Paul Finebaum urges ACC to replace Duke in conference championship matchup

The tail-end of the College Football Playoff bracket hangs in the wind heading into conference championship weekend — with the ACC at the storm's epicenter. No. 17 Virginia has a chance to seal a bid with a victory but their opponent, a 7-5 Duke team, may or may not be in the field even with a win. That's why Paul Finebaum is doubting that the Blue Devils should even be playing in Charlotte.

So, how does a 7-5 Duke team make it to the ACC championship game? Well, they beat nearby Elon in August and proceeded to lose their remaining non-conference games to stiff competition in UConn, Illinois and Tulane. Then, they battled back to go 6-2 in league play and made off like bandits in the tiebreaker spaghetti knot to somehow rise above the rubble for a trip to the league title game against one-loss 1-seed Virginia.

On a Wednesday morning episode of First Take with guest Paul Finebaum on the screen, Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo had a question regarding the ACC which echoed that of many casual college football fans. "Paul, explain to me how the ACC doesn't have a better system that they put DUKE in the championship game instead of the Hurricanes?" he wondered aloud.

"Well, the commissioner should have just strong-armed and said. 'You know what, I'm making a gut call here, an executive decision, and we're putting the higher-ranked team in.' They chose not to," Finebaum said in criticism of the ACC and its commissioner, Jim Phillips.

Duke Blue Devils linebacker Luke Mergott (34) run after recovering a fumble against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons | Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

"They may end up with nobody in the Playoff," Finebaum threatened. "Remember, last year they had a couple, they had Clemson and SMU. It would be a complete embarrassment to the ACC. And in some ways, they've done it to themselves because of some arcane tiebreaker system that allowed a team that has NO BUSINESS being in the ACC title game!"

Paul Finebaum had raised his voice as he continued to question the ACC. After all, at 7-5, Duke had the worst record among the league's SIX total teams with two losses or less in conference play, and it's the Blue Devils who could be representing as champion come Sunday.

"Why is Duke in there anyway?" Finebaum asked and then answered. "They've done nothing all season long except they've manufactured the right number of wins in conference, which ultimately is going to give them a chance. But nobody in that ACC conference headquarters in Charlotte, I promise you, will be rooting for Duke on Saturday night."

Paul Finebaum believes this Duke appearance in the conference title game is really a stain on the seat of the ACC's trunks. He'd like to see the commissioner spine up and make a move to get a team like Miami into the matchup, who shared Duke's 6-2 record but is actually apart of the CFP top-20, to make it a real heavyweight fight.

Alas, you've just got to follow the rules established at the beginning of the season. By those, Duke wins the weird tiebreaker web, and welp, that's just that. Who knows, if chaos erupts across the Group of Five title games, perhaps even Duke sneaks into the College Football Playoff with a win.

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