The Beast's 2006 ACC Football Preview
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by user The Beast
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Atlantic Division
1. Florida State Well they are the defending ACC Champions, and they don't have to apologize to anyone for winning the title last year despite a four-loss regular season. There are a ton of big holes to fill on defense, but the offense should be one of the nation's best. They have talented returning players in key positions such as Quarterback Drew Weatherford, Tailback Lorenzo Booker, and leading receivers Greg Carr and Chris Davis. Opening day is at Miami, and everyone saw what happened in last year's ugly slopfest between the two superpowers when they weren't really ready. If FSU wins that, it'll be favored in every game the rest of the way with only a road trip to NC State and a season ender against Florida to worry about.
2. Clemson The Tigers enter the season with some momentum, a four game winning streak and wins in six of its last seven games. They must continue to be good in all phases and hope good things come from it. Outside of the punting game, there weren't any major weaknesses on the 2005 Tigers. The offense was balanced, the defense finished 20th in the nation and 11th in scoring D, and PK Jad Dean was tremendously clutch. As long as the team doesn't fall off the map in any one area this offseason, training camp can be used to become even more explosive on both sides of the ball.
3. Boston College The Eagles need to be even more of a big player in the ACC race. That'll be asking a little too much for BC to win the Atlantic with road games at Florida State and Miami, but the Eagles have to win the close games against everyone else to be in the hunt. Clemson, the other really strong Atlantic team along with FSU and BC, comes to Boston for the ACC opener on September 9th. The Eagles have to win this game to have any hope of winning the ACC, which means they need to use every summer practice, every day in training campand the season opener at Ohio, to prepare to come out roaring. If they don't win that home game against Clemson it will be darn near impossible to win the Atlantic.
4. Wake Forest All their experience has to take the Deamon Deacons to the next level, and its got to happen immediately. Everyone returns on defense and the losses are minimal on offense. Jim Grobe's club has an honest shot at a 5-0 start playing Syracuse, Duke, at Connecticut, at Ole Miss and Liberty, but that only happens if all the experience turns into more production. With a tough second half of the season, being flawless to start the year is vital. With a soft schedule early on Wake Forest will find themselves bowling in December.
5. Maryland Focus, focus, focus. With tune-up games against William & Mary and MTSU before the road trip West Virginia, there's time to get everything in place before the Terps have to shine. Getting back to a bowl game is a top priority, but with five nasty road games (West Virginia, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Clemson and Boston College) along with home dates against Florida State and Miami, Maryland had better be supremely confident. The Terps have too tough a schedule to get back into bowl contention.
6. NC State Fundamentals have to be stressed from day one. NC State was awful last year when it came to penalties and was 118th in the nation in third down conversion completing a horrendous 25.5% of its chances. The ACC is too tough, and NC State isn't good enough, for the little things not to be sound.
Coastal Division
1. Georgia Tech It's time to win the Coastal Division. The defense will once again be strong, and there's more than enough talent on offense to be better 103rd in the nation in scoring. They have an excelant quarterback wide receiver combination in Reggie Ball and Calvin Johnson. Johnson may be the nation's top wideout. There's a tough game at Virginia Tech to deal with, but Georgia Tech showed last year that it can win big games on the road with victories at Auburn and Miami. The Canes come to Atlanta, and the games against Atlantic teams aren't too bad missing Florida State and Boston College.
1. Virginia Tech The Hokies must use the ACC title game as motivation. Virginia Tech was two bizarre losses away from being unbeaten with the Miami and Florida State games all the more puzzling after flat-out dominating just about everyone else highlighted by scary-good wins over Georgia Tech, Boston College and Virginia. Let's be honest; it's a two-game schedule for the Hokies traveling to Boston College and Miami. Win those, and don't come up with another powerfully stupid 2005 ACC championship game performance against anyone else, and there might be a trip to Arizona awaiting.
3. Miami ACC title or bust. How could the Canes be good enough to obliterate Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, and bad enough to lose at home to Georgia Tech and get blown out by LSU? If the Canes lose the opener to Florida State and can't beat Louisville on the road, things will be very ugly. This just isn't the same Miami team that we are use to seeing. However, a 3-0 start might mean smooth sailing with Virginia Tech coming to the Orange Bowl and the toughest remaining road games at Georgia Tech, Maryland and Virginia. All are winnable.
4. North Carolina Bowl game or bust. Credit head coach John Bunting for never complaining about the brutal schedule last year, but now it's bowl game or bust with an easier slate. The defense has the potential to be much better, and the offense can't be any worse, so a bowl game has to be the goal or there might be a new coaching staff in place next year at this time.
5. Virginia No one respects us." At best, most will put Virginia third in the preseason Coastal rankings, and maybe as low as fifth depending on what someone believes North Carolina will do. The pressure might be on for Al Groh and his coaching staff to have a big season, but the team can play relatively loose considering the preseason expectations from most outsiders won't be too high, unlike last year.
6. Duke After finishing dead last in the ACC in every important category other than rushing, Duke has to find something to build on this training camp and summer. There has to be one thing that it does really, really well that can throw a scare into an ACC team or two. The schedule is way too nasty to think about a bowl game, but being more competitive is an important step.
2006 ACC Championship Game
Florida State defeats Gerogia Tech (tiebreaker)
Date
Fri 07/14/06, 8:09 am EST
