The way Bobby Bowden sees it, there are always going to be at least four teams entering each season as legitimate candidates for an Atlantic Coast Conference championship.

"You say Miami, you say Florida State, you say Virginia Tech, probably all three of them every year," said Bowden, who's entering his 31st season coaching the Seminoles. "Then there's usually at least one other team right there, and this year, oooh, boy, this might be their chance. Parity, you call it."

Sure enough, parity may have finally hit the ACC — the league Florida State has dominated since its arrival, with last year representing the 12th time in 14 seasons that the Seminoles marched off with the league title.

Defending that crown, though, may be particularly hard this time around. There's no shortage of teams entering this season believing they are true contenders for the ACC title and the automatic berth in the Bowl Championship Series that comes with the trophy.

"I expect a lot of this team, more than any other season so far," said Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson, the league's preseason player of the year. "We have a ton of experience. Our defense is always going to be good, and I expect our offense to always be productive."

Miami has fallen short of the league-title goal in each of its first two ACC seasons. Late-season home losses, first to Virginia Tech in 2004 and then to Georgia Tech in 2005, doomed the Hurricanes' title plans. Nonetheless, the Hurricanes — who lost nine players in the NFL draft and are coming off a disappointing-by-their-standards 9-3 year — are considered by many the favorite this fall, whether they want to hear it or not.

"We know there's a lot of people doubting us," Miami linebacker Jon Beason said. "We like that."

Virginia Tech, Clemson, Boston College, Georgia Tech — and the Seminoles, of course — all appear to have enough talent to contend with the Hurricanes for top honors.

"I think the league's very strong," Miami coach Larry Coker said. "I think it's good. I expected that and I really think it is, from top to bottom, a very strong, very sound league."

Coker will get a great feel for how strong it is on Sept. 4, when his team hosts Florida State in the last Labor Day matchup — for the foreseeable future, anyway — between the Sunshine State rivals.

With Florida State expected by many to win the Atlantic Division and Miami the consensus pick to win the Coastal title, it means the teams could square off again in Jacksonville on Dec. 2 for the league's overall title — a game the Seminoles won last year, upsetting Virginia Tech 27-22.