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Clemson’s loss to Louisville on Saturday will have a seismic effect on the ACC’s Playoff possibilities.
Exactly how high it rates on the Richter Scale won’t be known until Tuesday evening when the selection committee announces its initial rankings. But suffice it to say that the upset has put the conference into serious jeopardy of losing a second spot in the 12-team field.
To have any shot at avoiding a 1-bid fate, the ACC will have to hope that current league leaders Miami and SMU – ranked No. 4 and 13 in this week’s Associated Press top 25 – run the table and meet one another for the conference championship in Charlotte on Dec. 7.
And then hope that the losing team doesn’t drop below No. 11 in the final rankings.
Considering the committee’s recent history in dealing with the ACC, the odds against that happening are as long as a 60-yard field goal into a stiff breeze.
That’s just 1 of the 10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after an eventful Week 10 in and around the ACC.
10. A scary scene with a happy ending
It’s always disconcerting to see a player taken from the field on a cart. Especially when a head injury is involved. But it’s even scarier when the injury is so severe that medical personnel determine an ambulance is needed.
It happened again Saturday night just before halftime of SMU’s win against Pitt.
https://twitter.com/SleeperAth1etes/status/1852890686804439373
Everyone at Gerald J. Ford Stadium held their collective breath as Mustangs defensive back AJ Davis lay face down on the field after taking a blow to his head while attempting to make a tackle on a kickoff return. It took nearly 10 minutes for him to be stabilized and loaded into an ambulance for the trip to nearby Baylor Hospital.
Thankfully, it turned out to be only a precautionary measure. Davis was evaluated by doctors and released from the hospital in time to return to the sideline before the end of the game.
9. Early wakeup call
We here on the East Coast got a taste of “ACC After Dark” when the league chose to schedule Cal’s home game against Miami for a 10:30 p.m. kickoff on Oct. 5. Saturday, it was the league’s Pacific Coast newcomers’ turn to experience the logistical challenges associated with a bi-coastal conference.
You think fans hate those dreaded noon starts? Try getting up to watch your team play at 9 a.m. Better yet, imagine being a player trying to go through your normal pregame routine for a game scheduled at a time in which your body clock thinks you should be eating breakfast.
That’s what Stanford had to deal with for its game at NC State.
The Cardinal probably weren’t going to win the game anyway. But the early wakeup call certainly didn’t help as State poured in 59 points, its most in an ACC game.
8. Pry-ing another loss from the jaws of victory
If there’s a close game and Virginia Tech is involved, you can bet Brent Pry will find a way to lose it.
Like clockwork, it happened again Saturday at Syracuse.
The Orange battled back from a 21-3 deficit midway through the third quarter to force overtime on a LeQuint Allen touchdown run with 29 seconds remaining in regulation. Allen then scored again on his team’s extra possession before Tech quarterback Collin Schlee – subbing for an injured Kyron Drones – lost a fumble while attempting to answer back.
The loss ended whatever hopes the Hokies had of getting back into ACC Championship Game contention. And it was all but inevitable once the game got close down the stretch.
Tech is now 1-11 in games decided by a touchdown or less during Pry’s 3 seasons in Blacksburg.
7. Hurricanes minus-10
It doesn’t matter what the oddsmakers say. No matter how many points Miami is favored by, it doesn’t seem as though the Hurricanes are happy until they spot their opponent at least a touchdown and field goal head start.
For the 3rd time in its 5 ACC games on Saturday, Mario Cristobal’s team fell behind by 10 or more points in the second half. But just as it did earlier against Virginia Tech and Cal, it turned on the jets and battled back to claim a 53-31 victory and stay undefeated.
Unlike those other 2 wins, the Hurricanes didn’t wait until the bitter end to pull this game out. With Cam Ward throwing 3 of his 5 touchdown passes after halftime – including a 66-yarder to Xavier Restrepo that put both the quarterback and receiver into the school record book – Miami outscored Duke by 26 points over the final 2 periods.
The comebacks have helped the Hurricanes win games they’ve lost in previous seasons. So far Ward — who tied the single-season program record with 29 TD passes — has been the antidote that has immunized them from their traditional stumbles. But you have to wonder if it’s only a matter of time before he runs out of rabbits to pull out of his hat. Or his teammates dig a hole too deep to escape.
6. Keeping ‘The Hammer’ down
Omarion Hampton’s nickname among his North Carolina teammates is “The Hammer” because of his punishing running style. So it’s only appropriate that the Tar Heels chose to keep the hammer down in its 35-11 bludgeoning of Florida State.
The strategy of giving the ball to Hampton until the Seminoles proved they could stop him worked so well that the Tar Heels needed to throw only 3 passes in the second half. And one of those was a shovel pass Hampton turned into a 49-yard touchdown. It was one of the 5 times the ACC’s leading rusher got into the end zone on the way to becoming the first UNC player since Kelvin Bryant in 1981 to score as many as 5 touchdowns in a game.
https://twitter.com/ACCFootball/status/1852837479839117728
Hampton ran for 172 yards on 32 carries and caught 3 passes for 95 more. His 265 yards of total offense were 64 more than gained by FSU’s entire team. In the process, he surpassed the 3,000-yard mark for his career while tying offensive analyst Natrone Means for fourth on the Tar Heels’ all-time list with 34 touchdowns.
The junior running back is one of the big reasons why UNC has recovered from its 4-game losing streak and is within 1 win of bowl eligibility. But he’s gone largely unnoticed nationally. That’s a shame, because no offensive player in the ACC has been as dominant or important to his team.
