Last season Virginia Tech was the lone team in the ACC to go undefeated thru conference play with a perfect 8-0 record. They topped it off with a 44-33 victory over Florida State in the ACC Championship game. This season, I predict the Hokies to repeat their Coastal Divison championship.
Breaking Down The Division
Virginia Tech gets the non-conference schedule done very quickly as each of it's first four games are against non-ACC teams. It'll be very surprising if VT doesn't begin the season with a 4-0 record as they have possibly the easiest non-conference schedule in the nation. How does this affect Virginia Tech with reguard to the ACC? It means they will still be undefeated and likely ranked near the top 10 by the time they host Clemson in week 5. I expect the hot start to carry over to ACC play and I predict the Hokies will go 7-1 in ACC play. They host Clemson and Miami in back to back weeks and I expect they will fall short in one of these games.
Miami starts the season with a tough ACC game at Maryland in week 1 of the football season. The Hurricanes will be one of the oldest and most experienced teams in the nation. However, they will be in transition under a new coaching staff in 2011. The biggest question for Miami is how quickly will they adapt to the new coaching system? It won't take long to find out as Miami hosts Ohio State in week 2 following the game at Maryland. I predict Miami to suffer two conference losses. Games at Maryland, at Virginia Tech, and at Florida State will all be potential losses.
Georgia Tech and North Carolina both finished with a 4-4 conference record last season and I expect these two teams to battle it out for third place in the division once again in 2011. I am giving Georgia Tech the upper hand because they will host North Carolina in week four. The Tar Heels also have to play away against Virginia Tech and Clemson, two of the toughest places to play in the ACC, whereas Georgia Tech hosts each of those teams in Atlanta.
Virginia and Duke will finish at the bottom of the conference once again. I predict Virginia will finish jsut ahead of Duke as the Cavaliers have been recruiting much better than Duke recently and seem to be headed on the right track for football.
How They'll Finish
1) Virginia Tech
2) Miami
3) Georgia tech
4) North Carolina
5) Virginia
6) Duke
Virginia Tech is my pick to matchup with Florida State in the 2011 ACC Championship game in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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