Georgia Tech has a few, though not many, believers. The Yellow Jackets were picked to finish third in the ACC Coastal Division in a poll of media at the ACC Kickoff media event. The poll was released Monday.
Tech received nine of 167 first-place votes for the Coastal, and none to win the league title. Miami was projected to finish first in the Coastal, receiving 103 first-place votes, while Florida State was picked to finish ahead of defending national champion Clemson in the Atlantic and to also win the league championship.
In coach Paul Johnson’s first nine seasons, Tech’s average preseason projection in the ACC media poll was 3.4. Its average finish in the Coastal was 2.6. The Jackets were overvalued in the poll in just one instance, the 2015 season, when they were picked first and finished last. Of the other eight seasons, Tech finished ahead of its projection seven times and met the projection once.
“I have no idea about the media (projections),” Johnson said Friday in Charlotte, N.C., at the ACC Kickoff.
The projections:
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ACC champion
1. Florida State, 118 votes
2. Clemson, 35
3. Louisville, 7
4. (tie) Virginia Tech, Miami, 3
6. Duke, 1
Atlantic Division
(First-place votes in parentheses)
1. Florida State (121) – 1,108
2. Clemson (37) – 1,007
3. Louisville (9) – 843
4. N.C. State – 658
5. Wake Forest – 415
6. Syracuse – 362
7. Boston College – 283
Coastal Division
(First-place votes in parentheses)
1. Miami (103) – 1,065
2. Virginia Tech (40) – 932
3. Georgia Tech (9) – 708
4. Pitt (7) – 673
5. North Carolina (4) – 606
6. Duke (4) – 473
7. Virginia – 219
ACC player of the year
1. Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville – 113 votes
2. Deondre Francois, QB, Florida State – 23
3. Christian Wilkins, DT, Clemson – 11
4. Harold Landry, DE, Boston College – 8
5. Jaylen Samuels, all-purpose, N.C. State, 7
6. Eric Dungey, QB, Syracuse, 2
7. (tie) Shaquille Quarterman, LB, Miami; Ahmmon Richards, WR, Miami; Daniel Jones, QB, Duke – 1