#ACC Football Open Microphone from @_EthanMoore @Treadmillhorse @TimThomasTLP @DukeFBCoverage @SamOfSaturday and @AllSportsDACC

Good evening.  College football’s big opening weekend is not that far away.   Today, we present the @AllSportsDACC team’s Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) open  microphone post.  Also joining us our guest writers, including:

• Ethan Moore – Ethan Moore of Louisville Sports Live is here.  You can follow Ethan on Twitter at @_EthanMoore and Louisville Sports Live at @LvilleSprtsLive (and on the Internet at http://louisvillesportslive.net/).  Ethan and and his colleague, Tayler Lynch  (you can follow Tayler on Twitter at @TaylerLynch) have a radio show dedicated to UofL sports on 93.9 FM the Ville (their twitter account is @939TheVille, which is powered by ESPN) every Wednesday night at 6:00 PM EST.
• Tim Thomas (@TimThomasTLP) is the Editor/Founder of The Tech Lunch Pail (@TechLunchPailD) covering Virginia Tech sports, recruiting, and more at techlunchpail.com as well as being a VT football pregame analyst for ESPN Blacksburg. He is also a 2018 grad of Virginia Tech with a degree in civil engineering.
• Dan Caro is the owner of TreadmillHorse.com, a Virginia Tech blog that focuses on Hokies football and men’s basketball.  You can follow Dan on Twitter at @Treadmillhorse.
• Sam Jessee (@SamOfSaturday) is a member of the team over at the Virginia Tech athletics blog, the Sons of Saturday.  He is the Host of the Sons “Lock$ of Saturday”   Virginia Tech alum x2
• Ben Byrd (@DukeFBCoverage) is the owner  and operator of bullcitycoordinators.com – it’s a comprehensive Duke Athletics  website and podcast that covers the good, bad and ugly of Duke football.

Open Microphone (talk anything you want about ACC football here):

• • Matthew: In 2022, everyone is going to be talking about the coaching changes in the Coastal, right?  Brent Pry at Virginia Tech, Maro Cristobal at Miami, and Mike Elko at Duke.  But make sure you watch NC State – yes, I did pick Clemson to win the ACC title (just because the NC State game is at Clemson) – but this might be NC State’s best team ever.  Top to bottom, the ACC Atlantic is really strong – and remember, Divisions will be a thing of the past next year.  If our friend @TreadmillHorse is right on Virginia Tech, Brent Pry might get a few ACC coach of the year votes (Pry has a big house and culture to build).  If @TimThomasTLP is right about Georgia Tech, we could see a midseason firing in Atlanta.

• • Jeff: The ACC doesn’t have to work up the polls this year. They are starting the season with 5 ranked teams in the preseason Coaches Poll. What is the conference going to do with it? It’s an absolute must, the ACC takes advantage of these early high pre-season rankings, and creates strong matchups during the course of the year.  There’s the potential to rival the memorable 2016, especially given quality depth of the conference at QB. Clemson’s defense is every bit as good as the 2018 version, and last year’s Georgia team. Even decent QB play could get them to the playoffs. It’s probably a stretch to say NC State could reach the playoffs, but they have the most legitimate chance of a non-Clemson ACC team to reach the playoffs since mid 2010s Florida State. They are experienced and talented on both sides of the ball. The Wolfpack have a real chance to be very good.  Lastly don’t believe 95% of what you read on twitter regarding realignment and the ACC. Most of it’s nonsense. The revenue gap concern is certainly real, but that is what ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips is getting paid the big bucks to figure out. 

• • Ethan: I expect the ACC to have a bounce back year, with 4-5 teams ranked in the Top 25 throughout the season. A Clemson-Miami ACC title game would make for an epic matchup that should attract eyeballs from all over the country. As far as this league within the Power 5 conferences, I’m still waiting on Commissioner Phillips to actually be proactive and make some deals to strengthen the league.

• • Dan: The ACC is in an existential crisis right now. If they do not fix their TV deal, the league will not exist beyond 2036. By that point, their current members might as well be playing FCS football. Jim Phillips had a chance to set a new vision for the ACC at media day. He failed and instead shared platitudes about how conferences shouldn’t live in gated communities, referencing the SEC and Big Ten. Wake up, Jim! Your league is dying. And it’s your job to fix it.

• • Sam: For the first time in a good while, the ACC has 4-5 times that could put together a nationally relevant season. Clemson, Wake (depending on Hartman’s injury), NC State, Pitt, and Miami all have the stuff to make a splash. On the other hand, teams like Virginia Tech, Florida State, and Louisville are trying to build themselves back to that national prominence and may do so sooner than most think. I wouldn’t be surprised at any outcome this season in the ACC. 

• • Ben: I can’t wait to see the ACC go to the 3-5-5 schedule format. It should help attendance at places like Duke as well as renew ACC rivalries. It will also bring the Conference back to its roots before what looks like the inevitable demise at the hands of the SEC and Big Ten media machine. I hope the ACC gets smart and intelligently expands. This is a great conference and we can’t replace the basketball tradition that would be lost. Finally, thanks to all the folks who go to bullcitycoordinators.com and listen to the Duke Football Coverage podcast. GO DUKE!!!

• • Tim: The whole Atlantic has to be ecstatic that this is the last year of divisions between 3 of the top 4 and 5 of the top 7 ACC teams are all in that division. Louisville may end up being the best 6-6 team in years given the grinder they face this season. The Florida State football program remains surrounded by an inmate-like booster crapshow destroying the culture there with Mike Norvell not being a good enough coach to do much of any good and a weak-willed AD that lets it happen. FSU finishes dead last in the Atlantic and Norvell may get the Willie Taggart treatment especially if Deion Sanders keeps having success at Jackson State (though those boosters need to look in the mirror regardless even if Deion may be better than Norvell). Meanwhile, Miami will be back this year because unlike FSU, they got their heads out of their you know what and hired a competent AD and coach to lead them to the top of the Coastal led by Tyler Van Dyke. DJ figures it out for Clemson and the Tigers win the ACC and return to the Playoff with N.C. State and Miami remain in the playoff conversation throughout the season and if enough chaos happens in the non-SEC leagues, maybe there’s a chance of an 11-1 N.C. State with only a close road loss at Clemson find their way in. BC also finishes in the top 25 in a year that shows the ACC is back thanks in large part to the best group of QBs since at least the last time everyone said the ACC was back.

Stay tuned for the FCS title winner prediction.  We have you covered here at All Sports Discussion.

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