The 2023 ACC football preseason poll was released on Tuesday morning and Virginia Tech was picked to finish 11th in the conference in the first year without divisions.
It’s the lowest the Hokies have been picked in the preseason poll since joining the ACC in 2004. The previous low with divisions was fifth, which came in 2022 when they went 3-8 (1-6 ACC).
Clemson received 103 of the 176 first-place votes (59%) to win the conference. The Tigers finished 11-3 (8-0 ACC) in 2022 and beat North Carolina 39-10 in the ACC championship game before falling to Tennessee in the Orange Bowl.
Dabo Swinney & Co. edged out Florida State as the league’s preseason favorite by 36 votes. The Seminoles (67 votes), who posted a 10-3 record (5-3 ACC) last season, host the Hokies on Oct. 7 in Tallahassee. North Carolina received five first-place votes while NC State had one.
In Brent Pry’s second season, Virginia Tech hosts Pitt (picked sixth), Wake Forest (ninth), Syracuse (10th) and NC State (fourth). The Hokies travel to FSU (second), Louisville (eighth), Boston College (13th) and Virginia (14).
For Tech’s full schedule, click here.
2022 ACC Football Preseason Notes
The number of ballots cast by the media in Charlotte at the 2023 ACC Football Kickoff was 176. That’s 12 more than the 164 cast in 2022.
At the start of last season, the media picked Clemson to win the ACC with 103 votes while NC State (38), Miami (8), Wake Forest (4), Pitt (3), Virginia (3), Florida State (2), North Carolina (2) and Boston College (1) all received votes.
While the media correctly picked Clemson’s Atlantic Division title in 2022, the contingent missed on Miami winning the Coastal Division. Instead, it was North Carolina, who was picked third in the preseason, that beat out Pitt and Duke for the spot in the ACC championship game.
For all preseason media predictions dating back to 2005, click here.
ACC Football Preseason Coastal Division Predictions and Eventual Champions
| Year | Preseason Pick | Champion (Preseason Pick) |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | VT | VT (1st) |
| 2006 | Miami | Georgia Tech (3rd) |
| 2007 | VT | VT (1st) |
| 2008 | VT | VT (1st) |
| 2009 | VT | Georgia Tech (2nd) |
| 2010 | VT | VT (1st) |
| 2011 | VT | VT (1st) |
| 2012 | VT | Georgia Tech (2nd) |
| 2013 | Miami | Duke (7th) |
| 2014 | Miami | Georgia Tech (5th) |
| 2015 | Georgia Tech | North Carolina (5th) |
| 2016 | North Carolina | VT (4th) |
| 2017 | Miami | Miami (1st) |
| 2018 | Miami | Pittsburgh (5th) |
| 2019 | Virginia | Virginia (1st) |
| 2021 | North Carolina | Pitt (4th) |
| 2022 | Miami | North Carolina (3rd) |
| 2023 | Clemson | TBD |
Clemson is the preseason pick to win the ACC in the first season without divisions. For the full press release from the ACC, click here.
Editor’s note: On Wednesday, Aug. 2, the ACC released its 2023 preseason team.
2023 All-ACC Preseason Team
For the second straight season, no Virginia Tech players were selected to the All-ACC Preseason Team. The Hokies were one of three schools to not be represented, joining Georgia Tech and Wake Forest.
The complete team, with total votes in parentheses:
QB: Drake Maye, North Carolina (107)
RB: Will Shipley, Clemson (169)
RB: Trey Benson, Florida State (125)
WR: Johnny Wilson, Florida State (117)
WR: Tez Walker, North Carolina (51)
WR: Jalon Calhoun, Duke (49)
TE: Oronde Gadsden II, Syracuse (89)
AP: Will Shipley, Clemson (105)
OT: Graham Barton, Duke (110)
OT: Matt Goncalves, Pitt (58)
OG: Christian Mahogany, Boston College (101)
OG: Javion Cohen, Miami (69)
C: Bryan Hudson, Louisville (56)
DE: Jared Verse, Florida State (136)
DE: Donovan Ezeiruaku, Boston College (58)
DT: Tyler Davis, Clemson (124)
DT: DeWayne Carter, Duke (97)
LB: Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Clemson (132)
LB: Cedric Gray, North Carolina (109)
LB: Barrett Carter, Clemson (87)
CB: Fentrell Cypress II, Florida State (88)
CB: Aydan White, NC State (85)
S: Kam Kinchens, Miami (117)
S: Andrew Mukuba, Clemson (46)
PK: Andres Borregales, Miami (70)
P: Daniel Sparks, Virginia (54)
SP: Will Shipley, Clemson (68)
2023 ACC Preseason Player of the Year
A redshirt sophomore quarterback from Huntersville, N.C., North Carolina’s Drake Maye was named ACC Preseason Player of the Year. The 2022 conference player of the year compiled over 5,000 yards of total offense last season, including 4,300 through the air. He had 38 passing touchdowns to just seven interceptions while completing 66 percent of his passes — 342-of-517 — and rushing for seven scores.
Maye beat out Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis and Clemson running back Will Shipley for the award. They received 66 and 17 votes, respectively. In all, six players received votes for preseason player of the year.
1. Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina (88 votes)
2. Jordan Travis, QB, Florida State (66)
3. Will Shipley, RB, Clemson (17)
4. Jeremiah Trotter Jr., LB, Clemson (3)
T5. Riley Leonard, QB, Duke (1)
T5. Tyler Davis, DT, Clemson (1)
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I guess the ACC voters feel that the VT offense can’t be as bad as it was last year or else the Hokies would have finished lower – it had better be much better if VT is going to get to a bowl game this year.
Miami has been back a lot from that list. It never fails to amuse me.
Of the 17 seasons, it is clear that Miami is the only team that fails to meet any reasonable expectation of hype:
VT voted 7 times, finished 6 times.
UM voted 6 times, finished 1 time.
UNC voted 2 times, finished 2 times.
GT voted 1 times, finished 4 times.
UVA voted 1 times, finished 1 time.
Pitt voted 0 times, finished 1 time.
Duke voted 0 times, finished 1 time.
I haven’t looked at the schedules of other teams predicted to finish in the bottom half, but based on schedule alone, VT should be able to outperform the 11th prediction. They get everyone in the bottom half of the conference, with the exception of GT, and only play 3 of the top 7.
I really think Louisville is being hugely overrated. As much as we are being underrated possibly. I think we are better than Pitt, SU, WF, and possibly Duke. (unless we flop again and none of our players progress)
I will believe we are better than Pitt after we beat Pitt!
Even when we’re better than Pitt, we aren’t better than Pitt.
No matter what O&M glasses you are wearing, there is no sane reason to put us ahead of Pitt, Duke or Wake. As of now, with the information of games played and results, talent may be somewhat close..but we are demolished in coaching by all 3 of those teams. Pry has got to show me, and any sane person, otherwise to think he is even in the same ballpark with those guys that have outperformed their talent by miles
I’ll never accept the fact that we could not be better than Duke or Wake Forest. Ever.
Duke Football significantly better than VT Football. Oh the humanity.
We jump Syr, Duke and Wake. Finish 8th.
NC State won’t finish fourth imho…. Others look reasonable and I think we finish ahead of the Cuse and even WF
They get UNC, Clemson and Miami at home. I expect Armstrong to go off with Anae working with him again. Will be interesting to see how that one works out.
David, check those #s in the second to last para, they ain’t right.
From ACC website:
1. Clemson (103), 2370
2. Florida State (67), 2304
3. North Carolina (5), 1981
4. NC State (1), 1662
You mean the numbers from last season?