After a number of shut ACC wins this season for unbeaten Georgia Tech, the dam lastly broke defensively throughout Saturday evening’s 48-36 loss at NC State, the second stunner in convention play to spotlight Week 10 following SMU’s time beyond regulation overcome Miami.
The Wolfpack had the Yellow Jackets on the ropes all through the second half, countering each punch with uppercuts within the type of touchdowns of their very own by way of red-hot quarterback CJ Bailey and a big-play offense enjoying with out two of its prime abilities — tailback Hollywood Smothers and tight finish Justin Joly.
NC State piled up 583 yards of whole offense — together with a career-best 196 yards dashing from Duke Scott — and despatched Georgia Tech (8-1, 5-1) to a convincing first setback. Virginia (8-1, 5-0) is the ACC’s lone remaining unbeaten in convention play and clinches a spot within the convention championship sport with wins over Wake Forest, Duke (5-3, 4-1) and Virginia Tech to complete out the common season.
With Georgia Tech’s sudden loss, the ACC doubtless won’t have a staff inside the highest 10 of the College Football Playoff Rankings when the choice committee unveils its first prime 25 on Tuesday evening except the Hurricanes (6-2, 2-2) get the advantage of the doubt since they’ve posted three wins over ranked groups.
Louisville (7-1, 4-1) and SMU every have one loss in convention play, however a type of two will probably be eradicated from reaching the title sport once they meet on Nov. 22 in Dallas. That leaves one-loss Virginia and Duke, who play each other on Nov. 15, to try to fill the opposite facet of the equation within the first weekend of December.
One of the best Georgia Tech can end is in a multi-team tie for first, after which it could come down to varied tiebreakers below the ACC’s coverage, that was enacted in 2023 with conference expansion.
With the choice committee’s new power of schedule metric set to debut this week, the ACC will probably be far decrease than the SEC and Huge Ten within the pecking order and sure the Huge 12, as effectively. Virginia’s lone ranked win this fall got here towards Florida State, whereas Georgia Tech beat Clemson for its high quality win and Louisville beat Miami.
The ACC champion will get an computerized bid to the playoff, however these within the combine for one in every of seven accessible at-large spots will probably be battling towards the likes of the SEC and Huge Ten’s runner-up, others inside these leagues with double-digit victories and a possible 10-win Notre Dame.
Greatest-case for a two-bid state of affairs for the ACC could be Georgia Tech beating Georgia in Atlanta throughout rivalry weekend, however shedding the next weekend towards one in every of these one-loss in convention challengers. That might imply the Yellow Jackets are 11-2 total with a pair of ranked wins, and will let the chips fall the place they could with the choice committee throughout at-large deliberations.
SMU earned the ACC’s second bid in final 12 months’s first 12 months of growth after shedding its second sport of the season to Clemson within the league title sport, however this time round, it will take mass chaos the remainder of the month outdoors of the convention to warrant inclusion for a league’s second choice.
That is partly why ACC commissioner Jim Phillips was a sturdy advocate for additional growth over the summer season, realizing his league was a bit top-heavy and wanted sturdy showings from its preseason elites to get there. As a substitute, Clemson has flatlined, Florida State has struggled and Miami has misplaced two of its final three video games after beginning 6-0.
There will probably be no microphone holding this time round for the convention it seems, except a lot falls within the ACC’s favor over the ultimate weeks.
