Tag: ACC Championship Game

No ACC Championship Game Would Give Notre Dame Conference Title

If you have the chance to win a championship, you always want to do it the right way.

If you have the chance to win a championship, you always want to do it the right way. Notre Dame will have that chance when it battles Clemson for the ACC title.

But what if the game isn’t played?

Ralph D. Russo of The Associated Press has learned what would happen in that case:

Naturally, the replies to this tweet were along the lines of Notre Dame players will purposely go out so they can get infected with COVID-19 and cause this game not to be played. After all, how many times in the history of sports have we seen teams change their approaches when a scenario in which they would be safe is in play? They don’t care about the integrity of competition as long as they get what they want.

One would think Brian Kelly will teach his team to be smarter than that. The last thing a program that takes a lot of criticism from outside its fan base wants is to have its first and possibly only conference championship come with an asterisk. More importantly, being reckless on purpose would compromise the health of the players and the community at large. It’s better to keep doing what they’ve been doing and go about this ethically, safely and correctly.

 

Dabo Swinney calls out SEC, Ohio State

Dabo Swinney has heard enough from the SEC about Clemson and Notre Dame having games canceled recently.

If you’ve been paying attention the last couple of weeks, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has made it public knowledge he is proud of his conference for following through with their Dec. 12 games ahead of the conference championship next weekend.

Clemson and two-time national championship head coach Dabo Swinney was asked Sunday about Sankey being vocal about the ACC canceling both Clemson and Notre Dame’s games this past weekend, to which he had a strong retort:

“If six wins can get you in, shouldn’t nine or 10?” Sweeney asked, “If the ACC was really trying to protect Clemson and Notre Dame, we wouldn’t be playing this weekend, but that’s not what we’re about.  We want to crown a worthy champion.” – Dabo Swinney

Brian Kelly said something similar, though not as direct, after Notre Dame’s Nov. 14 win at Boston College when he referenced the team’s eighth win being more than the number of games any Big Ten teams would play.

It’s a fair point by Swinney, and it comes a day after a prime example why.

Florida was knocking on the door of a College Football Playoff appearance before being upset by LSU on Saturday, a perfect example why the number of games played matters.

I’m not saying Ohio State would be guaranteed to lose once if it played 10 games this year, but to suggest that it would be impossible to see it happening in college football is absurd.

When Ohio State last won a national title in 2014, that same Buckeyes team, which was clearly great, lost 35-21 on its home field to a Virginia Tech team that wound up 7-6 overall.

It has happened before. It happened again this weekend, and it’ll surely happen again.

Swinney was also asked if he thought both Notre Dame and Clemson were playoff-worthy regardless of what happens in the ACC Championship game, an idea he was fully on board with.

And I couldn’t possibly agree with him more.

Former Notre Dame O-Lineman Taylor Dever Dead at 31

Notre Dame might be preparing for the ACC championship game, but it’s still keep tabs on its former players.

Notre Dame might be preparing for the ACC championship game, but it’s still keep tabs on its former players. Sadly, it had to deliver sad news Friday night about one of them:

Dever played for the Irish from 2007 to 2011, starting the final two years. During his last season, he served as the captain for the games against Pittsburgh and Stanford. In 2012, he took part in the NFL Scouting Combine. Though he went undrafted and ultimately never played an NFL game, he was signed by the Dallas Cowboys and then claimed off waivers by the San Diego Chargers.

Dever served as one of the bridges between the Charlie Weis and Brian Kelly eras. Though he didn’t stick around long enough to take part in the memorable 2012 season, he undoubtedly served as a mentor for the guys who did. He will be missed greatly, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and former teammates and coaches.

BetMGM: Notre Dame-Clemson line posted

The line is out for Notre Dame and Clemson in the ACC Championship. See the exact numbers right here.

The line for the 2020 ACC Championship Game between Notre Dame and Clemson has been posted by BetMGM, The King of Sportsbooks.

Notre Dame might be ranked second nationally to third-ranked Clemson, and the Irish may have won round one between the two this year, but the return of Trevor Lawrence and a few others for Clemson gives them a significant edge according to those in charge of making money off of it.

