Five ACC Teams Ranked Among Top 25 of Preseason Coaches Poll
GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) - No. 4 Clemson leads a group of five ACC teams ranked among the top 25 of the preseason USA TODAY Sports AFCA coaches poll released on Monday.
The Tigers are joined by No. 13 NC State, No. 16 Pitt, No. 17 Miami and No. 19 Wake Forest. The ACC’s five ranked teams are second-most among all conferences.
NC State and Wake Forest claimed their highest preseason ranking ever in the coaches poll, and defending ACC champ Pitt holds its highest preseason spot since 2010.
Clemson, which recorded its 11th consecutive double-digit win season with a 10-3 finish in 2021, was picked as the ACC preseason favorite in a poll of 164 ACC media members in late July. The Tigers were also tabbed likely Atlantic Division winners. Miami was picked to finish atop the Coastal Division following a 7-5 campaign last season that included wins in five of the final six games.
Pitt and defending Atlantic Division champion Wake Forest each finished 11-3 in 2021, and NC State is coming off a 9-3 season.
The 2022 ACC football season gets underway on Saturday, Aug. 27 (Week Zero), when Florida State hosts Duquesne at 5 p.m., followed by North Carolina playing host to Florida A&M at 8:15 p.m., both on ACC Network. It marks the first August season opener for the league since 2019.
The ACC will be featured throughout the Labor Day Weekend (Sept. 1-5) with 12 games over a five-day span. No other league plays across all five days. This is the fourth time in the last six years the ACC has played over five consecutive days in Week One.
The Labor Day weekend begins on Thursday, Sept. 1, with both of last year’s ACC division champions in action. ACC and Coastal Division Champion Pitt hosts West Virginia at Heinz Field at 7 p.m. on ESPN, and Atlantic Division champion Wake Forest opens against VMI in Winston-Salem at 7:30 p.m. on ACC Network. On Friday, Sept. 2, Virginia Tech plays at Old Dominion at 7 p.m. on ESPN, while Duke plays host to Temple at 7:30 p.m. on ACC Network.
Saturday’s slate includes the first league matchup of the year with Louisville at Syracuse at 8 p.m. on ACC Network. Other games on Sept. 3 include North Carolina at Appalachian State at noon on ESPNU, NC State at East Carolina at noon on ESPN, Rutgers at Boston College at noon on ACC Network, Richmond at Virginia at 12:30 p.m. on RSN and Bethune-Cookman at Miami at 3:30 p.m. on ACC Network.
On Sunday, Sept. 4, Florida State travels to New Orleans to face LSU at the Caesars Superdome in the Allstate Louisiana Kickoff at 7:30 p.m. on ABC. The following night in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game on Labor Day Monday, Georgia Tech hosts Clemson at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta at 8 p.m. on ESPN.