Hey, it's ACC Media Day! Where coaches say absolutely nothing of interest and sportswriters take a stab at who's going to stumble their way to Tampa come December. It's all very, very boring.
The Coastal Division was picked to finish in the exact order as last year final results, with Virginia Tech getting 78 first place votes and Georgia Tech 9. I would have expected less of a spread since the top four teams in the Coastal were all separated by a game in conference and everyone had at least one victory among the four. Defaulting to the biggest name is always the safe bet, which explains Florida State's 56 votes atop the Atlantic Division as well.
More surprising is N.C. State's ten votes to win the Atlantic. I'm not sure what folks saw in last year's 6-7 (4-4) finish to think, "This is the breakout team of 2009," but there you go.
There are also rumors going around Greensboro that UNC will play LSU in the 2010 Chick-fil-A College Kickoff, which would be a hell of a game, and an even dodgier rumor that Chuck Amato is out at FSU after this season. That second rumor, come to think of it, doesn't make much sense. Why would you make part of recruiting pitch the fact that you're going to fire your linebackers coach? "Oh, sure. He's good enough for this year's players, but by the time you come aboard we'll totally have somebody better."