B-12), the devils have met the J-Hawks only once, in 2009, a 44-16 loss!
The ACC plays 17 games against the PC’s, identical to the B-10’s number! Six of the games are on the road, 9 are at home, & two are being played at neutral sites! The ACC battles 4 times with the B-10, takes on the B-12 & PAC 12 twice (4 games total), & SEC 5 times. The conference has scheduled 14 games against FCS teams, while playing 17 games against the Power Conferences. This line-up is better than the SEC’s (11 PC to 14 FCS) yet not as good as the B-10 (17 PC to 11 FCS). Let the debate begin!
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