ACC Media picks Virginia to win the Coastal Division

What a time to be alive. At last week’s ACC Kickoff, 173 members of the football media cast their ballots on who would end up leading the ACC this year. It should come as no surprise that the reigning national championship Clemson Tigers were the runaway favorite in both the Atlantic Division and the conference overall, but atop the ever-chaotic Coastal Division are your Virginia Cavaliers.

Clemson is predicted to be the 2019 ACC champions on 170 out of the 173 ballots. Syracuse received two and Virginia—yes, our Virginia—received the final vote.

Virginia received 82 first-place votes in the Coastal Division for 1,003 total points, finishing ahead of the Miami Hurricanes (55 first-place votes, 992 points) and the Virginia Tech Hokies (20, 827). Every team in the Coastal Division received at least one first-place vote, even Georgia Tech.

In the past six seasons, six different teams have won the Coastal Division title. Virginia is the only one that hasn’t had its share. Prior to this year, Virginia had been picked to finish last in the Coastal for each of the past five years.

“The sense of urgency we have as a team in how player to player accountability, just how we train has definitely grown from last year to this year,” Perkins said at the ACC Kickoff. “I think everybody on our team is starting to believe, starting to work like we deserve to be in the top conversation. We expect to be great. We won’t settle for anything less.”

On the Atlantic side, the Tigers were the near-unanimous favorites, with Syracuse picking up two first-place votes and everyone else falling well behind.

The ACC Football Championship Game will be held on December 7, where Virginia and Clemson the division winners will square off for conference bragging rights and a trip to either the College Football Playoffs or a New Year’s Six bowl.

Here’s how the full voting played out:

ACC Championship Votes

1. Clemson – 170
2. Syracuse – 2
3. Virginia – 1

Atlantic Division (First place votes in parenthesis)

1. Clemson (171) – 1,209
2. Syracuse (2) – 913
3. Florida State – 753
4. NC State – 666
5. Boston College – 588
6. Wake Forest – 462
7. Louisville – 253

Coastal Division (First place votes in parenthesis)

1. Virginia (82) – 1,003
2. Miami (55) – 992
3. Virginia Tech (20) – 827
4. Pitt (8) – 691
5. Duke (6) –566
6. North Carolina (1) – 463
7. Georgia Tech (1) – 302