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.”
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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
| Team | ACC | All |
|---|---|---|
| No. 6 Miami | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| Duke | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| California | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Clemson | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| No. 16 Louisville | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Virginia | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| No. 22 SMU | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Virginia Tech | 0–0 | 3–0 |
| Boston College | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Georgia Tech | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| North Carolina | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Wake Forest | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Florida State | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| N.C. State | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| Stanford | 0–2 | 1–2 |
| Syracuse | 0–2 | 1–2 |
Thursday’s result
Pittsburgh 27, Syracuse 13
Friday’s result
No. 6 Miami 33, Wake Forest 20
Saturday’s results
Clemson 28, North Carolina 20
Georgia Tech 44, Mercer 11
Vanderbilt 35, N.C. State 31
Boston College 22, Maine 16
No. 10 Alabama 50, Florida State 36
No. 16 Louisville 41, No. 22 SMU 31
California 49, Wagner 7
Duke 35, Stanford 7
West Virginia 38, Virginia 27
Virginia Tech 35, Maryland 26
Thursday’s game
Clemson at California, 10:30, ESPN
Saturday’s games
Wake Forest at No. 16 Louisville, noon
Bucknell at Pittsburgh, noon, ACCNE
Virginia Tech at Boston College, noon
Central Arkansas at Florida State, 3 p.m., ACCN
William & Mary at Duke, 3:30, ACCNE
Delaware at Virginia, 6 p.m., ACCN
Central Michigan at No. 6 Miami, 6:30, The CW
Appalachian State at N.C. State, 7:30, ESPNU
Missouri State at No. 22 SMU, 9 p.m., ACCN
Georgia Tech at Stanford, 10:30, ESPN
Friday, Oct. 2, game
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m., ESPN
Saturday, Oct. 3, games
No. 3 Notre Dame at North Carolina, TBA
No. 6 Miami at Clemson, TBA
Stanford at Wake Forest, noon, ACCN
Boston College at SMU, noon, The CW
Syracuse at UConn, noon, CBSSN
Virginia at Florida State, 3:30, ESPN2 or ACCN
No. 16 Louisville at N.C. State, 3:30, ESPN2 or ACCN
California at UNLV, 3:30,m CBSSN
| Month/ date | Score/ time | Opponent (current ranking) | Record/TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| August | |||
| 29 | W, 15–10 | vs.TCU in Dublin | 1–0 |
| September | |||
| 12 | W, 35–3 | vs. ETSU | 2–0 |
| 19 | L, 28–20 | at Clemson | 2–1, 0–1 ACC |
| October | |||
| 3 | TBA | vs. No. 3 Notre Dame | TBA |
| 10 | TBA | at Pittsburgh | TBA |
| 17 | TBA | at Duke | TBA |
| 24 | TBA | vs. Syracuse | TBA |
| 31 | TBA | vs. No. 6 Miami | TBA |
| November | |||
| 7 | TBA | at UConn | TBA |
| 14 | TBA | vs. No. 16 Louisville | TBA |
| 21 | TBA | at Virginia | TBA |
| 28 | TBA | vs. N.C. State | TBA |
| December | |||
| 5 | noon, ABC | ACC championship game in Charlotte | ESPN |
Photo via @UNCFootball
