The Miami Hurricanes are the team to beat in the ACC.
After reaching the national title game last season, Miami was picked as the preseason favorite by conference media members, the ACC announced Tuesday.
Miami received 165 first-place votes. Clemson received seven first-place votes, followed by SMU with six, Louisville with four, Florida State with three and Georgia Tech with two. Stanford also received a first-place vote.
The Hurricanes, who have been in the conference since 2004, had previously been named the preseason favorite one time, in 2006. Miami, which went 9-3 the season before, went 7-6 that season. UM was picked as the No. 2 team in the ACC last year; Clemson was voted the favorite.
Despite getting many preseason plaudits, the Hurricanes are not buying into the hype, coach Mario Cristobal said recently.
“That’s never been a part of anything and never will,” Cristobal said on WQAM on July 15.
“This talk about (being) hunted and all that B.S. Do you know what that is? Complete garbage, OK? Our coaches, our organization, are completely committed to getting the absolute best out of our players and focusing on what we do on a daily basis. Not narratives, not storylines, not predictions or none of that stuff. The ‘Canes are ready to roll. So let’s get this thing going.”
Said quarterback Darian Mensah on WQAM on July 15: “I don’t really pay attention to the expectation. We’ve got practice tomorrow, so I’m just trying to be exceptional at practice. I’m not really focused on what other people have to say about this team. I’m really just focused on the team itself.”