Florida State Picked To Finish First In ACC, Open Season With SEC Favorite Alabama In Atlanta

ACC Football Kickoff held in Charlotte

ABOVE VIDEO: Nole Insiders – ACC Kickoff Takeaways. (Florida State Seminoles video)

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA (Seminoles) – Florida State shares a division with both the defending national champion (Clemson) and the home of last year’s Heisman Trophy winner (Louisville, Lamar Jackson), but the Seminoles are still the favorite to top the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The media gathered at last week’s ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte overwhelmingly picked the Seminoles to win the ACC championship, the league announced Monday morning.

Florida State received 118 of a possible 167 votes to win the ACC, as well as 121 first-place votes in the Atlantic Division.

If the media is correct, the Seminoles will meet rival Miami at the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte on Dec. 2. The Hurricanes garnered 103 first-place votes in the Coastal Division. FSU and Miami will meet in the regular season on Sept. 16, but the two have yet to meet in the conference title game since the league moved to a two-division format in 2005.

Two meetings between the Seminoles and Hurricanes could potentially bring historical significance: Miami leads the all-time series with FSU, 31-30, meaning that the Seminoles could take the lead for the first time ever with two victories.

The Seminoles, who are coming off a 10-3 season and victory over Michigan in the 2016 Orange Bowl, are also considered among the favorites for the College Football Playoff. Their 15 ACC titles since 1992 are second only to Clemson’s 16, although they’re looking for their first league crown since 2014.

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The Tigers, picked to finish second in the Atlantic, are chasing their third consecutive ACC title. FSU won three straight from 2012-14.

“Right now, Clemson is at the top,” FSU safety Derwin James said last week. “We’re chasing them. We’re trying to get back to the top.”

FSU quarterback Deondre Francois finished second in preseason Player of the Year voting, behind only Louisville’s Jackson.

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