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Stay up to date with our
2007 ACC
Football Predictions!
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football preview. When
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Jimmy
Boyd brings you his 2005 previews and
football predictions for
the teams of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
This year the ACC adds Boston College to complete the
conference’s expansion to 12 teams and for the first
time the ACC will be divided into two divisions of six
teams (The Coastal & Atlantic Divisions), similar to
what the Big 12 and SEC have done with their
conferences. The Coastal Division features
Virginia Tech, Miami, Georgia Tech, Virginia, North
Carolina, and Duke, while the Atlantic Division will
include
Florida State,
NC State, >
Boston
College, Maryland, Clemson, and Wake Forest. Last
year, in their first season as members of the ACC,
Virginia Tech edged out
Florida
State
for the ACC Championship and the conference’s BCS Bowl
Bid. This year’s expansion should provide another
great season of football in the Atlantic Coast
Conference.
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Coastal Division
Miami will play their second season in the ACC since
coming from the Big East in 2004. The ‘Canes
always have plenty of talent, but they will have
inexperienced starters at key positions this year.
The Hurricanes return 15 starters from last year’s 9-3
team, but Miami fans will see new faces at quarterback,
tailback, center, wide receiver, tight end, fullback,
and cornerback this season. Defensively the team’s
entire defensive line returns intact, their entire core
of starting linebackers will still be staring down the
opposition, and three of their elite defensive backs
return to smother opposing receivers. Special
teams will again be a strong point for the ‘Canes as
they have a strong kicking game and one of the most
athletically talented rosters in the nation.
The key for the Hurricanes in 2005 will be establishing
regular, effective starters at the 7 key positions which
they need to fill. There is no clear-cut leader of
this team, which is something that has plagued Miami in
the past because they lose so many of their 2nd
and 3rd year players to the NFL Draft.
Talent-wise this team is above the curve, but to contend
for the ACC Conference title or the National
Championship they will need to improve on team cohesion
and leadership.
Virginia Tech Hokies
Virginia Tech returns 14 starters, 8 on offense and 6 on
defense, from last year’s 10-3 ACC Championship team.
Skill positions like running back and wide receiver have
never been a problem for the Hokies, who are deep at
those places on their roster. They do have Mike
Vick’s brother, Marcus Vick to fill in for ACC Player of
the Year Bryan Randall, but those are some very big
shoes to fill. The offensive line is also an issue
and they will need to address that problem as soon as
possible. Defensively, the Hokies are strong once
again, putting together a superb mix of speed and power.
Special teams are always a strong point for Frank Beamer
coached squads and this year should be no different.
Expectations will be high for Virginia Tech in 2005.
There is a ton of hype around this team, coming off of a
year in which the school won the ACC Championship, had
the ACC Player of the Year, and the ACC Coach of the
Year. There is also the matter of Marcus Vick who,
assuming he stays out of trouble off of the field, will
have as high of expectations on the field as any other
player in the nation. This team has as many
questions as any other in the conference, but they also
have a lot of talent and excellent coaching. A
repeat Championship won’t be a “gimme” by any means, but
expect the Hokies to be around the top of Costal
Division and once again contend for the ACC crown.
The
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets should be a competitive
force in the ACC this season. They return 17
starters from last year’s team including one of the top
rushers in the conference, P.J. Daniels, and last year’s
ACC Rookie of the Year, wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
The offensive line is the biggest question on the
offensive side of the ball, where the Yellow Jackets
will need to almost completely rebuild. Georgia
Tech returns 10 starters on a defense that ranked 12th
in the entire nation in yards allowed last season and is
led by returning all-ACC middle linebacker Gerris
Wilkinson.
With many key players returning, including starting QB
and 2003 Rookie of the Year Reggie Ball, the Yellow
Jackets are poised to have a very good season.
They don’t have the recruiting classes or the NFL talent
of the
Miamis
or Virginia Techs of the conference, but they do have a
great defense and core of leaders returning, something
that many teams in this half of the conference are
lacking.
Virginia is coming off of another successful season ending
up 8-4 overall and 5-3 in 2004 despite a tough schedule.
2005 won’t be much easier for the Cavs, who again have
drawn a difficult conference schedule. They lost 7
quality starters to the NFL Draft, but return the best
overall backfield in the conference. The ACC,
however, is not a conference in which a team can rely
solely on their rushing game and be effective.
