The Miami Hurricanes were picked to finish third in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s preseason media poll and second in the conference’s Coastal Division.
Clemson was chosen to win the conference by a significant margin, with the Tigers receiving 125 out of the 147 first-place votes.
North Carolina was picked second, receiving 16 first-place votes.
Miami was third with three votes, followed by Virginia, Georgia Tech and NC State, with the latter three schools all receiving one vote.
Clemson beat Notre Dame, which played football in the ACC in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the ACC Championship Game last year to win the conference for the sixth consecutive season.
The Tar Heels were also picked to finish the season at the top of the Coastal Division, receiving 109 first-place votes (979 points) compared to the Hurricanes’ 28 first-place points (881 points).
Virginia Tech (582 points with three first-place points), Pittsburgh (576 points with one first-place vote), Virginia (540 points with two first-place votes), Georgia Tech (340 points with four first-place votes) and Duke (218 points) rounded out the vote for the division’s expected finish.
UM has won the Coastal Division once since joining the ACC in 2004, when the Hurricanes finished the 2017 season with a 10-3 record.
With both teams expected to finish the season at the top of the division, Miami’s matchup against North Carolina on Oct. 16 in Chapel Hill, N.C., will likely play a significant factor in who is named the Coastal champion and represent the division in the ACC title game against the Atlantic Division champion on Dec. 4 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
UM is coming off an 8-3 (7-2 ACC) season in which it played one non-conference game before having 10 ACC games scheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Hurricanes started the 2020 season 8-1, with the lone loss coming against Clemson on Oct. 10, before falling to North Carolina on Dec. 5 and dropping their Cheez-It Bowl matchup to Oklahoma State on Dec. 29.
Miami is set to open its 2021 season against the defending national champions, Alabama, at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 4 in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with the game being televised on ABC.
