ACC Preseason Media Poll: Maryland Isn't Last

by Ben Broman on Jul 27, 2009 3:43 PM EDT in Football Comment 8 comments

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The big man's making sure the Terps won't land in the cellar next year. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

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Nope, we aren't last place bad! (Via Dinich)

ATLANTIC DIVISION

Florida State (56)
Clemson (14)
NC State (10)
Wake Forest (7)
Maryland
Boston College

COASTAL DIVISION

Virginia Tech (78)
Georgia Tech (9)
North Carolina
Miami
Virginia
Duke

Not great, but it could be a lot worse. We could be Duke.

I'm pretty confident Maryland is better than Virginia and the Dookies, so this means the Terps would be ninth overall, which would be pushing it for a bowl bid. Luckily for us, the ACC just inked a deal with the GMAC bowl, so they could choose Maryland if they're eligible.

There's a lot of parity in the ACC, as always - 2 through 5 in the Atlantic could be flipped in basically any order without issue, and some people would even include Boston College in that group. Of course, this means preseason polls are, as always, pretty much worthless. Still, after the amount of media hate Maryland had been getting, this is good to see.

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What a sham...

Clemson hasn’t done anything right since 1991 it seems like, and yet they get an automatic bid to the top of the polls year in and year out. Last year they hired a total no-name as their head coach to keep things cheap.

I think NC State is going to run the table on the Atlantic or at least come close.

by JC1 on Jul 27, 2009 5:37 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Who are the voters?

by wmterp on Jul 27, 2009 6:03 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Lots of 'em

Various media members from ACC areas – for instance, a writer for a Durham newspaper, a writer for a Boston newspaper, Baltimore newspaper, etc. I’m sure it extends to new media, as well as radio and TV guys.

Gary and Ralph always point out that more votes come from North Carolina, so NC teams always get a boost in these things.

by Ben Broman on Jul 27, 2009 6:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Apparently 78 like a Virginia team and 56 like a Florida team.

This poll shows a total lack of respect for Maryland. Ralph should use it and not dismiss it.

by wmterp on Jul 27, 2009 6:17 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If he uses it to the players and dismisses to the media, good

I don’t want Ralph to play to the media with this, he probably doesn’t want to either. Use this with the players, play it down to the media. Otherwise, IMO, it loses its effectiveness.

by Ben Broman on Jul 27, 2009 6:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

by wmterp on Jul 27, 2009 7:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It’s good material for the locker room bulletin board. Being the underdog is always better than being overrated. Check out this recent news story on Shaun Hill. Apparently some of the 2001 team did not take the ’you’re all worthless’-type of motivation too well, but it worked.

by JC1 on Jul 27, 2009 7:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association...

…is the group that, at least does the basketball pre-season polls. I know for Basketball, when I cover the games for DC Sports Box, Gary always complains that no one from the State of Maryland is a member of the ACSMA. You have to be invited to be a member, so naturally without the home team vote, the Terps will probably always be not as hi as if they had a little homer bias. I’m not sure if football is the same way in terms of the ACSMA membership and if they’re the ones who decide the pre-season polls. Eitherway, its just another case of North Carolina bias, as is almost always the case in the ACC.

by Dave Tucker on Jul 27, 2009 10:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs