Five ACC teams were selected to the preseason USA Today football coaches poll which was announced Friday. This marked the first time since 2004 that the ACC had five teams picked among the preseason poll’s Top 20, the league announced in a news release. The ACC led all conferences with five schools selected in the Top 20, while the SEC had the most total Top 25 picks with six.

Virginia Tech led the way for ACC schools, being tabbed for 6th place on the inaugural 2010 coaches poll, followed by Miami (13th), Georgia Tech (17th), North Carolina (18th) and Florida State (20th). Additionally, Clemson (31st) and Boston College were among schools receiving votes in the poll.

The last time the ACC had five schools in the Top 20 of the preseason coaches poll was in 2004 when Miami (5th), Florida State (6th), Clemson (16th), Virginia (19th) and Maryland (20th) were chosen.

The ACC had five teams selected to the pre-season USA Today coaches Top 25 in 2005, but only three of the teams—Virginia Tech (7th), Miami (8th) and Florida State (12th)–were among the Top 20, with Boston College ranked 22nd and Virginia 23rd.

In all, ACC teams will play 10 schools in 2010 ranked in the pre-season Top 25 including No. 1 Alabama (Duke, Sept. 18), No. 2 Ohio State (Miami, Sept. 11), No. 3 Florida (Florida State (Nov. 27), No. 5 Boise State (Virginia Tech, Sept. 6), No. 8 Oklahoma (Florida State, Sept. 11), No. 15 Pittsburgh (Miami, Sept. 23), No. 16 LSU (North Carolina, Sept. 4), No. 21 Georgia (Georgia Tech, Nov. 27), No. 23 Auburn (Clemson, Sept. 18), and No. 24 West Virginia (Maryland, Sept. 18).

The Conference will also play no fewer than 19 games against teams which were ranked or received votes in the pre-season USA Today coaches poll.

Check back Friday afternoon for updates from Chapel Hill as UNC holds its first football practice. The Tar Heels are on the field at 1:30 p.m. and will speak to the media at 3:30 p.m.

Marvin Austin and Greg Little will practice, and of course a great deal of the media questions will be about the NCAA investigation even though Carolina has said only athletics director Dick Baddour will talk on the subject.

More coming this afternoon …

Cody Zeller, a rising Indiana high school senior and brother of UNC’s Tyler Zeller, has narrowed his choices for college to Butler, Indiana and North Carolina.

Zeller, announcing the finalists Thursday, says it will come down to the coaches, his comfort with teammates, the quality of the business school and the facilities.

All three coaches are excellent: Indiana’s Tom Crean, which has turned that program around; Butler’s Brad Stevens, one of the best young coaches; and Roy Williams, who is one of the winningest coaches of all time. Edge? Probably UNC. Williams has the most stature, experience and the highest ranking on various online polls.

As for teammates, it depends on if he means talent or guys who he can relate to and enjoy being around. If he’s talking about talent, then the edge goes to UNC again. The Heels have the most talent of the three. But if he means comfort as far as being able to relate, Butler would have a slight edge over Indiana. Butler has nine players from his home state of Indiana and eight of them are white like Zeller. Indiana has five players from the state of Indiana and four of them are white. Except for whatever walk-ons make the Tar Heels roster, there is only one white player and only one from Indiana on the Heels squad and that’s his brother Tyler. With Butler having enough talent to make the final two last year, I’d give the edge to Butler.

While mentioning Indiana having a good business school, it’s actually Carolina’s Kenan Flagler business school that ranks highest of the three by Businessweek magazine. UNC comes in 14th while Indiana is 19th. Butler’s business school in not ranked in the top 50. The ranking and educational reputation of UNC should give the edge here to Carolina.

As for basketball facilities, the bigger schools of UNC and Indiana would have the edge here. Since Indiana is picked more often in the top five for atmosphere in the arena itself, I’d give a slight edge to Indiana here.

Unless he really wants to stay in the state of Indiana, the overall edge would have to go to Carolina. Tyler Zeller would be playing his senior year during his brother’s freshman year. A final decision is expected in November. By the way, the oldest brother Luke Zeller played at Notre Dame.

The ACC’s two top awards are actually named for sports writers, with the Anthony J. McKevlin Award going to the top male athlete and the Mary Garber Award going to the top female.

And this year, Duke lacrosse player Ned Crotty deserved the McKevlin, in an honor that continues Duke’s fast-forward thrust past the negative issues of the past. The Blue Devils broke through and won the national championship this year behind classy coach John Danowski, and Crotty won the Tewaaraton Trophy as the nation’s top lacrosse player. Crotty had 23 goals and 63 assists in Duke’s 16-4 season.

Winning the Garber Award was North Carolina’s Whitney Engen, the soccer national player of the year who led the Tar Heels to the NCAA title. She won the Honda Award as the nation’s top player and paced a Carolina defense that led the Heels to a 23-3-1 record.

Every year, voting for the award is intense, but Crotty and Engen are deserving winners – two national players of the year who led their programs to national titles.

And as for McKevlin? He was a former News & Observer sports editor; Garber was one of the pioneers in sports writing as a reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal.

