The season is progressing quickly. Clemson is currently seventh in the ACC. Miami is not likely to lose a game, much less three, the rest of the way with the way they have been playing this year. That
means that Clemson needs to work its way into the second spot in the ACC. It is becoming less likely. There are currently 4 other undefeated teams in the ACC, so we need a lot of losses to the top of the standings to have a chance. These teams are going to have to lose games that they are not predicted to news. The good news is we play one of those undefeated teams this week in SMU. Georgia Tech v. Duke: Both GT and Duke are undefeated in the ACC. Unlike the NFL, ties are not a concern in college football. I think Duke is better than their record reflects. Although the loss to Illinois is not as good as it looked earlier this season. We know that GT is playing good football this year. This is a game I would likely watch even if there weren’t implications for Clemson’s season. It should be a good game with good results, no matter what they are. Louisville v. Miami: Louisville beat Pitt and lost close to Virginia. Pitt has since changed QBs and Virginia’s win over Florida State is no longer looking so good, so I have no idea how good Louisville is. Miami has beaten everyone in front of them. If you were asking me to guess I would say that their game against Louisville will have the same result. Louisville is ahead of Clemson in the standings so a loss the Cards is good the Tiger’s chances at participating in the ACC Championship Game. Pittsburgh v. Syracuse: Pittsburgh got the upset last week with their new starting QB. They handed Florida State their third ACC loss in as many games. This raises the question about how good FSU is. Regardless, it is no easy feat to win in Doak Campbell Stadium. Since beating Clemson Syracuse has experienced some hardship. This is likely due to losing their starting QB. Regardless we need one of these teams to lose. The win against Clemson is Syracuse’s sole ACC win. My preference would be for Syracuse to win. This would give both teams 2 ACC losses. This would give Pitt two losses. I am not sure how the tiebreaker would play out, but Pitt plays Miami and GT, and they are very unlikely to win both of those games. North Carolina v. California: Cal only has one loss in ACC play. Clemson needs them to lose at least one more time to have a hope at a tiebreaker, but two losses would be ideal to put them firmly behind Clemson in the standings. Although I am not sure that North Carolina will be the one to hand them their second loss, but I am holding out hope that UNC can play spoiler in this game (not much very much hope though). Also, UNC must travel to Cal. If you are like me and believe that the west coast trip truly does affect the performance of team, then this makes it even more difficult for UNC to pull of the upset.
