Notre Dame clinched a spot in the ACC Championship not by virtue of a game outcome, but because the conference lopped off its regular-season finale from the schedule.
The Irish (9-0, 8-0 ACC) won’t play their Dec. 12 game at Wake Forest, which was a makeup of a postponed Sept. 26 meeting, the ACC announced Tuesday.
The league’s two one-loss teams, Clemson (8-1, 7-1 ACC) and Miami (7-1, 6-1), will also not play a postponed game. Each had a contest wiped out due to opponent’s COVID-19 issues — Clemson didn’t play Florida State Nov. 21 and Miami won’t play Wake Forest in a game that was set for Saturday.
With Notre Dame, Clemson and Miami now playing a nine-game schedule and everyone else in the ACC eliminated from championship game contention, the Irish own all tiebreakers and have clinched a spot in their only season in the conference. Notre Dame and Clemson would each have an off week before the title game if Clemson takes the other spot by beating Virginia Tech on Saturday.
“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,” the ACC said in a statement. “As a result, Clemson and Notre Dame will conclude the regular season this weekend.”
Notre Dame owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Tigers and cannot lose twice with only one game left.
Should the Irish lose Saturday against Syracuse and each of those three teams finishes with a loss, Notre Dame would still be in the championship game over Miami and Clemson using the three-team tiebreaker scenario, combined win percentage among the tied teams: Notre Dame is 1-0 against Clemson and Miami, Clemson is 1-1 against Miami and Notre Dame, and Miami is 0-1 against Clemson and Notre Dame.
“It’s crazy,” Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams said Tuesday via Zoom when told of the news. “You come to Notre Dame and don’t think you’re going to play in any conference games. Now we’re in the ACC championship game for the first time in Notre Dame history. This is a goal as a team we’ve been preaching wince we joined the ACC. We were going to come in here and compete for an ACC championship.
“We can’t forget that we still have to keep working to get to that goal. We haven’t accomplished anything yet.”
Miami will play Duke Saturday instead of Wake Forest, its scheduled opponent that had to postpone the game due to COVID-19 issues. The Hurricanes play North Carolina Dec. 12 in a previously scheduled makeup game to get to nine games. Their only way into the ACC Championship is two wins and a Clemson loss to Virginia Tech.
If Miami is not in the title game, it will play Georgia Tech on Dec. 19 for a 10th league game.
Here’s the full amended schedule for Dec. 12 and 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
The ACC played 74 of its 85 scheduled games (87.1 percent) through Nov. 28.
This story has been updated and corrected an earlier error that incorrectly said Miami will not play Dec. 12.
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