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Florida State picked to win the ACC Championship by ACC Media; Virginia picked to finish fourth in Coastal

Virginia running back Perry Jones will lead the Cavaliers, who will try to build on last year's success and exceed the ACC media's fourth-place expectations.
Virginia running back Perry Jones will lead the Cavaliers, who will try to build on last year's success and exceed the ACC media's fourth-place expectations.

The ACC announced its preseason standings this afternoon, as predicted by the media at the ACC Kickoff. Florida State was the clear favorite among the media, with 60 members voting the Seminoles as the favorite for the ACC Championship. Virginia Tech picked up 18 votes, Clemson 13, Georgia Tech 3 and NC State 1. Below are the preseason standings:

Atlantic Division
1. Florida State (72) 543
2. Clemson (17) 470
3. NC State (5) 402
4. Wake Forest 241
5. Boston College 181
6. Maryland 148


Coastal Division
1. Virginia Tech (83) 558
2. Georgia Tech (10) 421
3. North Carolina (2) 341
4. VIRGINIA 326
5. Miami 245
6. Duke 04

Continued improvement for Virginia, who was selected to finish fourth in the Coastal division (and narrowly missed third)! Last season, Virginia was picked to finish fifth in the division, while actually finishing second. Here's how the past seven years have played out:

Year Predicted Finish Actual Finish
2012 Fourth ??
2011 Fifth Second (5-3)
2010 Sixth Fifth (1-7)
2009 Fifth Sixth (2-6)
2008 Fifth Fifth (3-5)
2007 Fourth Second (6-2)
2006 Fourth Third (4-4)
2005 Third Fifth (3-5)

In five of the past seven years, the Cavaliers have either met or exceeded the admittedly low expectations of the ACC media. This (embarrassingly) is the Cavaliers' highest predicted finish since 2007, when the Hoos went on to play in the Gator Bowl.

The All-ACC team will be announced later this week. In the meantime, where do you see this year's Cavaliers finishing in the conference?