College Football: 2018 Saturday Blitz staff season projections

ACC

Champion: Clemson

Coastal: Miami

It wasn’t that long ago that Dabo Swinney and Jimbo Fisher’s annual tilt held the ACC Championship in the balance. Fisher is gone, taking a big raise to move to Texas A&M, leaving the conference in the hands of Clemson, a three-time College Football Playoff participant.

The staff didn’t stray far from expectations here. Florida State, now under the leadership of Willie Taggart, got one vote to win the Atlantic Division, but opting with the chalk pick proved to be the ubiquitous decision. It’s hard to argue with a team that’s made the Playoff more often than they’ve missed it.

Projected to fall to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, again, are the Miami Hurricanes. Mark Richt has turned the storied program around more quickly than many expected, but the depth Clemson possess makes it hard to believe the script will vary much from last season’s meeting where Clemson smashed Miami 38-3.

One more thing

Virginia Tech fans survived a brief offseason scare concerning the eligibility of potential starting quarterback Josh Jackson this offseason. Now that he’s been ruled good to play the Hokies are an interesting wild card.