ACC: Day after day after day
The ACC is the only conference in the country to play on five consecutive days in the first week of the 2018 season. Wake Forest kicks off the league’s schedule with a Thursday night game at Tulane. On Friday, Duke plays host to Army, while Syracuse travels to Western Michigan. Saturday’s slate includes eight ACC teams in action, including a prime time matchup between Louisville and preseason No. 1 Alabama. No. 8 Miami faces No. 25 LSU in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday evening. College football’s opening weekend concludes with a top 20 ACC matchup between No. 19 Florida State and No. 20 Virginia Tech in Tallahassee, Florida.
ACC in the Top 25
Led by No. 2 Clemson, four ACC teams are ranked in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 football poll. Clemson received 18 first-place votes to match its best preseason ranking. In 2016, the Tigers were No. 2 in the preseason and went on to win the national championship. It marks the fifth top 5 preseason ranking in the AP Poll in Clemson history, including 1984 (No. 4), 1988 (4), 2016 (2) and 2017 (5). Miami was picked No. 8, its best preseason ranking since being No. 6 to start the 2004 season. Florida State was voted No. 19, followed by No. 20 Virginia Tech. NC State (22 votes) and Boston College (18) also received votes in the poll.
Huge Labor Day Night opener
Monday night’s game between No. 19 Florida State and No. 20 Virginia Tech is just the fifth opener in league history matching ranked ACC teams. The others: 1959: No. 18 Clemson 20, No. 12 North Carolina 18; 2004: No. 5 Miami 16, No. 4 Florida State 10 (ot); 2005: No. 14 Florida State 10, No. 9 Miami 7; 2006: No. 11 Florida State 13, No. 12 Miami 10
Clemson, BC highlight AP Preseason All-America
Four players from Clemson and two from Boston College headline the ACC contingent on the 2018 Associated Press Preseason All-America Team. The first-team All-America Tigers include OT Mitch Hyatt, last season’s ACC Jacobs Blocking Trophy winner, defensive end Clelin Ferrell and defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence is a second-team selection. Boston College running back A.J. Dillon and safety Lukas Dennis are also second-team selections.
Clemson enters as 2018 favorite
Three-time defending champion Clemson is the preseason favorite to claim another ACC football championship, according to a poll of 148 media members who voted at the 2018 ACC Kickoff. The Tigers, who posted a 12-2 overall record en route to earning a College Football Playoff berth for the third consecutive year in 2017, were also picked to repeat as Atlantic Division winners. Miami was picked to finish atop the Coastal Division for the second consecutive year.
Minutiae
- The ACC has seven of the top 25 active coaches nationally in career victories – all of them with 100 or more – which is by far the most of any conference. The next closest league has four coaches in the top 25.
- An ACC football player has won the Heisman Trophy or the Campbell Trophy – commonly referred to as the “Academic Heisman” – in four of the last five years, something no other league can claim.
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Chris Graham
