The Confidential

Pre- Pre-Season Confidential Poll: August 11, 2014

Well, football season is really right around the corner–in three weeks we will be talking about actual wins and losses, rather than potential and hope.  Ranking the ACC teams (plus Notre Dame) is very challenging.  First, Florida State may be in a class of their own.  The Atlantic is largely a race for second-place, with no real certainty as to how Louisville and Clemson will respond to replacing departing stars.  Second, the Coastal is so wide-open… only Virginia really seems unlikely to win it all.  With all that, these rankings are only worth so much.  But here they are:

1. Florida State (50 points, 5 first place votes).   The Seminoles are the team to beat in the ACC and nationwide.  A tougher schedule makes a repeat quite a daunting task though.
2. Clemson (44 points).  The Tigers remain fairly loaded, despite having to replace a lot of skill-player production.  As always, Clemson will challenge itself early and often out-of-conference.
3. Miami (33 points).  Sooner or later Miami will have to win the Coastal.  Is it this year?
4. Louisville (32 points).  The Cards get plenty of love early.  The schedule is substantially more difficult for Bobby Petrino v 2.0.
5. (tie) Notre Dame and Duke (26 points).  People hate Duke basketball and Notre Dame football.  But these academic heavyweights are looking to have outstanding football seasons.
6. (tie) see above.
7. North Carolina (21 points).  Much like one wonders when Miami will return to prominence, one wonders if North Carolina will ever be a serious football threat.  Mack Brown was able to do it.  But not much else.  Maybe 2014 will be the year.
8. Virginia Tech (20 points).  Virginia Tech is the last school to be on all of the Confidential ballots.  Frank Beamer has been legendary, but is he running out of juice?
9. Syracuse (10 points).  The Orange are one of those teams with a huge range of potential… not too many win totals would be a total surprise.  With a year under the belts of their quarterback and head coach, expectations are on the higher side.
10. Pittsburgh (6 points).  The Panthers are a team that generally recruits well.  Someone on ESPN even picked them to win the Coastal.  Not sure if they are ready for that kind of jump, but you never know.

Others: Georgia Tech (5 points), Boston College (2 points).  Wake Forest, Virginia, and North Carolina State did not receive any votes.

What do YOU think?  What is your top 10?