The Game:  2020 ACC Championship, Notre Dame vs. Clemson
The Line:  Clemson -7.5
Total:  Unavailable
Moneylines:  Clemson -300, Notre Dame +240

Place your legal sports bets online in CO, IN, NJ, TN, and WV at BetMGM. Bet now!

For reference, Notre Dame was a 5.5 point underdog in November’s win over Clemson at Notre Dame Stadium after the news Lawrence would be out.  During the summer BetMGM had the line set between the two at Clemson -7.5

Related: Best pictures from Notre Dame’s upset of No. 1 Clemson

When the two met in the 2018 Cotton Bowl, Clemson was an 11 point favorite.

Say this game plays out almost exactly as BetMGM says and Notre Dame loses by a touchdown.  Is there any way in that case that Notre Dame isn’t heading to the College Football Playoff?

I tend to think not but if that’s the case it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have Florida fall to Alabama in the SEC Championship just to be safe.

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ACC schedule changes assure Notre Dame spot in Championship Game

The ACC made a series of schedule adjustments that resulted in Notre Dame securing a spot in the conference championship game

The ACC announced schedule adjustments on Tuesday. The end result will see neither Notre Dame nor Clemson playing games that were expected to happen on Dec. 12.

That opens the door for each powerhouse to have a bye week before what will likely be a rematch of their regular-season thriller that saw the Fighting Irish down the Tigers, 47-40, in double overtime.

That game in South Bend was one Clemson played without star quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who had tested positive for COVID-19.

Should a game(s) involving Clemson, Miami, or Notre Dame not be played this weekend, the ACC has the option to reschedule games on Dec. 12 as needed. Based on the current standings and results to date, Notre Dame holds all tiebreakers and has therefore secured a berth in the ACC Football Championship Game.

The ACC Championship Game is in Charlotte on Dec. 19.

The changes:

Following a recommendation from the conference Athletic Director football subcommittee, the league’s Athletic Directors have voted to preserve the integrity of the ACC Football Championship Game by evaluating each of the three teams in contention (Clemson, Miami and Notre Dame) based on a nine-game conference schedule. As a result, Clemson and Notre Dame will conclude the regular season this weekend.

Wake Forest, which was scheduled to play Notre Dame on Dec. 12, will now play at Louisville. Florida State will play host to Duke on Saturday, Dec. 12, and Florida State will travel to Wake Forest on Dec. 19.

Thursday, Dec. 10
Pitt at Georgia Tech (previously announced)

Saturday, Dec. 12
Virginia at Virginia Tech (previously announced)
North Carolina at Miami (previously announced)
Duke at Florida State
Wake Forest at Louisville

Saturday, Dec. 19
ACC Football Championship Game, 4 p.m., ABC (previously announced)
Georgia Tech at Miami (previously announced and if Miami is not in the FCG)
Florida State at Wake Forest

BREAKING: Notre Dame at Wake Forest canceled for Dec. 12

Notre Dame’s regular-season finale at Wake Forest has been called off. The Irish have now officially qualified for the ACC Championship.

Notre Dame’s regular season will now conclude this Saturday as news has just come out that their game at Wake Forest on December 12 has been canceled.

This decision came from the ACC’s Athletic Director football committee who stated they will base qualifying for the ACC Championship Game on a nine-game schedule that the remaining contending teams all will have played.

Those remaining teams include No. 2 Notre Dame, who at 9-0 and with a win over Clemson has now officially clinched their spot in the December 19 title game.

The other two teams who remain in contention are Clemson and Miami who both have played eight conference games to date and despite sharing similar 7-1 conference marks, Clemson holds the tie-breaker over because of their head-to-head result early in the season.

Notre Dame will have the week before the ACC Championship Game off now as Wake Forest will make up their game with Lousiville that day.  Duke will also travel to Florida State in ACC competition now on December 12.

Also worth noting from the ACC’s announcement is that if any game involving Notre Dame, Clemson or Miami were to be called-off this weekend, that game would be rescheduled for December 12.

 

Notre Dame at North Carolina: Fourth-Quarter Analysis

As impossible as it seemed, Notre Dame’s defense neutralized the powerhouse that is North Carolina’s offense.