Starting QB Marques Hagans will also have to produce in
2005, and he has less quality receivers than last
season, and is also going to miss the nation’s top
tight-end, Heath Miller, who was lost in the off-season
to the NFL. There is no shortage of talent on
Virginia’s
defense, but that has been the case in the past 2 or 3
years, and their talent has not translated into
on-the-field success.
Virginia isn’t ready to contend for any conference
titles just yet, but they could stir things up and knock
off one or two of the powerhouses in the ACC. The
Cavs have a solid offense, and plenty of it. Much
like last season you can expect them to roll over weaker
teams, but likely stumble against the defenses of Miami
and Florida State. Seven or eight wins for this
team is not out of the question due to a weak
non-conference schedule. You will most likely see
the Cavs playing in a bowl game come the post-season.
The
Tarheels were a surprising bowl team last season.
They upset Miami and nearly knocked off Virginia Tech as
part of a 6 win season. UNC returns 15 starters
from last year’s squad, but don’t expect them to match
last year’s win total. The ‘Heels have one of the
tougher non-conference schedules in the nation including
games against Wisconsin, Utah, and Louisville.
North Carolina must replace their leader and best player, QB
Darian Durant, who accounted for the majority of UNC’s
offensive production. This team is still pretty
skilled athletically, but as far as pure football
players go they are near the bottom in their division.
It’s going to be a long year for the UNC faithful.
Last year’s success was embraced because there were
really no expectations for this team. With a
bowl-bid under their belt the expectations will be much
higher, however the loss of talent and leadership from
this team is simply too much to overcome. Looking
at their schedule it is hard to imagine this team
winning more than 2 or 3 games. If they somehow
manage to grab 5 or 6 wins it should be considered a
very successful season at UNC, just don’t count on it.
Duke
has moved past rebuilding to simply being a poor
program. Academics and basketball reign at this
university, and football will continue to take a
backseat for a long time. The Blue Devils went 2-9
last year, which made it their 10th
consecutive losing season. Last year’s team had
the worst offensive production in the nation, and
they’ll see little improvement with a completely rebuilt
offensive line and huge question marks at many of their
skill positions. If you aren’t a Duke Football fan
you probably haven’t heard of many, if any, of the
players on this team, and there’s a reason for it; they
simply aren’t very talented.
If
the Blue Devils notch any conference wins this year it
will be a surprise. They are the least talented
team in a very good conference. They have too many
weaknesses on both sides of the ball and have a long way
to go before they’ll be able to contend to be in the
middle of the pack in the ACC. Sorry, Duke Fan,
but there’s little chance your team has any success in
2005.
Atlantic Division
Hopes
are high for the Seminoles in 2005, which marks head
coach Bobby Bowden’s 30th season as the man
at FSU. Last year’s 9-3 overall record and 6-2
(good enough for 2nd
in the conference) ACC record would be considered a great
accomplishment for just about any team, but when you’re
talking about Florida State, anything less than a
National Championship is always considered falling
short. Offensively FSU is coming off one of their
least productive seasons in a long time. Just 4
starters return on offense, but that shouldn’t be a huge
concern for FSU fans, this could be just the kind of
change the Seminoles need to better their offensive
performance. Florida State’s defense was one of
the best in nation, especially against the run where
they ranked 3rd
nationally. Quarterback is the biggest question for
this team, which it has been for the past few seasons.
Chris Rix is finally gone, which may be a blessing in
disguise, for Rix had well-documented problems both on
and off of the field.
This could be a very special season for the Seminoles.
The FSU players would like nothing more than to notch an
undefeated season for Bowden, and make his 30th
season one to remember. Defensively this team is
going to be one of the most feared in the nation.
If they figure out their offense early in the season
they’ll fast become one of the favorites to contend for
the National Title. Playing in this division they
have a slightly easier road to the ACC Championship than
Miami or Virginia Tech, but not by much. Another 9
win season is not out of the question, but don’t be
surprised if they end up even better than that, this is
a very talented squad.
Last season was a bit of a disappointment for the
Wolfpack, who had enjoyed Bowl births in each of head
coach Chuck Amto’s previous seasons. The loss of
Philip Rivers proved to be too much for the Pack, who
ended the season just 5-6. Defense will be another
strong point for this team in 2005 as they return 7
starters from the nation’s top-rated overall defense.
Hopefully NC State can improve their offense with 7
starters returning as they finished 68th in
the nation in rushing offense last season and 71st
in passing.
