Atlantic Coast Coastal
The 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division was one of disappointment and heartbreak for some teams, but redemption for others. When Miami beat Virginia Tech on ESPN’ Thursday night football with two weeks left in the season the Hokies looked done. The Hurricanes controlled their own destiny in the race, while the Hokies needed a ton of help to get back into it. They got that help, as Miami lost its final two games of the regular season and allowed the Hokies to squeeze into the back door and steal the division title. Virginia Tech made the most of its second chance, beating Boston College in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game and going on to win the Orange Bowl over Cincinnati.
It should be another tight race in 2009. There is no clear favorite in the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division going into the season. Georgia Tech and Miami are teams that are expected to take the step to the next level because of a wealth of incoming talent and the growth of their current rosters. Virginia Tech is still the champ until someone else tells them otherwise. North Carolina is a team that could break out, and even Duke is not a laughingstock on the football field anymore.
Duke may dominate the ACC in basketball, but they have long been the laughingstock of all of college football. The Blue Devils were lucky to win a game as recent as two seasons ago. They are getting better though. They actually won a conference game over Virginia by a convincing margin and finished the season with four wins. Most teams automatically schedule four wins in their non-conference schedule, and the Blue Devils are often one of the teams people schedule to get a win. That isn’t the case anymore. The Blue Devils are improving, and may use a Duke Blue Devil belt to provide a surprise beating to another team this year.
I will never figure out why the option is so difficult to stop. It takes extreme disciple to run, but when run well it can be deadly. That is what Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson is hoping for in 2009. With better athletes than he ever had at Navy, he can use more talent to implement his confusing option attack and dominate the Atlantic Coast Conference. Johnson is a talented recruiter, and he has more than enough skill as a head coach to turn a Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket belt into a championship belt.
When you thinking of sleeping giants in the college football world, you have to think of Da U. Miami’s five national championships are more than anyone else in the ACC. Coach Randy Shannon has been hoarding South Florida talent for the past two seasons and it could break out this year. If the season opener against Florida State comes down to a field goal Miami fans can rest easy that it will go wide right. An early October game against Oklahoma will also be an excellent test to see if the Hurricanes are ready to turn a Miami Hurricane belt into a championship belt.
Someone who had success at Miami, Butch Davis, is the head coach now at North Carolina and he has the Tar Heels pointed in the right direction. The basketball team may have won a national championship this year and the baseball team is consistently in Omaha, but Davis is making sure that Tar Heel fans do not forget about football. Davis knows how to recruit talent, he is loved by the entire country for beating Notre Dame, and he make a North Carolina Tar Heel belt mean something in football in Chapel Hill.
The champs reside in Blacksburg. No one is going to take the Atlantic Coast Conference title from Virginia Tech without a fight. They should be even better this year as the talent on campus matures. They have most of their tough games at home, so the road to the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship game will go through Blacksburg, Virginia for the Coastal Division. There are few teams better on special teams than Virginia Tech. Head coach Frank Beamer always has his teams ready, especially on special teams, to fight for the Virginia Tech Hokie belt.
Tags: Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket belt | Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket belt | Virginia Tech Hokie belt | Virginia Tech Hokie belt | North Carolina Tar Heel | North Carolina Tar Heel | Duke Blue Devil belt | Duke Blue Devil belt | Miami Hurricane belt | Miami Hurricane belt