Mack Brown and UNC football have been picked to finish sixth in the Coastal Division, according to members of the media who attended last week’s ACC Kickoff in Charlotte.

The Tar Heels struggled mightily in Larry Fedora’s final years as head coach, finishing with back-to-back seventh place finishes in the Coastal Division over Fedora’s last two years. Over those two years, the Tar Heels finished with a combined 5-18 record including 2-14 in conference play.

However, the Tar Heels are only a few years removed from winning the Coastal Division in 2015 and earning a spot in the ACC Championship.

With Brown’s return, UNC is hoping to capture the momentum he had when he last coached the Tar Heels. In Brown’s last two seasons as head coach, the Tar Heels finished a combined 20-3 and reached as high as No. 4 in the AP Top 25 Poll.

Defending national champion Clemson (171) was picked as the winner of the Atlantic Division, followed by Syracuse (2) and Florida State.

Every team in the Coastal Division received a first-place vote, headlined by Virginia (82) as the preseason favorite. The other first-place votes were distributed between Miami (55), Virginia Tech (20), Pitt (8), Duke (6), North Carolina (1), and Georgia Tech (1).

Clemson was also picked as the overall champion with 170 out of 173 possible votes.

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