Miami Hurricanes voted preseason 2026 ACC Title Favorites

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - JULY 15: Head coach Mario Cristobal of the Miami (FL) Hurricanes speaks during the ACC Kickoff media days at Hilton Charlotte Uptown on July 15, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Matt Kelley/Getty Images) | Getty Images On Tuesday, the ACC released the preseason poll for the conference. To the surprise of no one, Miami was voted as the overwhelming favorites to win the ACC Championship this season.

Miami tops the preseason ACC poll with 3159 points and 165 of 185 first-place votes. Mario Cristobal’s Canes are the overwhelming favorites to win the ACC Championship Game for the first time since joining the conference in 2004.

class="wp-block-paragraph">As you can see from the poll (embedded above), SMU, Louisville, Clemson and Georgia Tech round out the top 5, and each received multiple first place votes. Florida State is ranked/predicted 11th, and received 3 first place votes. And, somehow, Stanford, voted last place in the poll, received a first place vote.

class="wp-block-paragraph">I don’t have a problem with Miami not being the unanimously voted preseason ACC Champions, but it’s LAUGHABLE to have credentialed media members vote for the current versions of FSU and STANFORD to win the ACC Championship this year.

class="wp-block-paragraph">Miami opens the 2026 season on the road against Stanford on Friday, September 4th. The game will kick at 9pm Eastern and be televised on ESPN.

Go Canes