By R.L. Bynum
Should North Carolina need to win a tiebreaker with Louisville to make the league championship game, the Cardinals’ easy ACC schedule could be helpful for the Tar Heels.
In the first ACC football season without divisions since 2004, the teams finishing first and second in the ACC standings will play in the ACC championship game.
No. 25 Louisville, which moved to 6–0 overall Saturday with a 30–20 home victory over No. 10 Notre Dame, has a relatively easy remaining league schedule.
While that might help the Cardinals — who don’t meet UNC — build a good league record, it probably hurts them in a tiebreaker.
The Cardinals are 3–0 in the league and will be heavily favored at Pittsburgh (Oct. 14) and in home games against Virginia Tech (Nov. 4) and Virginia (Nov. 9); all three have losing records. Louisville will likely not have to face quarterback Riley Leonard when it plays Duke at home on Oct. 28, and finishes its league schedule at Miami on Nov. 18.
The No. 1 ACC tiebreaker is head-to-head, which would be moot in a Carolina-Louisville tiebreaker.
Neither No. 2 (winning percentage against common opponents) nor No. 3 (winning percentage against common opponents, starting with the top of the league standings and going down) would settle it if they were both undefeated.
If they both have one loss, it would depend on who the losses came against.
No. 4, however, is “combined win percentage of conference opponents.”
The ACC teams that UNC faces that Louisville doesn’t are Syracuse and Clemson. The teams that Louisville faces but Carolina doesn’t are Boston College and Virginia Tech. Neither team faces No. 5 Florida State.
It’s unlikely that the Eagles and Hokies will have a better league record than the Orange and the Tigers by the end of the season.
After Saturday’s play, Syracuse and Clemson have a combined ACC record of 2–4, while Boston College and Virginia Tech are a combined 2–3. But that’s likely to change in the next few weeks as the Eagles face Miami, the Hokies play at Florida State, and both play Syracuse and Louisville.
Should the Tar Heels take care of business and go through the league unbeaten, a tiebreaker with a Louisville team unbeaten in the ACC doesn’t figure to be a problem. But anything could happen, of course.
ACC tiebreakers
Above tiebreaker image via @Brett_McMurphy
ACC standings
| Team | ACC | All |
|---|---|---|
| X — No. 5 Florida State | 8–0 | 12–0 |
| X — No. 9 Louisville | 7–1 | 10–2 |
| N.C. State | 6–2 | 9–3 |
| Georgia Tech | 5–3 | 6–6 |
| Virginia Tech | 5–3 | 6–6 |
| Clemson | 4–4 | 8–4 |
| North Carolina | 4–4 | 8–4 |
| Duke | 4–4 | 7–5 |
| Miami | 3–5 | 7–5 |
| Boston College | 3–5 | 6–6 |
| Syracuse | 2–6 | 6–6 |
| Pittsburgh | 2–6 | 3–9 |
| Virginia | 2–6 | 3–9 |
| Wake Forest | 1–7 | 4–8 |
Friday’s result
Miami 45, Boston College 20
Saturday’s games
Kentucky 38, No. 9 Louisville 31
Duke 30, Pittsburgh 19
Syracuse 35, Wake Forest 31
No. 1 Georgia 31, Georgia Tech 23
Virginia Tech 55, Virginia 17
Clemson 16, South Carolina 7
No. 5 Florida State 24, Florida 15
N.C. State 39, North Carolina 20
Next Saturday’s ACC championship game in Charlotte
No. 9 Louisville vs. No. 5 Florida State, 8 p.m., ABC
UNC schedule
| Month/ date | Opponent/event | 2023 record | UNC record in series |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | |||
| 20 | Spring game, 3 p.m. | — | — |
| August | |||
| 29 (Thurs.) | at Minnesota | 6–7 | 1–0 |
| September | |||
| 7 | Charlotte | 3–9 | 0–0 |
| 14 | N.C. Central | 9–3 | 0–0 |
| 21 | James Madison | 11–2 | 3–0 |
| 28 | at Duke | 8–5 | 65–40–4 |
| October | |||
| 5 | Pittsburgh | 3–9 | 12–5 |
| 12 | Georgia Tech | 7–6 | 22–33–3 |
| 26 | at Virginia | 3–9 | 66–58–4 |
| November | |||
| 2 | at Florida State | 13–1 | 3–17–1 |
| 16 | Wake Forest | 4–8 | 72–36–2 |
| 23 | at Boston College | 7–6 | 6–2 |
| 30 | N.C. State | 9–4 | 68–39–6 |
Photo via @UNCFootball
tarheeltribune.com 
