SD ACC Football Preview 2009

Written by Grubby | 24 August 2009

I've always had a sort of fondness for ACC football over the years.  I've never quite been able to identify exactly what it was, but it probably has something to do with seeing Baby (excuse me) Carolina Blue on a football field, or the constant changing of member institutions, or the complete unpredictability of betting an over/under on any given game.

Maybe it's they "Hey, we want in on that" style of when they created the end-of-the-year championship game in the footsteps of big brothers SEC and Big XII.

Perhaps it's the cuteness of your buddy's little sister (Duke) who you just want to pull for now that she has a driver's license and some potential (second year Head Coach David Cutcliffe).  Or maybe it's the complete predictability of every Clemson football season.  Whatever it is, when we divied up conferences, this was my first choice.

Predictions after the jump.

Even though we all agree that we would rather watch nearly any SEC or Big XII game, and most other Pac-10 games on Saturday, there's something to be said for the constant Connect Four state of the ACC standings.   Consider this, every team in the ACC North (I don't care, Atlantic and Coastal are ridiculous division names and I refuse to use them) finished last year with either 3 or 4 conference losses.  As did all but 2 teams in the south.  Talk about consistency in ineptitude.  But for me, it's good TV.  More of a "Hole in the Wall" than a "Survivor."  But enough massive FAILS and coaching meltdowns to make me curious.

So, let's take a look at a few predictions.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: 2008 POY Jonathon Dwyer of Georgia Tech will repeat.  Tyrod Taylor is going to be a kitchy pick here, but Dwyer has the offensive system (option) to produce more electric game-to-game stats, and the surrounding team to produce more wins.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:  I like Florida State returning DB Patrick Robinson.  FSU is another trendy pick to take a step back toward national relevance as Jimbo Fisher finally mans up and unplugs Bowden's headset completely.

COACH OF THE YEAR: David Cutcliffe.  How'd that "fire-this-guy-for-our-guy" work Ole Miss?  You can bet that after he doubled the team's win total in half a season, the Dukies will let the man work.

HOW THEY'LL FINISH (alternate title: Grubby plays Trouble the board game for 10 minutes alone):

1. FSU *
2. Wake Forest*
3. NC State*
4. Clemson
5. Boston College
6. Maryland

1. Georgia Tech*
2. North Carolina*
3. Duke*
4. Miami*
5. Virginia Tech
6. Virginia

*bowl