8 reasons to look forward to ACC football

There are plenty of reasons to be interested in ACC football with the conference’s annual media kickoff approaching Sunday, July 20.

The ACC has lost eight straight BCS bowl games. No ACC team is considered a serious national championship contender. (Clemson probably has the most talent in the ACC, but has a reputation for agonizing losses under coach Tommy Bowden).

But the ACC always is worth watching, even if it doesn’t make a splash nationally. Here are some reasons to tune in this fall:

1. Jim Grobe. He may be the best coach in the nation and is back at Wake Forest after Arkansas took a serious run at him. With junior QB Riley Skinner and sophomore RB Josh Adams in the backfield, Grobe will get Wake Forest in the ACC title hunt again.

2. Tar Heels rising? North Carolina still has a lot of growing to do entering coach Butch Davis’ second season. But the Tar Heels possess promising skill players (WRs Hakeem Nicks and Brandon Tate, RB Greg Little and QB T.J. Yates) and have a chance to move up in the Coastal Division – which might be the worst division in any BCS conference.

3. C.J. Spiller. Clemson RB and kick returner is one of the most exciting players in college football and is a threat to score every time he touches the ball.

4. New regimes. David Cutcliffe’s 44-29 record at Ole Miss demonstrated that he can win at a program that often struggles, and that’s encouraging for Duke. It will be fascinating to see if Paul Johnson’s option game at Georgia Tech can be as successful in a BCS conference as it was at Navy.

5. QB search. Daniel Evans, Justin Burke, Harrison Beck, Russell Wilson and freshman Mike Glennon all have a chance to earn the N.C. State starting quarterback job entering camp. Here’s a guess that Wilson – a cerebral redshirt freshman with dual-threat skills – winds up as the starter while highly recruited Glennon redshirts.

6. What about Bobby? Bobby Bowden, 78, enters the season with Florida State reeling from an academic scandal. If the Seminoles struggle, don’t be surprised if Bowden retires at the end of the season and turns over the team to designated successor Jimbo Fisher.

7. Miami LBs. Coach Randy Shannon’s first full recruiting class includes the most celebrated group of linebackers in the nation. Watch for early-enrolled spring game standouts Arthur Brown and Sean Spence.

8. Hokie Platoon. Sean Glennon had the more impressive spring after sharing time with Tyrod Taylor at quarterback last season. Can a two-QB system lift Virginia Tech to a second straight ACC title?