Well, the ACC couldn’t have asked for much worse of a weekend. Clemson’s loss at home to Pittsburgh along with another poor performance by Louisville, which right now trails Wake Forest at home but is likely to win, means it’s going to be a significant challenge for the conference to land a team in the four-team playoff.
Clemson had been flirting with disaster all season and finally gave in to it. The Tigers could still get into the playoff, but several teams will have to lose, plus keep in mind Auburn’s loss to Georgia also hurt Clemson, as it removed a top-10 win from its resume.
The committee could put Louisville ahead of Clemson, even though the Tigers won the head-to-head and will win the tiebreaker and play in the ACC title game. But, given Louisville’s so-so efforts over the last month against Duke, Virginia and Wake Forest, it’s highly unlikely.
On the other side of the league, UNC and Virginia Tech losing also hurt Clemson because the Tigers may end up playing an unranked team in the ACC title game. That’s not going to help at all.
Lastly, the national media’s narrative when things like this happen in the SEC or Big Ten is to note how terrific the depth of those leagues is, but in the ACC they dismiss the middle teams as essentially noncompetitive, thus a Clemson will get hit harder for losing to Pitt than Michigan might at Iowa tonight, if that were to happen.
So, this was not a good 48 hours for the conference’s football fortunes.
Clemson had been flirting with disaster all season and finally gave in to it. The Tigers could still get into the playoff, but several teams will have to lose, plus keep in mind Auburn’s loss to Georgia also hurt Clemson, as it removed a top-10 win from its resume.
The committee could put Louisville ahead of Clemson, even though the Tigers won the head-to-head and will win the tiebreaker and play in the ACC title game. But, given Louisville’s so-so efforts over the last month against Duke, Virginia and Wake Forest, it’s highly unlikely.
On the other side of the league, UNC and Virginia Tech losing also hurt Clemson because the Tigers may end up playing an unranked team in the ACC title game. That’s not going to help at all.
Lastly, the national media’s narrative when things like this happen in the SEC or Big Ten is to note how terrific the depth of those leagues is, but in the ACC they dismiss the middle teams as essentially noncompetitive, thus a Clemson will get hit harder for losing to Pitt than Michigan might at Iowa tonight, if that were to happen.
So, this was not a good 48 hours for the conference’s football fortunes.
