Clemson is the preseason pick by the media to win the ACC. The Tigers, who went 9-4 in 2007, received 51 of 65 votes to win the ACC Championship Game.

Clemson took home 59 of the 65 votes to win the Atlantic Division. Virginia Tech, with 58 votes, was the runaway pick in the Coastal.

Staff writer J.P. Giglio analyzes the picks:

How it stacked up -- the media's view:

ATLANTIC

1. Clemson (59)

2. Wake Forest (5)

3. Florida State (1)

4. Boston College

5. Maryland

6. N.C. State

COASTAL

1. Virginia Tech (58)

2. North Carolina (4)

3. Miami (1)

4. Georgia Tech (1)

5. Virginia (1)

6. Duke

THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

With the return of running backs James Davis and C.J. Spiller and quarterback Cullen Harper, Clemson figures to open the season ranked in the top 10 nationally and roll to its first ACC title since 1991. That was a given before the media assembled in Greensboro, Ga., to predict it all. That 14 voters don't think the Tigers will win the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 6 in Tampa, Fla., is a head-scratcher.

The real surprise is that more teams got first-place votes to win a division than didn't. Even Virginia, a team that lost stud defensive end Chris Long to the NFL draft and quarterback Jameel Sewell to academics, got a first-place vote.

According to the ACC pollsters, no, Al Groh did not have a vote.

WHAT THE MEDIA MISSED

Hell hath no fury like a sportswriter scorned. Florida State, which has been either picked to win the conference or its division every season since it joined the ACC in 1992, got the same number of first-place votes as Georgia Tech, which has a new coach and new quarterback. FSU does have to play the first three games without seven suspended starters, but every big ACC game is in Tallahassee, including Clemson and Virginia Tech, when the Noles will be at full strength.

IS THAT RIGHT?

With Wake and North Carolina each picked second in its division, this could be a banner football year for the in-state schools. Wake won the ACC two years ago, but you have to go back to 1997 to find the other time an in-state ACC school (UNC) finished as high as second in the league.

Then again, the other half of the Big Four was predicted to hold up the bottom of each division: N.C. State was picked sixth in the Atlantic and Duke was picked sixth in the Coastal.

GETTING RIGHT

Given Florida State's dominance of the league in the 1990s, picking the ACC champion has not exactly been like translating the Rosetta Stone, but the ACC scribes got the champion right in 2007.

Florida State was picked to win the Atlantic in 2007. Virginia Tech was picked to win the Coastal, and the Hokies were tabbed to win it all. And guess what? Tech did win, beating Boston College (not Florida State) in the ACC Championship Game.