CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Reigning champion Florida State is the preseason pick to win the expanded Atlantic Coast Conference football race.
The Seminoles received 81 of 170 first-place votes from attendees at last week’s “ACC Kickoff” preseason media days, followed by Clemson in second with 55 votes. Those two were separated by 51 points in the overall vote, while there was a big gap (313 points) to third-place Miami to put Mike Norvell’s Seminoles and Dabo Swinney’s Tigers in a clear top tier.
The Seminoles won their first 13 games last year and beat Louisville in the ACC title game for their first league championship since 2014, but missed the College Football Playoff after a late-season injury to quarterback Jordan Travis.
The league expanded to 17 football members for this year by adding California and Stanford from the Pac-12 as well as SMU from the American Athletic Conference. The Mustangs were the highest pick of that group at seventh, with the Bears coming in at 10th and the Cardinal in last.
The Hurricanes received 17 first-place votes, while North Carolina State was picked fourth and earned eight first-place votes.
Louisville was picked fifth, followed by Virginia Tech, SMU, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and California.
Duke was picked 11th, followed By Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Wake Forest, Virginia and Stanford.
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