Normally around this time of year, I begin taking a look at each of the 14 ACC football teams and doing previews on them, finishing up with Virginia a couple days before its first game. But I am going to do something different this year and instead focus only on UVa's opponents.
I am making this change for a couple of related reasons. One is I think that this will be more relevant for 'Hoos fans to only focus on schools the Cavaliers are playing. With the SEC soon taking on Texas and Oklahoma and growing to 16 teams, the idea of conferences is becoming even more far-fetched. Even as the ACC is constituted right now, Virginia fans only see the 'Hoos play Atlantic Division teams other than Louisville once every six seasons. This arrangement doesn't breed familiarity or maybe as much desire to follow and learn about every ACC school. So doing it this way, there will still be a taste of other ACC schools given -- it just so happens to be that taste involves the actual teams the Cavaliers will square off against, which includes every Coastal Division squad like always plus Louisville (and also Wake Forest this year). Besides, the Atlantic Division is basically just Clemson and a bunch of other teams fighting for a distant second, right?
And the second reason is because I am leaning heavily toward not doing prediction posts each week during the season for the ACC and big national games. That's right, after 11 years, I am most likely shelving the picks, which is one of the first features that led me to begin blogging. It's just become too much work and too much to do on a Friday night or Saturday morning. I don't think I am doing justice to some of the games. So not looking at every ACC game means it makes sense to not preview every conference team before the season. That said, I still plan on previewing each UVa game, and so maybe I will be able to put a little more effort into that without the other games distracting me.
So thanks for joining me on this journey, and my next post will be taking a look at William & Mary, Virginia's first opponent this season!
Photo credit: WVIR
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