That includes Heisman frontrunner Ward.
5. Another new low for the Noles
Rock bottom isn’t a place that can be found on a map or GPS. Its location is subjective. So we’ll wait until Florida State takes on 1-8 Charleston Southern in a couple of weeks before we proclaim that things can’t get any worse for the Seminoles. We can, however, say with a high degree of certainty that things aren’t getting better for Mike Norvell’s disappointing team.
Saturday’s setback to UNC was the latest in a string of new lows that already included the program’s first loss to Duke and a beatdown at the hands of rival Miami that gave FSU the distinction of becoming the first ACC team this season to be eliminated from bowl consideration.
This latest flop saw the Seminoles manage only 201 yards, a season-low, against a defense that was torched for 70 points in a game earlier this season. But that wasn’t the only indignity they suffered.
The loss also marked the first time FSU has been beaten by a Mack Brown team. The Hall of Fame coach had dropped his previous 11 games against his alma mater between his 2 tenures at UNC and an earlier stint at Tulane. Proving that if you’re ever going to take out some frustration or settle some scores against the Seminoles, this is the year to do it.
4. Upon further review …
Apparently the folks in the ACC’s control center are more interested in getting Miami into the conference championship game than Clemson. Either that or they just figured the Tigers were already too far gone to use their help on a disputed onside kick with 6 minutes remaining against Louisville.
Clemson still needed to score twice to get back into the game, even after Phil Mafah’s short touchdown run narrowed its deficit to 26-14. But at least it had hope after reserve defensive back Ronan Hanafin appeared to recover the ensuing onside attempt.
For a moment.
That hope quickly disappeared when officials awarded the ball to Louisville. And a review upheld the call on the field. It’s a decision that sparked college football’s newest tradition: Fans showering the field with projectiles attempting to bully the refs into changing their minds.
Refs didn’t bother explaining why they determined Clemson didn’t recover an onside kick even though it looked like they may have
As a result their fans tried to pull a Texas and failed at it and then Louisville immediately scored pic.twitter.com/Nm8K5y1Jxh
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) November 3, 2024
It worked in Texas with SEC officials.
And maybe it might have worked in the ACC had Miami been involved.
But this time, at Clemson, all it did was create a mess, endanger those on the field and delay the inevitable for a couple of minutes.
3. If only he’d have used the portal
It’s all but a certainty that the Tigers would still have lost the game even if the onside kick call had gone their way. Or been overturned on review. Louisville was the better team all night, dominating Clemson at the point of attack on both sides of the ball and on special teams.
It’s a dominance punctuated on the first play after the controversial call when freshman Isaac Brown broke off a game-clinching 45-yard touchdown run.
The Cardinals’ 33-21 victory didn’t just throw a wrench into the Tigers’ ACC championship changes and Playoff hopes. It also reopened a can of worms that has been sitting quietly on the shelf since the opening week of the season.
Dabo Swinney’s portal problem.
https://twitter.com/Canes_Chief/status/1852904683037405608
Swinney’s aversion to bringing transfers into his program became a huge issue after Clemson got spanked by Georgia. But sentiment quickly swung in the other direction once the Tigers began reeling off a string of impressive victories and rising back into the top 10 of the national polls.
See, you really can win big with homegrown talent.
Or maybe not.
Getting beat by a Louisville team that added 30+ transfers, including a 7th-year quarterback at his third school, will undoubtedly rekindle scrutiny on Swinney and the antiquated way he runs his program. If only he’d have brought in a couple of veterans off the portal, Saturday’s result might have been different.
Isn’t that how it works?
2. Start passing the hat around, Wolfpack fans
Speaking of the transfer portal and that other new reality of the college sports landscape, NIL …
NC State might want to seriously consider starting a GoFundMe page now to start building a war chest big enough to keep quarterback CJ Bailey beyond this season.
Considering the growth the true freshman has shown since being thrust into a starting role and the potential he has as he progresses in his career, he’ll undoubtedly attract plenty of attention from programs in need of a quarterback. And a lot of money to spend on one.
You think Miami wouldn’t be interested in a former 4-star prospect, from Miami no less, to replace Cam Ward next season.
How about Florida State?
Bailey completed 18-of-20 passes for 234 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions in Saturday’s 59-28 win against Stanford. He has a .695 completion percentage for the season with 11 touchdowns. He’s already led a 4th-quarter comeback at Cal 2 weeks ago. And he’s just scratching the surface of his ability.
He’s clearly the future of the Wolfpack. But only if Dave Doeren and his school’s NIL collective are able to make him an offer he can’t refuse.
1. The service charges might be more than the tickets
Louisville’s upset of Clemson has provided some unexpected clarity to the race for the ACC Championship Game.
All Miami and SMU have to do is win out and they’ll meet in Charlotte on Dec. 7 to decide the league title and a spot in the 12-team Playoff bracket. That might be easier said than done, even though both teams have favorable remaining schedules.
While a matchup between the Hurricanes and Mustangs might turn out to be an entertaining, high-scoring duel, it could turn into a ratings and public relations nightmare. The last thing the ACC needs is to have its championship game played before a stadium full of empty seats. In prime time. On network television.
But with a Miami fan base that can’t even fill its own stadium to half capacity and SMU with the second-smallest enrollment among power conference schools behind only Wake Forest, it’s almost a certainty that plenty of good tickets will be available.
And you won’t have to break the bank to get them.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