How would you like to be able to drive to the Super Bowl? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell seemed to indicate Wednesday, during a visit to Redskins Park, that Washington’s FedEx Field could be a host of an upcoming Super Bowl.

But it could be a while. Goodell says the NFL will wait to see how the Super Bowl goes in New York City first but he expects the 2014 Super Bowl in New York (New Jersey actually) to be a success. Both stadiums are open air and are in cities that are cold that time of year.

Unlike most coaches (apparently) in the NFL, Goodell says he likes the idea of playing football in the elements. I do too. A great team should be able to play in all sorts of weather, not just a climate-controlled dome. Plus, it makes for a more interesting game.

“The fans here are terrific, and I have no doubt that it would be successful,” Goodell said. “We took a big step this year in awarding the Super Bowl to New York.”

Redskins owner Dan Synder, evidently a budding meteorologist, is pushing to host the Super Bowl and says that the weather will be fine in New York for the Super Bowl. “I think people will be surprised by the weather,” he said. “It’s not going to be a problem.”

It wouldn’t bother me if it snowed but I know they like to have a fun experience for the fans the days leading up to the Super Bowl. But frankly, FedEx Field, which is actually in Landover, Md., doesn’t have a lot around it. Baltimore would actually be better as far as people being to walk from their hotels and walk to eat, etc.

But much of the push is related to two things – the fact that Washington is our nation’s capital and that Washington was the other city most affected by 9/11.

Regardless of that, I’d rather see all football games in open-air stadiums. Talk about old school.

(As a reminder, the Triangle area of North Carolina, as proven by a DirecTV study, has the biggest contingent of Redskins fans outside the D.C. area. So, you’ll see me chat about the Redskins on occasion even though they aren’t physically located in the Triangle. By the way, the photo above is former Redskins’ coach and NC native Joe Gibbs hoisting the Super Bowl XVII trophy, one of three he earned with the Skins.)

Taylor Zarzour, on his Sports Drive radio show Tuesday, asked his listeners to give their favorite golf course in North Carolina. And one listener called in and said, “Sequoyah.”

Sequoyah? I’d never heard of it. But all you have to do is go to the website, sequoyahnational.com, and you’re like, “Ah, I get it.” Sequoyah is located near Cherokee, in the Smoky Mountains, and mountain golf courses are just great.

Sequoyah, 45 minutes west of Asheville, is a Robert Trent Jones II course that measure 6,600 yards and is a par 72. Summer rates aren’t exactly cheap – $85 per round Monday through Thursday and $110 Friday through Sunday.

My favorite is a mountain course, Linville Ridge. And while I’m not much of a golfer, one look at Sequoyah makes me want to go grab the clubs.

Zarzour’s list of favorites, by the way, is 1, Grandfather Golf and Country Club; 2, Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte; 3, Pine Needles Golf and Lodge in Southern Pines; 4, Pinehurst #4 at Pinehurst Resort; and 5, Raleigh Country Club.

This isn’t good. Receiver Hakeem Nicks is missing practice time with the New York Giants because of a hyper-extended right knee, The New York Times reports.

Nicks, the former North Carolina star, injured his knee in practice Tuesday, and the Giants are waiting for the results of an MRI. He was already recovering from a toe injury, The Times reported.

Nicks had 47 catches for 790 yards and 6 touchdowns last season as a Giants rookie.

During a previous chapter in my life, today would have been busier than anyone could imagine.

From 1997-2001, I worked for The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., as the New Orleans Saints/NFL beat writer. The Saints were my main responsibility. But Brett Favre was responsibility 1a since The Sun Herald was Brett’s hometown paper and had covered him since high school.

Back to today. The Saints are in training camp, coming off their first Super Bowl win. Favre is pondering retirement. Get the picture?

I offer no first-person insights to No. 4 today, but I can offer some perspective. The AP reported today that Favre had informed the Vikings that he wasn’t returning. Other news outlets, Fox, ESPN and others, have reported that Favre sent text messages to friends saying his body isn’t ready for him to play this season.

My former colleague and still friend, Al Jones, has known Favre for decades. Al still writes for The Sun Herald and posted this story to their website today that Favre’s family says no decision has been made one way or the other.

I lean toward that being true. We all know that Favre is a classic waffler and giving up football is the hardest thing he’s been through. (And that says a lot, considering the sudden death of his father, his wife’s battle with breast cancer and his own demons — Vicodin and alcohol.)

Back when Favre retired the first time from the Packers, I contributed to a book The Sun Herald put together on his career from youth football to the NFL. As part that, several reporters who dealt personally with him were asked to give their opinions of him.

I wrote that Favre was real, recalling a conversation I had with him on his property near Hattiesburg, Miss., one May day. He was sitting on a tractor, having just moved some trees that a tornado had felled earlier in the week. I challenge anyone to name another millionaire who would do such work himself on a sweltering, humid south Mississippi day.

I still believe he’s the genuine item, even today after all this retirement, unretirement business. Football is all Favre has known. Giving it up would mean he has to take a hard look at himself and redefine who he is so he can enjoy the rest of his life.

And, for the record, I still think he’ll throw a pass for the Minnesota Vikings this season.