Click here for part 1 (Md, Clemson, GT)
Click here for part 2 (NC State, BC, UVa)

Part three of our look at the Keys to the ACC Championship in 2005 covers the top three title contenders in Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech. The general consensus is that Florida State will win the Atlantic Division, while Virginia Tech and Miami will battle it out for the Coastal Division. Although it’s possible that some underrated team will come out of nowhere, such as Virginia Tech did last year, it’s very unlikely to happen two years in a row.

With the trouble the Seminoles have run into in the offseason, I wondered for a split second if I shouldn’t have included them in the second article of this series and concentrated on VT and Miami as the heavyweight contenders. Then I remembered that FSU plays in the weakest ACC division, and Bobby Bowden has owned Frank Beamer in the past.

But the Noles do have their backs against the wall. Starting quarterback Wyatt Sexton is out for the year with Lyme disease, leaving two r-freshmen (Xavier Lee and Drew Weatherford) to battle it out for the starting spot. All-American cornerback Antonio Cromartie recently tore his ACL and will miss the season, leaving young and inexperienced backups behind him. Not to mention starting defensive tackle Clifton Dickson, who was declared academically ineligible.

Outstanding linebackers A.J. Nicholson and Ernie Sims have been in some trouble with the law, but Bowden said during ACC Kickoff that both will play, and he will handle the discipline off the field. So I’m going to pick FSU’s linebacker corps as the strength of their team. Sims and Nicholson, along with fellow starter Buster Davis, are outstanding. They will anchor a defense that, despite injuries and other issues, should still be good.

Until one of Bobby Bowden’s youngsters proves himself on the field, quarterback has to be the weak spot for Florida State this year. Honestly, I probably would have listed this as the weak spot even if Wyatt Sexton were coming back. Sexton struggled last season, playing well in only the UVa game. The fact that he was able to take the job from Chris Rix says a lot about the latter’s decision making ability.

And if neither Lee nor Weatherford was mentioned as having a chance to unseat Sexton, that shows me that neither has made the progress needed to be a starting quarterback in the ACC. Maybe one of them will prove me wrong, but until then I remain unconvinced.

The young FSU quarterback, whether it be Lee or Weatherford (probably Lee), will need a very dependable playmaker on the outside. Two of FSU’s top three leading returning receivers are tailbacks. Chris Davis is the leading returning wideout with 14 catches in 2004. The Noles badly need a wide receiver to step up this year that their young quarterback can depend on.

If the Canes didn’t have to travel to Florida State and Virginia Tech, they would probably be the general consensus to win the ACC. They bring back some outstanding talent, some proven and some ready to step up and make their mark on Miami football. Larry Coker swears his team is hungry after a disappointing third place finish in the ACC last year. We’ll see.

Strength

It’s tough to pick just one, but I’ll have to go with the entire defense. Miami returns an amazing ten starters on the defensive side of the ball, and the one man who isn’t a returning starter is Devin Hester, a sub-4.3 speedster who is the nation’s premier return man. The defensive line is smallish, averaging only 268.75 pounds, but they are quick. The secondary is also small, with no starter going over 188 (say hello to Cedric Humes, guys), but they are probably the fastest group of defensive backs in the nation. Miami’s defense could be the premier defense in the ACC next year.

It feels a little silly even putting this category into the equation for Miami. They have talent everywhere. That said, it doesn’t appear they have a Willis McGahee or a Clinton Portis in the offensive backfield this season. The Hokies wanted current Miami starter Tyrone Moss very badly when he was being recruited, but thus far he hasn’t resembled Miami stars of the past. He’s good without a doubt, but not great at this point.

The obvious key to the 2005 season for Miami will be quarterback play. They are replacing two-year starter Brock Berlin, who couldn’t quite fill the shoes of Ken Dorsey. Kyle Wright was rated as the #1 quarterback in the country in the class of 2003. He has tremendous talent, and if he plays well Miami could contend for the National Championship again. However, if he plays like a first year starter, the Canes will drop at least a game or two.

After a surprising 2004 season that saw VT win the ACC after being picked sixth in the preseason, the Hokies return a huge amount of talent in 2005 and are looking to repeat. The Hokies were picked by the ACC media to win the Coastal Division.

The bad news for Tech is that they lost ACC Player of the Year Bryan Randall to the Atlanta Falcons. The good news for Tech is that they replace him with someone with infinite potential. Marcus Vick is the fastest player on the team (4.28 forty yard dash) and has a great arm with tremendous touch. He had an outstanding spring and looks like he is ready to assume the starting role with the Hokies not missing a beat. He will have eight returning starters around him in what should be a pretty explosive offense.

The Tech defense returns six starters, and while they must replace some very good players in Eric Green, Vincent Fuller and Jim Davis, they have a lot of young talent returning that performed at a very high level in 2004.

I really, really want to say Marcus Vick for this category, and I think we’ll be able to say that at the end of the season. But he hasn’t played in a game since 2003, so I’ll have to choose something else for now. The VT defensive front seven could easily be the best in the ACC this year. They return five starters…six, if you count Xavier Adibi. There is a good mix of youth to go along with veteran players, they have three proven defensive ends capable of getting a good pass rush, and two linebackers (Vince Hall and Adibi) whose different styles of play and abilities compliment each other very well. Defensive tackle Jonathan Lewis’ ability to play in the opposing backfield is also huge.

Replacing the quarterback of the defense, Vincent Fuller, will be no easy task. Therefore, free safety is the weak spot of the Tech team right now. At this point, Lorenzo Ward has true sophomore D.J. Parker, who played sparingly at cornerback as a freshman, converted tailback/wideout Justin Hamilton, r-freshman Kent Hicks, and true freshman Cam Martin. True freshman Victor “Macho” Harris could also see time here.

Parker has the inside track on the position, but he is undersized. Hamilton has prototypical safety size, but lacks experience on the defensive side of the ball. He also missed a lot of spring practice with an ankle injury. Hicks has struggled to pick up the position, and his future is probably at whip. Cam Martin is the safety of the future, and it wouldn’t be very surprising to see him playing quite a bit before the season is over. There are a lot of question marks at this position heading into the season.