Virginia ranked fourth in the Coastal in ACC Football Preseason Poll

With the start of the 2022 college football season for the Virginia Cavaliers just over a month away, the ACC has released its preseason media poll ranking the conference’s team in the Atlantic and Coastal Divisions. After finishing fourth in the Coastal in 2021, UVA is similarly ranked fourth heading into 2022.

Ahead of Virginia in the Coastal are Miami, Pitt, and North Carolina while Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, and Duke round out the bottom three of the division. This preseason ranking is obviously heavily influenced by last season’s results as the only changes are the swapping of Miami and Pitt in first and second and then North Carolina and Virginia Tech in third and fifth.

Considering the experience and talent that UVA boasts at the quarterback and wide receiver positions, the likely strengths at linebacker and defensive line, along with the question marks in the secondary, and the huge unknown that is the offensive line, the fourth place positioning for the Wahoos makes sense. The team has the potential to be better than its preseason ranking based on those strengths, but could also perform below it when taking into account the glaring issues this roster has.

Miami and Pitt are fairly obviously the top two teams in the division with solid rosters returning from fairly impressive finishes in the 2021 season. Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke should only continue to improve on an impressive first season with the Hurricanes. Meanwhile, USC transfer Kedon Slovis will hope to pick up where Kenny Pickett left off as Pitt has endured quite a transition of change following the departures of the Panthers’ offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach, and star wideout Jordan Addison.

Here’s the full ACC Preseason Poll with Division ranking and ACC Champion voting:

Overall Champion

Clemson - 103

NC State - 38

Miami - 8

Wake Forest - 4

Pitt – 3

Virginia - 3

Florida State - 2

North Carolina - 2

Boston College - 1

Coastal Division (First-place votes in parenthesis)

Miami (98) – 1,036

Pitt (38) - 911

North Carolina (18) - 823

Virginia (6) - 667

Virginia Tech (3) - 592

Georgia Tech (1) - 343

Duke - 220

Atlantic Division (First-place votes in parenthesis)

Clemson (111) - 1,080

NC State (44) - 959

Wake Forest (6) - 783

Louisville - 591

Florida State (2) - 509

Boston College (1) - 469

Syracuse - 201