2022 ACC Football Preseason Poll: Clemson, NC State viewed as Top 2 teams

One week removed from the league’s media days in Charlotte, the 2022 ACC Football Preseason Poll is out.

Here’s how the voting unfolded.

Once again, the Clemson Tigers are the favorites to win the ACC. This marks the seventh time in the last eight seasons that the Tigers have been voted the preseason favorite.

With 111 first-place votes, Clemson edges out NC State (44 first-place votes) for the Atlantic Division title — in the final year of divisions. Unsurprisingly, Miami, with first-year head coach Mario Cristobal, is the favorite in the Coastal Division.

With a total of 164 media votes, 103 voters picked Clemson as the league’s top team. In second place, NC State trailed with 38 votes.

Overall Champion
Clemson – 103
NC State – 38
Miami – 8
Wake Forest – 4
Pitt – 3
Virginia – 3
Florida State – 2
North Carolina – 2
Boston College – 1

Atlantic Division
(First-place votes in parenthesis)
Clemson (111) – 1,080
NC State (44) – 959
Wake Forest (6) – 783
Louisville – 591
Florida State (2) – 509
Boston College  (1) – 469
Syracuse – 201

Coastal Division
(First-place votes in parenthesis)
Miami (98) – 1,036
Pitt (38) – 911
North Carolina (18) – 823
Virginia (6) – 667
Virginia Tech (3) – 592
Georgia Tech (1) – 343
Duke – 220


Quick Takes: 2022 ACC Football Preseason Poll

Let’s react, shall we?

    • First off, it’s adorable that Georgia Tech received a vote to win the Coastal
    • There may be some salt coming from Wake Forest fans; the Demon Deacons are the Atlantic’s reigning champs and return quarterback Sam Hartman, one of the best players in college football. Why vote NC State ahead of Wake Forest? Well, the Wolfpack return a lot of talent, too, including on the defensive side of the ball, where they are superior to the Deacons
    • Once again, the Coastal looks pretty wide open — on paper. It’ll be interesting to see if, after only one offseason, the Hurricanes can come together around Cristobal and Tyler Van Dyke, another elite quarterback and the ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2021
    • Pitt continues to grade well: preseason votes and the advanced metrics. There’s plenty of deserved pushback on ESPN’s FPI metric, especially before the season actually starts; however, the Panthers rate as a Top 20 team, for now, according to FPI. That seems bold for a team that’s down its top two players from 2021: quarterback Kenny Pickett and star wideout Jordan Addison

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