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Clemson was picked to win both the Atlantic Division and the ACC Championship, while Georgia Tech was selected to win the Coastal Division, the ACC released Tuesday morning. Virginia was tabbed to finish last in the Coastal Division, and decisively so.
Clemson's predicted finish comes in despite Florida State's status as the three-time defending ACC Champion and inaugural participant in the College Football Playoff last year. This is largely due to now sophomore quarterback standout Deshaun Watson, who was selected by the media as the Preseason Player of the Year ahead of Pitt RB and last season's ACC Player of the Year James Conner.
In what's been a fairly wide-open division the last several years, Virginia was the only team not to receive any first place votes in the Coastal. If this sounds familiar, it's because this happened last year as well.
Unlike last year, when it was presumed that the winner of the Atlantic would ultimately go on to win the conference (104 of the 108 ballots picked Florida State to win it all, two picked Clemson, and the remaining two picked Virginia Tech), the ballots looked a little more diverse this year. 125 of the 158 ballots selected either Clemson or Florida State, while Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and Miami picked up a combined 33 votes for the poor Coastal. NC State also got a vote, so that's fun.
Here are the full results from the 158 ballots submitted by members of the ACC media, with first place votes in parenthesis and total points following each school:
Rank | Atlantic Division | Coastal Division |
1 | Clemson (101) - 1,032 | Georgia Tech (96) - 991 |
2 | Florida State (56) - 992 | Virginia Tech (44) - 841 |
3 | Louisville (1) - 746 | Miami (7) - 632 |
4 | NC State - 673 | Duke (4) - 615 |
5 | Boston College - 473 | North Carolina (4) - 590 |
6 | Syracuse - 291 | Pitt (3) - 535 |
7 | Wake Forest - 217 | VIRGINIA - 220 |
ACC Championship Votes
1. Clemson - 84
2. Florida State - 41
3. Georgia Tech - 20
4. Virginia Tech - 7
5. North Carolina - 3
6. Miami - 2
7. NC State - 1
ACC Player of the Year
1. Deshaun Watson, QB, Clemson - 69
2. James Conner, RB, Pitt - 46
3. Justin Thomas, QB, Georgia Tech - 13
t-4. Jalen Ramsey, CB Florida State - 7
t-4. Brad Kaaya, QB, Miami -7
t-6. Marquise Williams, QB, North Carolina - 6
t-6. Kendall Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech - 6
8. Tyler Boyd, WR, Pitt - 3
9. Jacoby Brissett, QB, NC State - 1