There's something eerily familiar about the ACC media's preseason football poll, relative to last season's final standings.
At the top, Clemson (2017 Atlantic champion) and Miami (Coastal champ) remain the decisive favorites to meet again in the conference title game (Dec. 1 in Charlotte); and in the Coastal, the top three programs from last year are repeating the pattern this summer, with Miami, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech occupying the 1-2-3 slots.
Miami, which ascended to No. 2 overall in last year's early College Football Playoff rankings before incurring three straight defeats (Pittsburgh, Clemson, Wisconsin), collected 122 first-place votes and 998 overall.
Virginia Tech (9-4 last season) secured double the amount of first-place votes (16) as Georgia Tech (eight), but neither program came close to matching the Hurricanes' mark of 900-plus votes.
Despite the easy media roll toward Miami, four other teams received at least one first-place vote: Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Duke and North Carolina.
There was more certainty with the media's Atlantic selections.
Clemson seized 145 of the 148 first-place votes within the division, thus allowing for Florida State (one first-place vote; 789 total) and North Carolina State (two first-place votes; 712 total) to fight for the remaining table scraps.
Here's a list of the ACC's 10 biggest games for 2018:
1. Clemson @ Florida State (Oct. 27)
2. Florida State @ Miami (Oct. 6)
3. Viriginia Tech @ Florida State (Sept. 3)
4. Clemson @ Texas A&M (Sept. 8)
5. Florida State @ Notre Dame (Nov. 10)
6. Miami vs. LSU in Houston (Sept. 1)
7. Miami @ Virginia Tech (Nov. 17)
8. Clemson @ Georgia Tech (Sept. 22)
9. NC State @ Clemson (Oct. 20)
10. Florida State @ NC State (Nov. 3)
ACC FINAL PRESEASON VOTING
ATLANTIC
1. Clemson
2. Florida State
3. North Carolina State
4. Boston College
5. Louisville
6. Wake Forest
7. Syracuse
COASTAL
1. Miami
2. Virginia Tech
3. Georgia Tech
4. Duke
5. Pittsburgh
6. Wake Forest
7. Virginia
