Dear Old U.Va.

2010 ACC Football Preview - Atlantic Division

Wednesday, September 01 2010 by Tim

Overview

The Atlantic division champion has lost the ACC Championship game the past 3 years, after winning the first 2. It seems that, once again, there is more talent in the Coastal than in the Atlantic. That said, the Atlantic division, while a bit top-heavy, is not lacking for talent.

Florida State

In a lot of ways, this FSU team looks vastly different from the one that we are used to seeing over the past few decades. There is the obvious difference of Bobby Bowden being gone, and new head coach Jimbo Fisher taking the reins. Furthermore, longtime defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews also stepped aside, and Fisher hired for Arizona head coach Mike Stoops as the new DC. A couple of other assistant coaches were replaced as well, and the new staff is significantly younger than the old one was.

Off the field, the Criminoles reputation appears to be as strong as ever. LB Nigel Carr was arrested and charged with 3 felonies (Carr has been suspended indefinitely), and S Ed Imeokparia was arrested and charged with (only) one felony. And that is just in the past 2 months.

On the field, however, I think we should see an FSU team that reminds us very much of past Seminole teams. They have a Heisman candidate QB in Christian Ponder. They have a plethora of RBs and WRs and they return all 5 OLs from last year. In all, 10 starters return from last year’s 28^th ranked offense.

The defense is not quite as experienced as the offense, and will be breaking in several newcomers all over the place. On the bright side, FSU was 108^th nationally in defense, so replacing much of it may be a good thing. The defense could struggle, especially early on, but Mike Stoops is a good defensive coach, and they still have a lot of talent on that side of the ball.

Clemson

While I picked FSU to win the division, they will be pushed hard by both Clemson and BC. Clemson, I think, has a better shot, due to a superior defense.

A month ago, it seemed likely that QB Kyle Parker would be leaving Clemson to go play baseball professionally. However, the contract he ended up signing with the Rockies will permit him to play the season for the Tigers before beginning his pro baseball career. This is, obviously, very good news for a Clemson offense that lost leading rusher CJ Spiller, and leading receiver Jacoby Ford to the NFL. Spiller, alone, accounted for nearly 2000 total yards a year ago.

On the bright side, Clemson returns much of its 20^th ranked defense from a year ago. This makes for an interesting discussion as they are essentially the complete opposite of FSU. Which will win out, the offensive juggernaut (FSU), or the shut-down defense (Clemson)?

Boston College

The biggest story out of Chestnut Hill this offseason has been the return of LB Mark Herzlich from Ewing’s Sarcoma. While this is certainly a great development for the team (and obviously for Mark himself), the BC defense was fantastic without him a year ago. The offense, however, struggled.

Sophomore QB Dave Shinskie returns to lead an offense that is really built around RB Montel Harris. Unless Shinskie can improve on a 15:14 TD/INT ratio, Harris will continue to see a lot of 8 and 9 man fronts, and the BC offense will again struggle to score points consistently.

BC will have a shot to compete with FSU and Clemson for the division, but I’m calling it a longshot.

North Carolina State

And now we get to the other half of the division. The 3 teams at the bottom of the Atlantic division will all struggle to compete with the 3 powerhouses.

A year ago, the Wolfpack finished in the middle of the pack in both total offense and total defense, and yet, they won just 2 ACC games. That does not say much for head coach Tom O’Brien, who I imagine is still kicking himself for leaving Boston College.

The pack return junior QB Russell Wilson, who was 2^nd in the ACC in total offense last year. Also returning are 4 of the 5 leading receivers. This bodes well for a team that was 24^th in the nation in passing offense. However, they lose their top 2 rushers from what was a weak ground attack.

On defense, while junior LB Nate Irving returns from missing all of last year after a bad car accident, they must replace the entire DL. The secondary returns almost intact, but frankly that may not be a good thing. State’s biggest positive is that the other two teams in the division are worse than they are.

Wake Forest

The Deacons had a run from 2006 to 2008 where they were as good as anybody in the ACC. Then last year, they came back down to earth with a 5-7 record. And that was with senior QB Riley Skinner still at the helm. Well, Skinner moved on and the offense this year will be led by a newcomer. I’m not even sure who. As a result, the offense will largely revolve around senior RB Josh Adams.

The defense last year struggled most of the year, finishing in the bottom half of the nation in almost every metric. Still, that defense returns largely intact, and should improve. That improvement will be enough to make them better than Maryland.

Maryland

As a Virginia fan, it upsets me that Maryland is as bad as they are. Because it means Ralph Friedgen is likely out of a job. Last year, Maryland finished in the bottom third of the nation in just about everything. The only thing they were good at was…kick returns. Yay.

Some people are picking them to finish 5^th in this division. That is probably a factor of them playing Wake Forest at home as opposed to in Winston-Salem. I can’t imagine anybody really thinks the Terrapins are better than the Deacons. Or maybe it’s just that nobody cares.