Then there were 3.
Pitt and Louisville lost Saturday, the latter under the most excruciating circumstances. This means that SMU, Miami and Clemson are the only teams left with a mathematical chance of advancing to the ACC Championship Game.
And because the Tigers have finished their conference schedule, determining which of them will meet in Charlotte on Dec. 7 is completely in the hands of the 4th-ranked Hurricanes and No. 14 Mustangs.
Dabo Swinney’s 20th-ranked team kept its slim hopes alive by the slimmest of margins. It did so by rallying for a 24-20 victory at Pittsburgh on Cade Klubnik’s 50-yard quarterback draw with 1:36 remaining.
But even with the win, Clemson still needs a lot of help. Because SMU and Miami hold tie-breaking advantages, the only way the Tigers can play for the title is if the Hurricanes lose to either Wake Forest or Syracuse and SMU drops both of its remaining games at Virginia and against Cal.
It’s an unlikely scenario. But not impossible.
The league-leading Mustangs nearly stumbled at home against Boston College in a rematch of last year’s Fenway Bowl matchup.
It took 3 touchdown passes from Kevin Jennings, 3 field goals by Collin Rogers and a late defensive stand to hold off the Eagles for a 38-28 win that won’t do anything to impress an already skeptical College Football Playoff Committee.
If nothing else, though, it at least keeps the Mustangs on pace to control their own destiny while holding onto at least the possibility of an at-large bid until the 12-team field.
That’s only one of the things we learned about the ACC in Week 12. Here are some of the other big takeaways from around the conference.
It hasn’t been easy for Clemson
The past 3 weeks were always going to be the hardest part of Clemson’s ACC schedule, with a home date against Louisville before finishing with back-to-back road tests at Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. And the Tigers did win 2 of the 3, including both away games to finish with their first unbeaten record in true road games since 2019.
But even though their 8-2 overall record (7-1 ACC) looks familiar, it’s been painfully obvious over these past 3 games that this isn’t a typical Clemson team. Chalk it up to Swinney’s transfer portal aversion if you like. You can blame it on injuries that have decimated the offensive line and thinned out the linebacking corps.
More likely, though, the assertions of people like commissioner Jim Phillips, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi and SMU’s Lashlee about the depth and parity around the league are valid and the rest of the ACC has finally caught up to the Tigers. It certainly looked that way in the loss to the Cardinals and at times last week against the Hokies. And they weren’t the better team again for most of the day against the Panthers.
They managed only 8 meager yards on the ground until Klubnik’s run to glory. And even that might not have been enough had Pitt, led by a backup quarterback, not committed 13 penalties for 100 yards. Including 3 straight pre-snap infractions that turned a first-and-goal from the 2 and a potential touchdown into a 38-yard field goal that left the door open for a Clemson comeback.
The Tigers won Saturday and they’re going to finish at least tied for 2nd in the ACC (or their division) for the 13th time in the past 14 seasons. But they’ve had to work harder than ever to do it.
A statement, just not the one SMU hoped to make
For only the second time this season Saturday, the Mustangs got some national exposure on ESPN’s flagship network.
It was an opportunity to make their case for Playoff consideration to those who don’t have access to the ACC Network or know where to find The CW. Along with members of the Playoff Committee convened only a few miles away from Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
Rhett Lashlee’s 14th-ranked team didn’t make the kind of statement it wanted. Not that it would have mattered how big a margin it might have rolled up against Boston College. The Committee has already made it clear that it doesn’t have a high opinion of SMU, even though its resume is comparable to several bigger-name programs ranked above it.
But if Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel and his cohorts bothered to pay attention to the Mustangs on a Saturday in which they were likely distracted by the usual collection of SEC blue bloods and Big Ten contenders, they would have seen them make a statement even more powerful than a lopsided score line.
SMU showed all the qualities championship-caliber teams have on Saturday. The Mustangs took BC’s best punch, stayed poised in the face of adversity and found a way to win even when they didn’t have their “A” game. While they might not get into the Playoff, they’re not going to make it easy on the Committee, either, by going away quietly.
A new Eagle takes flight
Quarterback changes are always tricky. Especially when they come at a pivotal point in the season. And the one that Boston College’s Bill O’Brien made this week was even more complicated than most. His decision to bench starter Thomas Castellanos in favor of Grayson James prompted Castellanos to leave the program and enter the transfer portal.
Castellanos was the catalyst for the Eagles’ success last season, rushing for more than 1,100 yards while leading his team to 7 wins under former coach Jeff Hafley. But his dual-threat skill set wasn’t a good fit in O’Brien’s pro-style offense. After James came off the bench to lead a come-from-behind win against Syracuse last week, O’Brien decided it was time for a change.
While it’s only 1 game – and a loss at that – it appears as though the veteran coach made the right decision.
James, who also led a victory against Western Kentucky when Castellanos was injured earlier in the season, heated up after a slow start to throw for 237 yards and a touchdown on 18-of-32 passing while throwing a serious scare into SMU. BC’s 417 yards of total offense was their most since a Week 2 victory against FCS Duquesne.
The Eagles still need 1 more win to earn bowl eligibility. Playing the way he did on Saturday gives them a realistic shot with remaining home games against North Carolina and Pittsburgh.
As Omarion Hampton goes, so goes North Carolina
Hampton might not be the best running back in the country. Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty has that title nailed down. He’s probably not even the best offensive player in the ACC. Not with Miami’s Cam Ward around.
That being said, an argument can be made that no player in college football directly impacts his team’s success more than Hampton does with UNC.
The 6-foot, 220-pound workhorse put the Tar Heels on his shoulders again Saturday night against Wake Forest, carrying them to a 31-24 victory that earned Mack Brown’s team bowl eligibility. Hampton did most of the heavy lifting in rushing for a career-high 244 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries. Combined with his 5 catches out of the backfield for 16 more yards, he accounted for 260 of UNC’s 362 yards of total offense in the game.
It was Hampton’s 8th consecutive game with at least 100 rushing yards. That’s a remarkable achievement in itself. But one that’s even more impressive, knowing that as UNC’s only reliable offensive playmaker, defending him is at the top of every opposing team’s game plan.
Hampton rushed for 1,504 yards in earning first-team All-ACC honors a year ago. With 1,422 yards already this year – second only to Jeanty’s 1,893 nationally – he’s on pace to surpass that total and become the first Tar Heels running back to earn consensus first-team All-American honors since Don McCauley in 1970.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
