ACC Preseason Poll picks Clemson as conference champs, Syracuse picked last

The 2021 season is closing in, and the ACC Football Kickoff week started the hype with the official preseason poll. Released by the conference this morning, the Clemson Tigers was the unanimous pick to win the Atlantic division, and a heavy favorite to win the ACC Championship. Meanwhile, the Syracuse Orange were not given much of a fighter’s chance to make noise, as they were picked last in the Atlantic by a healthy margin.

The full results are below out of 147 total votes.

Overall Champion

1. Clemson - 125
2. North Carolina - 16
3. Miami - 3
4. Virginia - 1
5. Georgia Tech - 1
6. NC State - 1

Atlantic Division(First-place votes in parenthesis)

1. Clemson – 1,028 (146)
2. NC State - 804 (1)
3. Boston College - 638
4. Florida State - 510
5. Wake Forest - 472
6. Louisville - 462
7. Syracuse - 202

Coastal Division(First-place votes in parenthesis)

1. North Carolina - 979 (109)
2. Miami - 881 (28)
3. Virginia Tech - 582 (3)
4. Pitt - 576 (1)
5. Virginia - 540 (2)
6. Georgia Tech - 340 (4)
7. Duke - 218

As you see, most of the ACC chaos will likely be in the Coastal, as everyone but Duke is a viable division champ in the eyes of the media. Meanwhile, the Atlantic will be Clemson and everyone else.

Outside of the usual Coastal caveats, I can’t see too much inaccuracies here, minus the idea that NC State or Georgia Tech could string together enough consistency to win the whole ACC even if Clemson has a less than Death Star team. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.