ACC Preseason Rankings: Can Florida State Seminoles Lose?
The ACC sure gets a lot of flack as a Power Five conference after it produced a national championship and two BCS winners last year.
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So the conference as a whole is not as loaded as the SEC. Or probably the Pac 12 or Big 12. But do you not think FSU and Clemson would still have been Top 10 teams in any of those conferences, especially when each of them beat an upper-echelon SEC team last year?
Not to mention Duke, Virginia Tech, Boston College, and Miami were all very good teams last year and at least bowl teams in any conference. From top to bottom the ACC was actually better than the Big Ten.
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Betsided
Unfortunately, it’s not looking like that on the surface, and part of that reason is Florida State. Through recruiting, a great offensive coach, and striking gold in an amazing quarterback, the Seminoles have built a program as talented and deep as Alabama. And this year, it’s more experienced.
While Clemson is close, there’s really no other program in the ACC on that level, and that’s what hurts its reputation despite being a very deep conference. Let’s not forget, though, that if we put the Noles in the SEC East last year they likely would have coasted through that division as well.
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With the First Pick
Still, because the ACC has no other real powerhouses, especially this year, the Seminoles appear to be a shoo-in to run through the conference. But don’t sleep on teams that will complete. Clemson may have lost everything but is still building a pretty strong program under Dabo Swinney, and there is still lots of talent there. Duke has possibly the best coach in college football in David Cutcliffe, Miami is still improving but not far away from returning to power, and Virginia Tech is still Virginia Tech.
Add in Bobby Petrino at Louisville and expected improvement at Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Boston College, and this is a deep conference that has plenty of good team. So it’s not all cupcakes for Florida State. Well, with the talent they have, maybe it is.