As impossible as it seemed, Notre Dame’s defense neutralized the powerhouse that is North Carolina’s offense. There’s no other way to describe it when the Tar Heels only scored a field goal over the final three quarters. Now, the Irish have every serious challenge en route to the ACC championship game in the rear-view mirror. But for now, they’ll celebrate their 31-17 win.

Once again, we got a quarter featuring a punting battle between Jay Bramblett and Ben Kiernan. It took a while for the Irish (9-0, 8-0) to get any offense going, but they eventually did when Kyren Williams ran for 47 yards on the first play of their final possession. Ian Book kept giving it to Williams, and that persistence paid off when Williams took it into the end zone from 1 yard out. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels (6-3, 6-3) never got beyond the Irish’s 41-yard line the entire fourth quarter.

Give all of the credit in the world to Clark Lea for preparing his defense for a seemingly insurmountable task. After the first quarter, that unit made the Tar Heels look like a team still figuring things out. If fans didn’t know about that offense’s reputation going in, they never would have known what it’s done this season. That’s how good the 2020 Irish are.

What If Notre Dame, Miami Finish Tied for Second Place in the ACC?

No one wants to imagine Notre Dame losing to Clemson, but you have to brace for the possibility.

No one wants to imagine Notre Dame losing to Clemson, but you have to brace for the possibility. At that point, the Irish would be playing for second place in the ACC and a spot in the title game. The most likely team they would have to battle for that spot is Miami, which has lost only once. These teams don’t play each other this season, and the follow three tiebreaker scenarios are irrelevant in this case, so the Miami Herald has broken down the fifth tiebreaker scenario should it come to that.

That scenario is higher ranking in the Team Rating Score metric from SportSource Analytics. The company is about as likely to publicly reveal that formula as Mr. Krabs is to hand over the one for Krabby Patties to Plankton. So it’s pretty much the Bowl Championship Series all over again, albeit on a much smaller scale. There’s nothing either team would be able to do with the result but accept it, and only one would be going to Charlotte.

 

 

 

ACC Championship Game date officially set

When the ACC announced their restructured football schedule for 2020 one of the interesting parts that went a bit less noticed than say, Notre Dame joining a conference for football, was that the date of the ACC Championship Game wasn’t set in …

When the ACC announced their restructured football schedule for 2020 one of the interesting parts that went a bit less noticed than say, Notre Dame joining a conference for football, was that the date of the ACC Championship Game wasn’t set in stone.

Originally listed as “either December 12 or 19”, the game which will be played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

It’s now officially set for Saturday, Dec. 19 per an ACC release.

This isn’t really a surprise whatsoever with the amount of postponements and rescheduling the conference has already gone through.

Notre Dame for instance will be playing at Wake Forest on December 12 at Wake Forest in a game that was originally set for September.

Here’s to hoping that will be the first of two consecutive weekends the Irish spend in North Carolina.

Week 14 CFP Implications: Chalk or chaos?

With just one week remaining in the college football season, we can look at the likely Playoff participants based on the outcomes.

A wild college football weekend saw the second Iron Bowl win by Auburn in the last three years. This time, though, it means that we will have a College Football Playoff without Alabama for the first time ever. We also saw Ohio State once again blow out a Michigan team expected to be competitive.

So, where does this leave us in the College Football race? We have five potentially meaningful games next week, though depending on how the other games go, the ACC Championship Game might not mean much. Let’s break down the stakes in each of the conference championship games. But first, let’s talk about what makes life simple for the committee.

The chalk scenario

There is only one real case of chalk this upcoming week. That would be championship game wins by Ohio State, LSU, and Clemson. As long as that happens, three Playoff spots are locked up. If Oregon wins, then the Big 12 champion is the fourth team. If Utah beats Oregon (especially if it’s by a wide margin), then we’ll have a two-team bubble of Utah and the Big 12 champion. The second case might be a tough choice for the committee, but at least it’s simple, clear-cut, and involves picking only one out of two teams. Any other scenario, and the committee is stuck sifting out three or more teams for at least the final two spots. That could be messy in a lot of ways, though considering Ohio State and LSU as virtual locks might make things easier. We can’t say any of that for sure until we see the games, though.

Next… The five conference championship games

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