The
Pack gets a bit of a break playing in the slightly less
difficult Atlantic Division of the ACC, plus they don’t
have to play Virginia or Miami
from the Costal Division, but they will have to fight
for the second spot in this side of the division with
newcomer
Boston
College.
Their defense will keep them in games against most of
their opponents, but offensively they just can’t compete
with a high powered offense like Florida State.
Boston College finished out their last year in the Big
East with a couple of poor performances. They lost
the outright Big East conference title, followed by a
very poor showing against Syracuse in their bowl game.
This season the Eagles could very well be in for a rude
awakening in the more competitive and talent-rich ACC.
BC returns 14 starters in all from last year’s team (7
on both sides of the ball), but with a much weaker
schedule of opponents last season this team put up some
pretty mediocre numbers. To contend in the ACC
they are going to have to put together more of a
consistent effort on offense, which may be easier said
than done with new faces at quarterback as well as their
#1 & #2 wide receivers. Defensively they will
likely be weak against the pass once again with new
faces in the secondary, which will spell nothing but
trouble for this team in the pass-heavy ACC.
Boston College, unlike
Miami
last year, will have some growing pains coming into this
talented ACC field. They open up their ACC
schedule at home against Miami followed immediately by a
trip to Clemson to battle the Tigers. In the long
run it was probably a good move for this team to make a
move to the more publicized conference, but for the
Eagles in 2005 it could be a very long season.
They may compete for the second or third spot in the
Atlantic Division of the conference, but anything more
than that would be considered miraculous.
Maryland had high hopes for the 2004 season, but fell
drastically short of their goals finishing last in the
ACC and missing out on a bowl game for the first time in
four years. Head Coach Ralph Friedgen has built a
reputation for being able to turn things around after a
team has fallen on tough times. When he first came
to Maryland the Terps were in the midst of 5 consecutive
losing seasons, but Friedgen stepped in to lead them to
three consecutive bowl appearances. The task will
be much more daunting this season, however, with a ton
of question marks at key positions, most notably QB,
where reportedly three inexperienced signal-callers are
still slugging it out for the starting spot.
There’s definitely some hope for
Maryland
this season, a repeat performance from last year certainly
shouldn’t be expected.
Maryland is still strong on defense and special teams. This
is a very young team, which means the season could
either be a great accomplishment or a huge
disappointment. They caught a lot of tough breaks
in games that could have gone either way last season.
If the ball bounces their way once or twice they could
very well end up playing in a bowl game in 2005.
Clemson got off to a slow 1-4 start last year, but
played much better in the second half of the season,
making the outlook for this season seem pretty bright.
The Tigers return 7 offensive starters, most notably
experienced quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, who the
Tiger’s are expecting a monster year from.
Whitehurst will have his core of receivers back as well,
plus the bulk of the offensive line to protect him.
This defense lost some very key pieces to their puzzle.
Although they return 6 players on the defensive side of
the ball, Clemson still must replace their best
linebacker and best corner (who also happened to be one
of the best return men in the nation).
Coach Tommy Bowden believes that his team has the talent
to win in the ACC, and he may be right. Bowden
fired both his offensive and defensive coordinators from
last season in hopes that some new faces and styles of
play would better fit the talent of his Tigers. A
lot has to go right for the Tigers to compete in the ACC
as they have another difficult schedule, particularly
early-on.
Wake
brings plenty of experience into this season with 15
starters returning (9 on offense, 6 on defense).
Whether or not these players coming back are a good
thing or not remains to be seen. The Deacons were
awful last season earning just a 1-7 record in the ACC
and a 4-7 record overall. Wake is coming off of a
terrible season offensively with a pass offense ranked
near the bottom of the nation, though their rushing
offense was effective at times. Mixing it up will
be difficult for this team with new players at skill
positions. The good news is that almost the entire
offensive line is back, which should help solidify that
running game again this year.
The
Demon Deacons get a bit of an advantage in the early
part of the season with four of their first five games
being at home. The trouble is that their one road
game is at Nebraska and two of the games are against
very tough conference opponents. There are flashes
of good in this team, they have better speed than in
year’s past and more experience on the offensive line,
but they are still below the curve as far as passing
offense and stopping much of anything on defense.
This is probably the weakest team in this half of the
conference, though they may pull off an upset or two
before the year is over.
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