The unpredictable nature of the Atlantic Coast Conference just won’t stop. Week 10 action was yet another example of that. More importantly, time is running out in the season, and the race to get into the ACC Championship Game is heating up. Let’s check out what happened in Week 10 and what he learned.
No longer No. 1
The Miami Hurricanes suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday night, falling 31-24 at Notre Dame. Let’s face it, the Hurricanes never really looked like the top team in the country, so a loss at some point was inevitable. The good news is that the loss doesn’t impact Miami’s ACC title hopes. The Hurricanes have home games with Duke, Virginia Tech and Boston College down the stretch, and are very much in control of their College Football Playoff destiny.
The race for No. 2
With three weeks left in the season, Wake Forest is in pole position to play Miami in the ACC Championship Game. The Demon Deacons spent their weekend destroying tiny Merrimack. That sets up next week’s showdown with SMU. The Mustangs held serve against Virginia Tech on Friday night with their most impressive game of the season. If SMU wins, both the Mustangs and Demon Deacons would have two losses in conference play, but SMU would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against Wake Forest.
The other 3
No matter what happens between SMU and Wake Forest next week, the title race is far from over. Outside of SMU, there are three other teams with just two conference losses, all of whom won on Saturday. Clemson survived a defensive slugfest against Syracuse. Duke blew out rival NC State on the road. Louisville had no trouble getting past Georgia Tech. If Wake Forest loses any of its three remaining games, any of those three teams would be very much alive in the race for the ACC Championship Game.
Bowl bid scenario
For the bottom half of the ACC, the goal remains six wins and a bowl spot. Obviously, Syracuse didn’t help itself with a loss to Clemson. The Orange need to beat both NC State and Boston College on the road; otherwise, they’ll need to upset Notre Dame. Florida State’s bowl hopes are barely alive after beating Boston College. Under interim coach Rick Stockstill, the Seminoles need two wins in their final three games against Pitt, NC State and Florida.
Meanwhile, Boston College and NC State are both stuck at four wins following losses this weekend. The Wolfpack, another team with an interim coach, has winnable games against Syracuse, Florida State and North Carolina, but needs to win two of the three. The road is much tougher for the Eagles, who have Notre Dame, Syracuse and Miami left, needing two wins. Virginia, which was idle this week after three straight losses, plays Cal, North Carolina and Virginia Tech down the stretch, needing two more wins.
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