North Carolina Tar Heels: Picked Top of Coastal
Add the ACC media to the list of people who believe that the North Carolina Tar Heels should return to the ACC Championship.
So far all the predictive parties seem to like the power of the North Carolina Tar Heels to return to the ACC Championship Game in football. That was first postured by the Vegas gamblers and then ACC Media Days revealed that the press thinks that way as well.
In fact the ACC Media Days press poll believed that the 2016 ACC Championship Game will look a lot like the 2015 version with Clemson winning the Atlantic Division once again. Of course the power behind any Clemson run through the ACC will be located within one DeShaun Watson. Watson was the preseason favorite for player of the year.
The Tar Heels did get one of their own into the conversation for player of the year when running back Elijah Hood finished third in the polling. Watson got one hundred sixty-four votes to Hood’s four. Duke’s safety DeVon Edwards got one vote.
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Edwards was recognized for his return abilities and someone must think he can help fill the gap left by current Carolina Panther Jeremy Cash.
This was a new year for the ACC Coastal Division. Voting over the division’s likely finishing order has been very divided in the past. In fact the division favorite has often been a team that did not get the most first place votes.
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North Carolina dominated the voting in the Coastal this year with 121 first place votes. This was more than double the first place vote totals of Miami under new coach Mark Richt. Yes, Georgia fired Richt and the Tar Heels still managed to face Georgia and Richt this year.
Every team other than Bronco Mendenhall’s Virginia squad received at least one first place vote in a nod to consistency. The division has three new coaches in Richt, Mendenhall, and Justin Fuente of Virginia Tech and that may have played into the voting.
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On the Atlantic side, NC State placed fourth and Wake Forest last in the preseason polling. Neither team received a first place vote with those votes going mostly to Clemson and Florida State.