The first preseason magazine with an ACC Edition to hit the shelves is the Sporting News. Generally, Sporting News does only a pure national publication, but added several conference editions this year. It was a good decision as the 2004 version is a worthy pick.

This is a big turnaround for the Sporting News. In the late 90s the well known sports publication had one of the top preview magazines. However, it bottomed out a few years ago and has been barely worth the pages it was printed on since.

You may remember in the 2001 preview issue when SN had Florida State being located in Gainesville and ranked Doak Campbell fourth in the ACC behind the stadiums at Clemson, Georgia Tech and North Carolina. They were also way off the mark in their predictions last season - Auburn was their preseason No. 1 (finished unranked) and Virginia was picked to win the ACC (finished tied for 4th). Oops.

Many, including myself, believe that part of the reason for decline in the quality and accuracy of the publication was the hiring of UF alum and former Gator Bait writer Matt Hayes as one of the main contributing college football writers. The good news is that Hayes is nowhere to be found in the 2004 ACC Edition. Maybe that's why it's such a quality publication.

Sporting News - ACC Edition     

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Total pages: 144

Price: $6.99

The Sporting News Publishing Company

10176 Corporate Square Drive, Suite 200

St. Louis, MO 63132

Phone: (800) 825-8508 (orders)

Web site: www.sportingnews.com

Features/Content

Sporting News took a page from Lindy's and Phil Steele, the top two preseason magazines from last year, and concentrated on rankings and interesting features. In fact, you won't find any lengthy player profiles or boring opinion columns. We think that is a good thing. Instead, the magazine is packed with all kinds of lists, quick hitters, notes and rankings.

* Ranking of the coaches - Maryland's Ralph Friedgen is the top head coach, while Bobby Bowden comes in at No. 4. The most interesting ranking is the offensive coordinators. North Carolina State's Mike O'Cain tops the list, but FSU's Jeff Bowden comes in all the way down at No. 10 (out of 11). Finally, defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews is No. 4 behind Jon Tenuta (Ga Tech), Gary Blackney (Maryland), and Randy Shannon (Miami).

* Schedule Strength - Clemson has the toughest schedule, FSU is No. 4, and UM comes in all the way down at No. 11 (non-conference games vs. Louisiana Tech, Houston and Louisville).

* ACC's Top Players - There was one huge oversight or mess up here. Craphonso Thorpe, last year's ACC 100-meter champ, is listed as the No. 2 "route runner" but is not listed among the top three wide receivers with "deep speed". Even though he sat out the last two games with an injury, Thorpe averaged more receiving yards per catch and had more touchdowns than any of the named wideouts with deep speed - Tramain Hall, Ryan Moore and Airese Currie.

Other top players: B.J. Dean - top blocking fullback, Lorenzo Booker - No. 4 third down RB, Alex Barron - No. 2 left OT, Ray Willis - No. 3 right OT, David Castillo - top center, Eric Moore - No. 3 DE, Brodrick Bunkley - No. 4 DT, Jerome Carter - No. 4 safety, and A.J. Nicholson - No. 3 outside LB.

Screw-up No. 1: It wouldn't be a preseason magazine without at least one major gaff. Jesse Stein, who has used up his college eligibility, is rated as the No. 3 punter in the league.

Screw-up No. 2: Where is Leon Washington? He isn't mentioned anywhere under the three areas where tailbacks are ranked, and is totally left off the special teams categories. A few pages later an anonymous ACC (non FSU) coach calls Washington the "best player in the ACC."

* Unit rankings for FSU - Backfield No. 2, wide receivers No. 3, offensive line No. 1, defensive line No. 6, linebackers No. 6, and defensive backs No. 5.

Note on unit rankings: The one thing I really dislike about rankings like this is that the writers that do them have probably never been to one spring practice of any school they are ranking. Also, they don't have enough to time to do in-depth research, and as a result, they simply go by the number of returning starters at each position. That means units with more returning starters are ranked higher. Anybody that watched FSU this spring knows how potent the linebackers were - heck, Bobby Bowden said they were the best unit on the field. However, since none of last year's starters are back they get dumped down to No. 6 by Sporting News. Anybody really believe that Maryland has better linebackers than FSU?

