Saturday’s loss to Virginia was a devastating one for the North Carolina Tar Heels, ending their perfect season and any chance they had at making a surprise run to the College Football Playoff. But the loss totally didn’t eliminate them from the Atlantic Coast Conference race.
Up until that game, North Carolina was keeping pace with Florida State who is also unbeaten in the conference. They were ahead of Duke and Louisville, the two biggest threats to the Tar Heels reaching Charlotte. Now, with one loss the Tar Heels chances of making the conference title game have dropped but they still control their own destiny.
Per ESPN Stats & Info, the Tar Heels have the second-best odds to make the game at 36%. That trails only Florida State who has a 99% chance to make it.
Here are the updated odds following last week’s action:
Updated ACC championship game appearance odds, via @ESPNStatsInfo
FSU: 99%
UNC: 36%
Duke: 26%
Louisville: 26%
Virginia Tech: 5%
Miami: 5%
Clemson: 2%— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) October 23, 2023
North Carolina still has to play Duke who is third at 26% as well as Clemson who is at 2%. That Duke game is setting up to be a HUGE one, especially with the Blue Devils having just one loss. Duke does have Louisville left on the schedule but outside of the Cardinals and the Tar Heels, the schedule isn’t very hard.
They also face off against Georgia Tech and NC State, two teams really with no shot of getting to Charlotte.
But first things first, UNC has to take care of business against the Yellow Jackets and find a way to win out to get to Charlotte.
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