Following Clemson’s No. 4 ranking in the first installment of the College Football Playoff Committee’s rankings this fall, an ESPN analyst weighed in on the possibility of an ACC upset between the Tigers and the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Chris “The Bear” Fallica expressed his thoughts on the potential for a Tar Heel run during the latter part of the season and a possible upset versus Clemson if the pair meet in the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 3 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
“They have the loss to Notre Dame, which is obviously going to be a problem,” Fallica said regarding North Carolina. “If they were to run the table with that offense with [Drake] Maye at quarterback, who I think his name is rarely named in the Heisman race, if you compare his numbers to Hendon Hooker, CJ Stroud, Bryce Young and all those guys, he’s right there.”
“Now defensively, they’re No. 115 in the country in defensive efficiency, so that unit has been a liability,” Fallica continued. “They played better in the second half against Pitt and they shut down Izzy [Israel Abanikanda] in that Pitt offense. If they were to win out, we could be in a situation like the year they wound up playing Clemson in that ACC title game with the onside kick (2015), they potentially could have been in the playoff that year. If they’re 12-1 and ACC Champs and they rip through the remainder of these games and beat Clemson, who obviously the committee thinks very highly of, sure why not. I think of all the teams ranked in the teens, they certainly have the biggest upside.”
While Clemson was ranked within the top five in the No. 4 slot, North Carolina was a ways back at No. 17. The Tigers lead the way as the highest-ranked ACC team in Tuesday’s initial rankings with North Carolina (17), Syracuse (20), Wake Forest (21) and NC State (22) also ranked within the CFP Committee’s top 25.
