A Jersey Guy: ACC angling for multiple Final Fourth berths
No cheering in the press box has been a long time mantra for many sportswriters.
But for the people in the Atlantic Coast Conference offices in Greensboro, N.C. that won't be the case on Saturday when they will be cheering, praying and begging for the right outcome in two conference football games.
The ACC office desperately wants Clemson to beat Virginia Tech and Notre Dame to beat Syracuse.
So much so that it dangled a bonus in front of both teams.
Win Saturday and you have a free pass into the ACC championship game in Charlotte ono Dec. 19th and most likely another free pass into the CFB Final Four on January 1 in the Rose and Sugar Bowls.
In one of the dumbest decisions and announcements made under lame-duck commissioner John Swofford's reign as commissioner, the ACC closed the voting booths BEFORE all votes were cast and totally ignored one key element:
What happens if Notre Dame or Clemson loses? Or the impossible happens and BOTH teams lose?
Likely to happen?
Not really, both the Tigers and Irish are heavy favorites to win.
The contending teams for the ACC title are obviously Notre Dame and Clemson as well as Miami.
Notre Dame, with a regular season win over Clemson is 8-0, had two conference games remaining--Syracuse at home on Saturday and a road trip to Wake Forest on Dec. 12.
Clemson is 8-1 and was scheduled to play Virginia Tech on Saturday and had an unscheduled make up game at Florida State on Dec. 12 remaining.
Miami is 6-1, with games remaining against Duke on Saturday night, North Carolina on Dec. 12 and at Georgia Tech in a make up game, tentatively scheduled for Dec. 19, which also is the date of the ACC championship game.
And that, folks, has caused the ACC leadership also sorts of logistical problems which they tried to solve with a statement on Tuesday night that that the conference races would be decided on a nine, not 10, conference game measuring stick.
That decision was tilted against Miami, which has three games to play in a two week window since the championship game would not and could not be pushed back.
The ACC office then decided that if Clemson won, it would not have to reschedule its game against Florida State and it would get one spot in the ACC title game.
It also said that if Notre Dame beat Syracuse, the Irish would not be obligated to play its final game against Wake Forest as well and would occupy the other spot in the ACC title game.
That also gave both teams the week off to prepare for the championship game, which was the right thing to do.
With the Big 12 and Pac-12 out of the Final Four mix and the Big Ten teetering, it also meant that a Notre Dame-Clemson rematch would offer the possibility that both teams could make the Final Four if Clemson won.
The ACC, which has been doing everything in its power to entice Notre Dame, which is using a visitors pass into the ACC this season, as a full time member, desperately wants that to happen.
But what about Miami, which had its game against Georgia Tech postponed because of COVID-19 issues?
The Hurricanes do have a path to the ACC title game.
Beat Duke and hope Virginia Tech upsets Clemson.
The Hurricanes, who lost a regular season meeting at Clemson, would move into the ACC title game IF they beat North Carolina on Dec. 12th.
And then there is this. Let Miami play out its schedule, including the game against Georgia Tech on Dec. 19th and then hope some upsets occur with Texas A&M and Ohio State.
That would open the possibility of THREE ACC teams in the Final Four, once beaten Clemson, once beaten Miami and once beaten Notre Dame.
But let's get back to the reality check of what could still happen.
Here's the doomsday scenario no one in the ACC office wants to think about.
What happens if Miami beats Duke to improve its conference record to 7-1, but Notre Dame loses to Syracuse, which would leave the Irish with an 8-1 conference record and Clemson loses to Virginia Tech which would give them a 7-2 record.
Miami would still have to beat North Carolina to reach 9 games and would make the final against Notre Dame.
Technically, the Irish would then have to win on the road against a tough Wake Forest team to get into the championship game, but that won't happen because the ACC told ND it didn't have to play its game against Wake Forest.
What the ACC SHOULD have done was WAIT until AFTER Saturday's games and then make a ruling on what games would be or would not be played.
But by doing that, it jeopardized the conferences chances of having TWO teams in the Final Four.
It also set up a scenario which would be blatantly unfair to Miami in a game against ND.
Luckily for the ACC this could all be a tempest in a teapot if Notre Dame and Clemson take care of business on Saturday.
But this season has been like no other and the ACC could be dealing with a major snafu which it would have created and could have avoided if it had simply waited for a few days to make a decision about the final week of the season.
The ACC has blown its call on COVID testing by NOT implemented which would require all traveling ACC teams to have their Friday test results BEFORE they flew to their game site.
It has not distinguished itself with leadership characteristics since the pandemic virus took control of the destiny of the college football season in August.
A screw up here would be a fitting way to conclude the season.