ACC - Atlantic Division

The Atlantic division of the ACC is up for grabs. Florida State, Boston College, and Clemson seem to be early favorites. That was also the case last year and Wake Forest won the damn whole thing. FSU and Clemson are talented but capable of imploding like last year. Maryland and Wake are hoping to duplicate last year's surprising success. Did I forget anything? No. Okay let's go...

Florida State: Much like hated rivals Miami, FSU needs to improve offensively if they want to return to the top of the college football world. The Seminole D ranked 18th in total defense last year despite several major injuries to key players. FSU’s 3 best players all play on the defensive side of the ball. Count on S Myron Rolle, DT Andre Fluellen, and LB Geno Hayes to lead another dominating defense. The secondary killed FSU last year with too many breakdowns but should be improved by 6 returning players with starting experience including a shutdown corner in Tony Carter. Now back to that offense. Bobby Bowden finally cut ties with offensive coordinator/son Jeff Bowden and hired LSU OC Jimbo Fisher to revitalize an offense that ranked 70th in ’06. Skill players the likes of RB Antoine “the Fastest Man in the South” Smith and WR Gregg Carr should help improve offensive production in ‘07. The O-Line struggled last year and Fisher hopes to reverse that with a change from passive aggressive space eaters to slim downed attacking blockers will help. Collectively the O-Line lost 200lbs in the off season. Offensive success will ultimately come down to the play of the quarterback. If Fisher can get Drew Weatherford or Xavier Lee to play anywhere near the levels of his former QBs (Josh Booty, Rohan Davey, Matt Mauck, JaMarcus Russell) college football better watch out. I am selling that drastic of a change in the FSU offense. They look good early but lose 3 of their last 4 @BC, @VT, and @ Florida. However FSU wins the Atlantic division because they lose one less conference game than BC.

Boston College: After a very quite 10-3 season and 7th straight bowl win Tom O’ Brien takes more money to coach in division rival NC State. New coach Jeff Jagodzinski inherits a team that returns 17 starters, has no real areas of concern, and is good enough to get to the ACC title game. The Eagles will be led by the ACC’s best QB senior Matt Ryan. Ryan has got a NFL arm and could put up numbers in a new offense that features 4 and 5 receiver sets. Don’t be fooled by 4 and 5 receiver sets because BC will pound the ground this year. Running backs LV Whitworth and Andre Callender are both 2000 yard rushers (one is 28 away but I’ll spot him) and should provide balance to the BC offense. The BC defense returns the entire talented front seven but LB Brian Toal’s availability is still unknown (looking like a medical redshirt). The secondary is strong (CB Tribble, S Silva) except for no one knows is how will the #2 corner Taji Morris will play? Morris looked good last year before getting injured and had better be ready because often because no one is throwing at Tribble. FSU and Clemson are more talented but have big question marks at quarterback and O-Line plus others. BC looks to have a complete team will no pressing questions. The last game of the season against Miami is the key. Will Miami’s offense be ready by now? If so BC gets the L (9-3), if not BC gets the W (10-2), and plays for the ACC title as Atlantic champs. Miami's O will be ready and BC finishes 9-3.

Clemson: Once again Tommy Bowden is on the hot seat after last year’s collapse. They say Clemson should compete for the Atlantic division with FSU. I’m not buying it. Every year they Clemson is talented and is going to be really good and every year Clemson comes out and hovers around .500 ball. Clemson arguably has best running back tandem in the nation with James Davis and CJ Spiller. But that’s all that is proven on offense. Sure Barry Richardson is one of the best offensive tackles in college football but he’s the only returning starter for the O-Line. The teams leading receiver is in the NFL and no one has stepped up to become a real #1. Finally we come to the quarterback situation, Cullen Harper is definitely capable of running the offense but Bowden will be pressure to start freshman sensation Willy Korn. If it were me I wouldn’t throw my future quarterback to the lions that are FSU, GT, VT. The defense returns 8 starters from a unit that ranked 13th in total defense. A big part of that defense now lines up for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and both starting corners are gone. As always Clemson is talented enough not to see a huge drop off but you never know how that talent will translate on the field. I like Clemson at 7-5/8-4 with games at Maryland and against the Ol’ Ball Coach to be toss ups.

Maryland: They were one of college football’s biggest surprises last season. The Terrapins overachieved with a 9-4 record and a bowl win over Purdon’t. Maryland is looking for the same results this year. They return all but 5 starters. One of those lost starters is QB Sam Hollenbach. Jordan Steffey will be the starter but Florida transfer Josh Portis is breathing down his neck. Solid RBs Lance Ball and Keon Lattimore each averaged over 4.5yds/carry last year. With a solid O-Line the running game should see similar results. Darius Heyward-Bey emerged as a game breaking receiver last year and gives Friedgen a big play threat. The defense was bad last year. They couldn’t stop the run, the secondary was average, and the couldn’t generate any takeaways. This year the same defense lines up for Maryland so things will probably be the same. Only one LB has experience and the secondary is a big concern. Erin Henderson is a STUD. He led the Terps in tackles, forced fumbles, and interceptions last here. Erin will certainly follow big bro E.J. into the 1st round. Many feel that returning 17 starters from a 9-4 means the Terps will have similar success in 07. Not so fast my friend. 6 of those 9 wins came by 6 points or less, 4 of those 6 by 3 points or less. Maryland wasn’t that good last year and its more like Ralph Friedgen had a gigantic horseshoe shoved up his ass. Maryland’s luck runs out this year with a 6-6 record.

Wake Forest: coming soon

NC State: coming soon