For the third year in a row, Clemson is favored to win the Atlantic Coast Conference. The media who cover the conference picked the Tigers to win the league on Friday.

The top-ranked Tigers are predicted to finish first in the ACC by 132 of the media panel’s 134 voters and are also picked to win the ACC Football Championship Game. In addition, Clemson junior quarterback Trevor Lawrence was selected as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, and the Tigers led all schools with five players voted to the 27-member 2020 Preseason All-ACC Team.

This marks just the second time since the media started predicting the ACC Champion in 1976 that the Tigers are listed as the preseason favorite for a third straight year. Clemson was predicted to win the conference every year from 1987-’89, as well.

Florida State owns the all-time mark in consecutive years of being picked to win the ACC. The Seminoles were predicted to win the league title every year from 1992-2005

Clemson was also picked as the favorite in 1978, 1991, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The Tigers have gone on to win the ACC eight times the previous 11 times they were picked, including each of the last two seasons. In fact, Clemson has gone on to win the conference title the last four times it was picked by the media.

Clemson’s 8-3 (.727) record in conference predictions, ranks second to Florida State, who is 13-4-2 when favored to win the league. The Tigers’ 12 overall selections also rank second to FSU’s 19.

Since the ACC was formed in 1953, Clemson has won 19 ACC Championships, more than any other school in the conference. In addition to its 19 ACC titles, Clemson won the Southern Conference title in 1940 and 1948 along with winning the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1900, 1902, 1903 and 1906, giving the program 25 conference crowns, more than any other school in the ACC.

This is the first year since 2004, the ACC will not crown division champions and will instead take the two teams with the best conference record to play in this year’s ACC Championship Game. Clemson has won or been co-champions of the ACC Atlantic Division eight of the last 11 years (2009,11,12,15,16,17,18,19).

Clemson won the 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 ACC Championships under Dabo Swinney. Clemson is 38-2 in ACC regular season play in the last five seasons while becoming the first team in ACC history to win five consecutive outright conference titles.

Florida State was a champion or co-champion nine years in a row from 1992-00, but never won more than three outright in a row. Clemson’s success in the conference championship game era is unprecedented, as in 2019, Clemson became the first school since the formation of conference championship games in 1992 to win five consecutive conference title games.

The Tigers head into the 2020 season with a 19-game winning streak in conference play and 22 straight wins over ACC foes overall. Clemson also beat Miami, Pittsburgh and Virginia in the ACC Championship Game during the 22-game conference winning streak.

Clemson has won 43 of its last 45 contests against ACC opponents, including ACC Championship Game victories against North Carolina (2015), Virginia Tech (2016), Miami (2017), Pittsburgh (2018) and Virginia (2019). Clemson has won its most recent game against every ACC team and owns a streak of at least two wins against 13 of the 14 other squads, including Notre Dame.

All 11 of Clemson’s signing classes since Swinney was named Clemson’s full-time head coach has at least one ACC title to their credit in their four years at Clemson. Every signing class since 2012 has played in at least one College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

Since the ACC was formed, Clemson has more overall wins (504) and ACC wins (298 in regular season play) than any other school as a member.

The Tigers open the 2020 season next Saturday at Wake Forest. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be televised by ABC.

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