* Ranking traditions - One of the more interesting features is Sporting News' attempt to rate the football traditions of the various schools in the ACC. Clemson and Death Valley isn't a bad choice for No. 1 but I take issue with FSU coming in at No. 3 behind Georgia Tech. Yea, football goes way back at Tech but the stadium is one of the worst in the conference and the fans are pretty lame compared to FSU, Clemson and Virginia Tech. Does anybody think an antique car riding on the field in front of a bunch of engineering students is as exciting as Chief Osceola riding Renegade and burying a flaming spear in front of 80,000 screaming fans?

* Clemson's Charlie Whitehurst is named as the leading candidate in the ACC for the coveted Heisman Trophy. FSU QB Chris Rix is the No. 2 candidate.

* Chris Rix is named the conference's most overrated player. The shiftiest running back is Leon Washington.

All-Conference Team

For Florida State WR Craphonso Thorpe, OT Alex Barron and C David Castillo are the only players named to the first team. Miami, Maryland, and Virginia all had four players on the first team - Duke was the only team without a player on the first team. Quarterback Chris Rix, DE Eric Moore, DT Brodrick Bunkley, LB A.J. Nicholson and S Jerome Carter made the second team. Based on the returning starters, it's difficult to argue against the list, but cornerback Bryant McFadden should have at least made the second team.

Top 25

Once again the Sporting News goes out on a bit of limb in picking their top team. Last year the national publication got egg on its face by naming Auburn as the preseason No. 1 team. This time they aren't totally out of the ballpark but they are definitely in the cheap seats by naming Georgia as the club to beat. Most everybody else is picking USC, LSU or Oklahoma as their No. 1.

When it comes to the Seminoles, SN is showing a little more more respect than Athlon, who had FSU at No. 9. The 'Noles chime in at No. 5, and are the top rated team in the ACC. Other ACC teams in the top 25: No. 7 Miami, No. 9 Virginia, No. 13 Clemson, No. 17 Maryland, and No. 23 Virginia Tech.

Other than naming the Bulldogs as the top team, the top 25 isn't all that bad. However, SN's misplaced love affair with Virginia, they picked them to win the ACC last year, is still alive and well. At No. 9 the Cavs are a bit overrated (UVA is No. 25 in Athlon's preseason poll). They also picked UVA to upset the 'Canes on November 13th.

1. Georgia

2. USC

3. Oklahoma

4. LSU

5. FSU

6. Ohio State

7. Miami

8. Texas

9. Virginia

10. Michigan

Accuracy: Last year Sporting News was No. 4 out of 12 preseason rankings for accuracy according to preseason.stassen.com. Over the last five years SN is fifth out of nine publications/websites surveyed.

Team preview

Orlando Sentinel's Josh Robbins wrote the FSU preview and did a nice job giving an accurate overview of the team. His comments surrounding Chris Rix being a lightning rod for criticism, the minor changes to the offense, and rundown of the personnel changes on defense really hit the mark.

* Sporting News picks FSU to win the ACC title with a 10-1 (7-1 ACC) final record with the only loss coming at N.C. State on Thursday night, November 11th. Even though the 'Noles will have to travel to Raleigh on a Thursday night, which is never a good thing, this should be the worst Wolfpack team since Chuck Amato took over. Without All-American Philip Rivers Rivers directing the offense, and a below average defense, it's hard to believe FSU will get caught napping. The games at Miami and Maryland are probably bigger hurdles.

* The best thing the Sporting News has done for years, and continues to do, is to get an anonymous quote from an ACC coach about an opponent. It's great to hear an honest and open opinion from a team that plays against FSU on a regular basis. The coach evaluating FSU says, "I think Leon Washington is the best player in the ACC. He can return kicks and punts. He plays running back so well, and he's a gunner on their punt coverage." This same coach also said, "(Chris Rix) can be awful one half and Peyton Manning the next. He can run the ball. He can throw the ball. He's extremely fast. He has all the tools. It's hard to knock the kid too much because they didn't lose many last year, and two of the losses were to Miami."

Dot Com's Recommendation: The natural instinct for the crazed college football fan is to grab the first preseason magazine that hits the shelves. That's usually a mistake, but in this instance we give the Sporting News ACC Edition a strong buy recommendation.

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