Pitt was picked to come in eighth place in the ACC preseason media poll released on Friday, while Clemson is once again the conference’s favorite.
The Panthers were picked to finish seventh overall and fourth in the Coastal Division in 2019 and ended up tied for fifth overall and third in the division. The ACC has done away with its divisional format for 2020.
Clemson received 132 of 134 first-place votes and received 2008 vote points. Notre Dame, competing as a full-time member of the ACC for the first time, received the other two first-place votes and had 1,824 vote points. Clemson is No. 1 and Notre Dame is No. 10 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25.
Following the top two is North Carolina, with 1,682 points. The Tar Heels are No. 18 according to the AP, the final ranked team in the conference.
Virginia Tech (1,318), Miami (1,280) and Florida State (1,177) all finished ahead of Pitt (1,132) in the voting.
The Panthers, Hurricanes and Seminoles were among the six teams that tied for fifth place in the conference in 2019 with a 4-4 league record. Clemson (8-0), Virginia (6-2), Virginia Tech and Louisville (5-3) were the only ACC teams to finish with an over .500 league record last season.
The Cavaliers follow the Panthers with 994 vote points this preseason, with Wake Forest, NC State, Duke, Boston College, Syracuse and Georgia Tech rounding out the conference’s 15 teams.
