Inside the ACC: There is Chance for a Three Way Tie at the Top of the ACC

Miami, Georgia Tech, and Virginia have a chance for a three way tie to close the 2025 season.

Sep 13, 2025; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck (11) looks toward the bench against the South Florida Bulls during the third quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

For a few seconds during the 2024 season, there was a chance that the top three teams would end up in a tie for the conference championship game.

Miami, Clemson, and SMU were heading into the last three weeks of the season in a duel before the Hurricanes collapsed, leading to the epic clash between the Tigers and Mustangs.

The 2025 season is starting to look the same way. Three contenders in the ACC have the rare chance to tie for the top of the conference.

Miami returns looking to make up for last season, while Georgia Tech and Virginia have risen in the ranks as Florida State, Clemson, and SMU struggled to get off to a roaring start.

ACC Standings as of Oct. 15 2025

1. Georiga Tech

2. Virginia

3. Duke

4. SMU

5. Miami

6. Pitt

7. Louisville

8. California

9. Clemson

10. NC State

11. Wake Forest

12. Syracuse

13. Standford

14. Virginia Tech

15. North Carolina

16. Boston College

While Duke and SMU are still undefeated in conference play, they will have the face No. 2 Miami, and they won't let them stand in their path of reaching their second-ever ACC Championship game.

The reason there could be a tie is that the Hurricanes, Yellow Jackets, and Cavaliers do not play each other this season. Each has the best three records in the conference and looks like the best team out of the bunch in the ACC.

For those unfamiliar with the ACC-tiebreaker rules, here ia refresher, per ACC tiebreaker rules:

1. Head-to-head competition between the two tied teams

2. Win percentage versus all common opponents

3. Win percentage versus common opponents based upon their order of finish (overall conference win-percentage, with ties broken) and proceeding through other common opponents based upon their order of finish

4. Combined win percentage of conference opponents

5. The tied team with the higher ranking by the Team Rating Score metric provided by SportSource Analytics following the conclusion of regular season games

6. The representative shall be chosen by a draw as administered by the commissioner or commissioner’s designee

In a two-way tie for first, the team with the highest win percentage (outright or via tiebreaker rules) will be the top seed.

If there is at least a multi-team tie in the ACC at the end of the regular season, the conference will consider these factors to figure out the single winner of the tiebreak. After the first team is selected from the multi-way tiebreak, the tiebreaker process resets:

1. Combined head-to-head win percentage among the tied teams if all tied teams are common opponents

2. If all the tied teams are not common opponents, the tied team that defeated each of the other tied teams. If all the tied teams are not common opponents, no tied team defeated each of the other tied teams, but a tied team lost to each of the other tied teams, such team shall be eliminated and removed from the tie

3. Win percentage versus all common opponents

4. Win percentage versus common opponents based upon their order of finish (overall conference win percentage, with ties broken) and proceeding through other common opponents based upon their order of finish

5. Combined win percentage of conference opponents

6. The tied team with the highest ranking by the Team Rating Score metric provided by SportSource Analytics following the conclusion of regular season games

7. The representative shall be chosen by a draw as administered by the commissioner or commissioner’s designee

In any case, if there a chance that it gets this deep, the ACC will have a fun problem to have in the future.