Tag: ACC Football championship

Time and date announced for 2024 ACC Football Championship

Does the UNC football team have a shot at the ACC Championship this year?

After the ACC Football Championship pitted two division winners against each other for the longest time, last year saw a different format.

All 14 ACC teams – Notre Dame is a football independent – fought for two berths in the title game. Those berths ended up going to Louisville and Florida State, with the latter winning and just missing the College Football Playoff, despite entering bowl season undefeated.

After the first six weeks of their season, the North Carolina Tar Heels appeared to have a clear shot at an ACC Championship Game berth. UNC was 6-0, scoring 40 points in four of its first six games and having a defensive resurgence, but a loss to Virginia changed everything

Headlined by the return of star running back Omarion Hampton and Kaimon Rucker, one of the nation’s top linebackers, 2024 will look a lot different for North Carolina. Gone are Drake Maye, Devontez Walker and Cedric Gray, with the greatest question mark being quarterback.

The Tar Heels’ ACC Title chances are slim, but who knows – they could surprise everyone.

Speaking of the ACC Championship, the ACC announced the conference finale’s date and start time on Monday.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9criqjuRJU/

I’m intrigued to see who makes the Championship. Will it be FSU and Clemson, like many are predicting, or will teams like UNC and Pitt shock the world?

Regardless of who’s playing, championship season is always fun to watch. North Carolina will look for its first ACC Championship Game berth since 2022.

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Irish losing grip as Clemson’s main challenger in ACC?

A few analysts see Notre Dame trending in the wrong way. Should the Irish be concerned at all?

After one week of play, there is a concerning trend that some analysts have taken when looking at Notre Dame. The Irish are on the verge of losing their grip as Clemson’s main challenger for the ACC crown.

Eric Mac Lain, an analyst at the ACC Network, has the Irish behind North Carolina. Both teams won, both teams needed big second half’s to secure those wins.

Over at 247Sports, they looked at week two overreactions and the Irish showed up. Brandon Marcello stated the obvious that the passing game needed to be better, but his assessment after was concerning. Marcello noted “North Carolina, meanwhile, looks like more of a challenger than Notre Dame in the ACC.”

Yes, this was a look at overreactions, but it’s still a reaction. One that doesn’t have the Irish trending in the right direction. The good news is that after Kelly’s meeting with the media yesterday, he shed some light on the offense. A new zone blocking scheme held the offense back a bit, without live reps in preseason camp, there were kinks to be worked out.

Could that have been why quarterback Ian Book struggled? There were other reasons, his receiver with the most reps in camp, Bennett Skowronek, got injured and didn’t return. All new skill position players needed to be broken in.

North Carolina returned a 1,000 yard rusher, two 1,000 yard receivers and quarterback Sam Howell. They have the chemistry but still struggled.

Yes, some have “dropped” the Irish a notch in there rankings but it doesn’t matter much. Notre Dame’s schedule is set up for them to be able to break in a new offense, while still being able to win. Louisville and Pittsburgh are ranked opponents, but would they be in a normal season? Doubtful.

The defense looks like it won’t skip a beat from last years very good group. They will give the offense a cushion to get comfortable. Brian Kelly’s group should be fine going forward as they compete for the ACC title.