With football practice waiting just around the corner, fans from across the ACC are gearing up for the 2007 season. Who should be the most excited? What will life be like after Calvin Johnson for the Yellow Jackets? Can the Demon Deacons repeat? What should the Hoos expect? Where will the Hokies finish? Sabre intern Nick Ward takes a crack at predicting the 2007 race in the ACC.

Atlantic Division 1. Boston College 2. Clemson 3. Wake Forest 4. Florida State 5. Maryland 6. N.C. State

Atlantic Division

1. Boston College comes into this season looking extremely strong. With Tom O’Brien leaving, it looks as if the Eagles will be moving to a more spread out set on offense. This could be very dangerous because their offense still has 7 returning starters, one being a very solid quarterback in Matt Ryan. Ryan is 14-4 as a starter, threw for 15 touchdowns and 2,942 yards last season, and had a very impressive QB rating of 126.38. Ryan did all of this last season playing through injuries, and he has one of his top targets coming back in Kevin Challenger.

BC also returns the majority of its defense, which adds to the overall experience of the team. Injuries could be a problem for the Eagles, however. Ryan is coming off of a broken foot suffered against VT last year and linebacker/fullback Brian Toal is coming off of shoulder surgery, an injury that has left his season in the clouds. With all of this said, a healthy quarterback, a strong and physical running game, and a new offense should allow the Eagles to soar through the Atlantic.

2. Clemson did lose star players Gaines Adams and Chansi Stuckey, but the Tigers kept their most important asset: speed. They have arguably the top overall three playmakers in the conference on their team: James Davis , C.J. Spiller, and Jacoby Ford. Davis and Spiller make up the best backfield in the conference and I do not believe that anyone in the ACC can run down Ford in the open field.

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