College Football: ACC Preview Coastal Division

My last article depicted the winner’s of the ACC’s Atlantic Division. Today I will tackle the Coastal division. Predicting the coastal is about as clear as mud for four schools either have first year coaches or second year coaches.

Coastal Division: (In order of finish)

Georgia Tech: Coming off an Orange Bowl victory in 2014 against Mississippi State in 2014; Paul Johnson’s Yellow Jacket’s were supposed to contend for not only the Coastal division crown but challenge Florida State and Clemson for the ACC championship in 2015, however everything went wrong for Georgia Tech and the Yellow Jackets finishing 3-9. Injuries within the back-field caused a different set of backs to play seemingly week to week. In an offense like the option chemistry is key. Knowing where the pitch man is and trusting that he has maintained the proper pitch relationship comes with reps in practice. All the injuries in 2015 created depth for 2016 has five players return that ran the ball more then thirty times (thirty carries does not seem like a lot but with option football a tail-back or slot back in this case is going to be your third option and only if the play is called in your direction). Look for Georgia Tech to rebound and Justin Thomas lead the Jackets to the ACC Title game.

North Carolina: The Tar heels boast the best offense within the Coastal, so why are they not predicted to win the division? Simple really Georgia Tech returns their starting quarterback (third year in the same offensive system) and North Carolina does not. The offense does return a 1400 yard rusher (Elijah Hood) and two receivers with over 700 yards receiving (Ryan Switzer and Mack Hollins), and 4/5th of the starting offensive linemen return. If quarterback Mitch Trubisky can take charge of the offense then North Carolina should fine on offense. Defensively, however the Tar Heels need work, last season they finished 96th in total defense and 122nd against the run (Baylor basically ran the single wing in the Russell Athletic Bowl and won.). Late October will define the Tar Heels season with Virginia Tech coming to town, traveling to Miami and Virginia, then back home to face Georgia Tech.

Pittsburg: This is how jumbled the Coastal is. Pitt could finish first and play in the ACC title game or finish 3rd. As you might expect with a team in Pennsylvania; Pitt is going to rely on the running game this season after finishing 44th in rushing last season and with 4/5 of offensive line coming back and the return of James Conner (1700 yards rushing two seasons ago) the Panthers should have the best ground game outside of Death Valley. By Pitt can protect its thin defense up front. Last season’s sack leader Ejaun Price (11.5 sacks) returns to a other unproven unit (losing 3/4 defensive lineman and 2/3 of your linebacking crew. The entire secondary returns to improve upon Pat Narduzzi no fly zone defense that was developed as defensive coordinator at Michigan State. The schedule sets up nicely with home games againist Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Duke and Syracuse.

Miami: The Hurricanes hit a home run in hiring Mark Rictch after he was let go from Georgia. Rictch has a prven history as a recruiter and winner. South Florida compares to Georgia in terms of recruiting (may even be better) and the ACC is much easier to win in then the SEC. With all five offensive linemen returning and quarterback Brad Kayaya the Canes passing attack should be solid, on the other hand Miami has to find a running game to complement Kayaya. While at Georgia Richt always produced good running games with NFL caliper backs, so in time the running game should be able to help out the passing game. For Miami’s defense it is good news and bad news. Good news the majority of the front seven returns, bad news that unit was pretty bad at stopping the run (103rd in the country in rushing defense). In one of the under the radar moves Richt hired Mississouri’s defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski who coached quite a few All-Americans and several all Confrence players along the defensive line. Miami only leaves the south once during 2016 (at Notre Dame on October 29th) so that should help, but otherwise Miami should wait a year or two before challenging for the Coastal division.

Duke: Before David Cutcliffe’s arrival at Duke in 2008 the Blue Devils were a laughing stock of college football. From 1995-2008 Duke won four games twice, and went winless four times. This all changed when David Cutcliffe took the head coaching job. The first five years under Cutcliffe were below .500 but the Blue Devils were competitive. Since 2013 Duke has won 10, 9, 8 games which is outstanding considering the school. Duke is now a competitive football team in the ACC (I never thought I would type that sentence) Offensively Duke should be fine. Returning quarterback Thomas Sirk threw for over 2600 yards last season and ran for over 800. Defensively Duke must replace four starters from a front seven that finished 60th overall in total defense. The strength of the defense is going to be the secondary, in Jim Knowles 4-2-5 defense four out of five defensive backs return. Expect Duke to be competitive in every game with the exception of Norte Dame in South Bend; not playing Clemson or Florida State helps.

Virginia Tech: Replacing a coaching legend is very very difficult, however when the legend sits on his on legacy and lets the program slip a few years it makes the job much easier. When Charlie Strong replaced Mack Brown at Texas he was given a grace period to rebuild the program; Jimbo Fisher had to rebuild Florida State after Bobby Bowden let the program dip. Virginia Tech is in the same boat. Virginia Tech never won a National Title under Frank Beamer, but the program was raised to new heights (In twelve seasons since joining the ACC Beamer won ten plus games in eight seasons). Justin Fuentes inherits an experienced offense that returns senior quarterback Brenden Motley (Sophomore Dwayne Lawson may push Motley for the starting gig) leading rusher Travon McMillian, top three receiving targets and 4/5ths of the offensive line. With the offense learning Fuente offense this season look for this core to be on of the ACC best next season. Defensively it is the same solid defense we have come to expect from a Bud Foster defense throughout the years. Last season the Hokies finished 44th in total defense with injuries in the secondary. Injuries caused younger players to play last season. Those underclassmen become upperclassmen with experience. Virginia Tech should able to compete again for the ACC title game with the hire of Justin Fuente.

Virginia: Being from Richmond, Virginia (hour away from Scott Stadium) and being a Virginia fan my whole life it pains me to write this sentence: Virginia Football is awful. Even under Al Groh who had a up and down coaching career at Virginia (five games above .500 in nine seasons) was able to produce NFL talent at Virginia. Mike London did not. London finished 27-46 at Virginia in six seasons. The mark of where your program is headed is to look at FBS schools; FBS schools like Richmond, William and Mary, and James Madison are all ranked in the top 25. This should all change in 2016, Bronco Mendenhall was hired away from BYU. Outside of the service academies BYU is one of the more challenging jobs in college football. Between the academics, mandatory missions and being a Mormon the requirements to even get into the school are tough. Then trying to find football players that fit that mold narrows it down even more. What Mendenhall did get in terms of recruiting were mature athletes that were often married (marriage has a tendency to mature you as a man), and older (due to required Missionary duties) football players. Virginia is one of the more underrated recruiting venues in college football. If Mendenhall can reach out to the potential talent within the state and transition to a spread offense and 3-4 defense Virginia can once again be competitive in the ACC.

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