Clemson by far will be the runway choice to win the Atlantic Coast Conference this year when the league’s media and national media get together next week in Charlotte for the annual ACC Football Kickoff.
Though the Tigers lost seven starters on defense, they are loaded on offense, especially with the return of reigning ACC Rookie of the Year Trevor Lawrence at quarterback and reigning ACC Player of the Year Travis Etienne at running back.
Clemson has been selected to win the league in each of the last four preseason polls, and of course went on to win the ACC Championship in each occasion.
However, the Tigers, who have won the ACC Football Championship more than any other school with 18, has never been a unanimous pick to win the league. Last year, they received all but nine votes to win the league out of the 148 media members that voted.
The closest Clemson came to being a unanimous selection in the ACC preseason media poll was in 1988. That year, the Tigers received 66 of the 67 first place votes.
By the way, they were right. The Tigers went 6-1 that season in the ACC and 10-2 overall to take home, at the time, their 12th ACC Championship. It also was the third straight year Clemson won the ACC.
Over the years, since the media preseason poll began in 1976, Clemson has been picked to win the ACC 11 times. The media has picked the Tigers correctly in eight of those occasions.
The last time the ACC had a unanimous pick for an ACC Champion was in 2000 when Florida State received all 74 first place votes. The Seminoles went on to win the league crown that year with a perfect 8-0 record in the league.
FSU was also a unanimous pick in 1993, 1994 and 1998. They were the outright champion in 1993 and ’94 and shared the conference crown with Georgia Tech in 1998.
As the defending national champions, the way in which it dominated the ACC in 2018 and with so many weapons and depth returning across the board, if Clemson is not a unanimous pick to win the league this year, then those that do not pick the Tigers need to have their credentials taken away.
There is no logical reason not to pick Clemson to win the ACC for a fifth consecutive year. No other team in the ACC is even close to the Tigers’ caliber right now.