SHOCKER, RIGHT?
Defending Atlantic Coast Conference football champion (and national runner-up) Clemson University is the runaway favorite to take home another conference crown in 2016.
Head coach Dabo Swinney‘s team was picked to win the ACC title on 144 of 191 media ballots at last week’s 2016 ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte.
No other team came close … with Florida State University finishing a distant second with thirty-nine votes.
Meanwhile Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson – a 2015 Heisman Trophy finalist – was picked to repeat as the ACC’s player of the year on 164 of 191 ballots. Watson was also the media’s player of the year pick heading into the 2015 campaign.
A 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior from Gainesville, Georgia, Watson threw for 4,104 yards and 35 touchdowns last season. He also ran for 1,105 yards and 12 additional scores – becoming the first player in NCAA Division I-A history to throw for 4,000 yards and run for 1,000 yards in a single season.
For his exploits, Watson won both the Davey O’Brien Award and the Manning Award as the nation’s top quarterback. He enters the 2016 season as the frontrunner to win the Heisman Trophy.
Clemson opens its 2016 season on the road September 3 against Auburn. Kickoff for that game – which will be televised nationally by ESPN – is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. EDT.