According to ACC.com, a preseason poll was given to 147 members of the media, and the results predicted that Clemson is favored to win its seventh Atlantic Coast Title (ACC) in a row.
The Tigers, who finished with a 10-2 record last year and also earning their sixth straight college football playoff berth, were also selected as likely Atlantic Division winners. North Carolina was selected No. 1 in the Coastal Division of the ACC conference. They had an impressive eight-win 2020 season, which ended with the programs first ever trip to the Orange Bowl.
Clemson got the majority of the votes to continue their dominance in 2021 over their division with 125 out of a possible 147 votes. North Carolina finished in a distant second place with 16 votes. Miami came in next in the voting with 3 and Georgia Tech, North Carolina State and Virginia each received 1 vote.
Here are some of the results from the division and conference voting.
For the Atlantic Division preseason voting, Clemson netted 146 first-place votes and 1,028 total points. North Carolina, who was projected to finish in second place, received the final first-place vote and 804 points. Boston College (638 points) was picked for a third-place Atlantic Division finish, followed by Florida State (510), Wake Forest (472), Louisville (462) and Syracuse (202).
In the Coastal Division forecast, North Carolina received 109 first-place votes and amassed 979 total points. Miami (28 first-place votes) was next with 881 points, followed by Virginia Tech (three-first place votes, 582 points) and Pitt (one first-place vote, 576 points). Virginia (two first-place votes, 540 points), Georgia Tech (four first-place votes, 340 points) and Duke (218 points) closed out the voting.
According to the ACC football polls, Clemson was selected as the likely ACC champion in the media preseason poll for the fourth consecutive season and the seventh time in the last nine years.
North Carolina was projected as the preseason Coastal Division champion for the second time and the first time since 2016. The Tar Heels’ lone Coastal Division championship came in 2015. Each of the Coastal’s seven teams won the division from 2013 through 2019. Due to the 2020 pandemic, the ACC played with a non-divisional format last season.
The 2021 ACC Football Championship Game will be played on Saturday, December 4, at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium. It will feature the Atlantic and Coastal Division winners.
