The ACC should have a fascinating season in 2013. There are a number of true contenders as you can see below and they have some great matches with their geographical big brother the SEC, which could really shake up the way things look at the top of the polls this season.
The ACC is on an upswing. Right now Clemson is about as good as it has ever been, Florida State is getting back its expected heights and Miami seems to be righting itself as well, although more slowly.
In the ever-growing movement of college football – whether you look at TV dollars, conference re-alignment or points on the scoreboard – 2013-14 promises to be another enthralling season in the race for BCS hardware. .
Virginia Tech has simply been one of the most consistent programs of the past decade and a half of college football. The Hokies are all about coaching continuity; head coach Frank Beamer has been at the helm for over 25 years (the 2012 campaign marks his 26th season holding the clipboard in Blacksburg); offensive co-ordinator Bryan Stinespring is in his 20th year on the staff and “D”
co-ordinator Bud Foster has held that position since 1995.
2012-13 Football Previews – Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) – North Carolina (NC) State Wolfpack
It has been a long road of incremental steps for the Wolfpack during head coach Tom O’Brien’s tenure. Injuries, flirtations from the baseball diamond and transfers have seen a lot of NC State’s best talent squandered; it also must compete every year with a cross-state rival Tar Heels squad that reels in a lot of the best recruits in the state.
2012-13 Football Previews – Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) – North Carolina Tar Heels
After NCAA investigations (gosh, aren’t we getting used to hearing that phrase) cost former coach Butch Davis his job in 2011, defensive co-ordinator Everett Withers took over on an interim basis; he was just keeping the seat warm.
Last year, the Clemson Tigers were the Figure 1A example of a “feast or famine” team in college football. The Tigers started out a flawless 8-0 and ranked #6 in the AP poll, only to lose four of their last six.
The timeless mantra we’ve all heard is that defense wins championships. The ’Noles look mighty powerful this year because of their outstanding defense. It’s been a pretty lengthy road back for FSU since the dominant Bobby Bowden-led years of the 1990s.
The ACC has not sent a team to the national championship game since Miami made it all the way there in 2002 as still a member of the Big East, but there is at least one school that has a legitimate chance to go that far this season.
Looking to get down on NCAA football future odds at Bovada sportsbook today? The odds have been posted for all the MAJOR conferences, from the ACC to the Pac 12 you can find BCS lines on your teams.
Edsall comes to College Park after building the program at the University of Connecticut basically from the ground up. He was the 2010 Big East Coach of the Year and looks to assert a Terps team that has an excellent underclassmen quarterback, but not much else.
Cutcliffe has made some progress with the Blue Devils, though with a team that went 3-9 last year, progress is a relative term.
The Cavaliers had some good years in the middle of the last decade, but they’ve had a bowl-less drought since 2007. Coach London is now in his second year in a bid to bring UVa back to respectability in the conference.
With Coach Johnson’s gameplan, which bucks convention but at the same time is tried, tested and true, he has a reputation of out-performing expectations.
When one thinks about top-shelf ACC programs, Boston College may not be the first team to come to mind, yet the Eagles have been surprisingly consistent over the years.
Between unsavory academic behavior and improper dealings with student-athletes hiring agents, it has been a shaky boat recently in Chapel Hill.
