A Closer Look at the Coaches Poll - ACC votes

Source: USA Today

By all accounts a down year for the ACC -- with no team ranked higher than 15th (Georgia Tech). Champion Virginia Tech was the only other team ranked, finishing 19th in the final Coaches' Poll. It appears that the ACC coaches felt that Boston College also deserved some credit -- 25 percent of BC's overall votes came from the ACC voters.

Coaches voting from the ACC: Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech; Tommy Bowden, Clemson (fired midseason); Bobby Bowden, FSU; Butch Davis, North Carolina; Jim Grobe, Wake Forest; Tom O'Brien, NC State.

First-place votes: Oklahoma 4, Florida 2
Oklahoma vs. Texas: Only Beamer ranked Texas over Oklahoma.
Outliers: Beamer had his Hokies 23rd in the nation, none of his league colleagues had the Hokies that low (TBowden had them 13th). ... Tommy Bowden has Georgia Tech 10th on his ballot - the next highest ranking of the Ramblin' Wreck by an ACC coach was 13th. ... Bobby Bowden must've been impressed by Michigan State (13th) and Ole Miss (19th) -- in both cases that's five spots higher than the national rankings.

Top 25 according to the ACC voters
(green = higher than national ranking; red = lower than national ranking)
1. Oklahoma, 147
2. Florida, 146
3. Texas, 138
4. Alabama, 132
5. USC, 125
6. Penn State, 119
7. Texas Tech, 115
8. Utah, 109
9. Boise State, 102
10. Ohio State, 96
11. TCU, 88
12. Cincinnati, 80
13. Georgia Tech, 74
14. Oregon, 72
15. Oklahoma State, 66
16. BYU, 57
17. Georgia, 51
18. Michigan State, 49
19. Virginia Tech, 43
20. Pitt, 33
21. Boston College, 24 (not ranked in Coaches' Top 25)
22. Northwestern, 23
23. Mississippi, 22
24. Missouri, 15
25. Ball State, 10

Other votes: Oregon State 9, Florida State 5, Iowa 3, North Carolina 3, East Carolina 3