Miami is picked to do something it’s never done before: win the Atlantic Coast Conference title.
The Hurricanes are the favorites to win the ACC, which released its preseason picks Tuesday. The Hurricanes were the easy headliner after last year’s run to the College Football Playoff title game, receiving 165 of 188 first-place votes from media members credentialed for the league’s preseason football media days earlier this month.
That put Miami well ahead of SMU, Louisville and Clemson among the top picks in the 17-team race.
The Hurricanes joined the ACC ahead of the 2004 season but have yet to win a championship. This is only the second time Miami has been voted as the preseason favorite, the other coming in 2006. It reached the ACC championship game only once (2017).
The Hurricanes nearly made it last year, only to be edged out by five-loss Duke in a five-team tiebreaker for the right to play Virginia. The Blue Devils beat the Cavaliers for the program’s first outright ACC title since 1962, while the Hurricanes pushed past Notre Dame in the final rankings for a CFP bid that ultimately turned into a remarkable run to the doorstep of a national title.
Georgia Tech was picked fifth, followed by Virginia, N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Duke.
Florida State was next at 11th, followed by California, Wake Forest and Syracuse. North Carolina is picked 15th for its second season under NFL coaching great Bill Belichick, followed by Boston College and Stanford.
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