Defending champion Clemson was picked to win its eighth Atlantic Coast Conference football title in the past nine years in a preseason vote released Tuesday.
The Tigers received 103 first-place votes and 2,370 points overall from the panel of 176 media members who took part. They finished in front of Florida State, which got 67 first-place votes and 2,304 points. Because the ACC abandoned its Atlantic and Coastal divisions this season, the top two finishers will meet in the championship game next December.
North Carolina, which received five first-place votes, was picked third and North Carolina, with one vote for first, was selected fourth.
Miami was picked fifth with Duke and Pitt, the only other team to win the ACC championship during Clemson’s run, tied for sixth.
Louisville was selected eighth followed by Wake Forest, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Boston College and Virginia.
