North Carolina’s win over Wake Forest kicks ACC out of the playoff race

With their win over the previously-unbeaten Wake Forest Saturday, the North Carolina football team has officially killed the ACC’s playoff chances.

As unorthodox as it may sound, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s playoff chances had run through the Wake Forest Demon Deacons as of late. That is, at least, until North Carolina football showed up.

Saturday saw UNC outlast the then-unbeaten Wake Forest in a Chapel Hill shootout, resulting in a final score of 58-55. The “upset” win has almost guaranteed that the ACC will have no representation in the CFP bracket come selection day.

I put the term “upset” in quotations due to the fact that it wasn’t one officially; the Tar Heels were a close favorite on the spread when entering the game. However, a home win over a top-10 rival is something to celebrate nonetheless.

Now, UNC sits with a still-unpleasant record of 5-4, while the Deacs have fallen to 8-1 on the season. This does not help/hurt anyone’s ACC title game chances, though, as the meeting was scheduled for both teams in a non-conference slot.

In other words, Wake Forest is still the favorite to win the Atlantic Division until further notice, and the league record for the Tar Heels did not improve whatsoever.

And while we’re on the topic of things that are still possible, there are certainly worse/less-deserving options to put into the playoff than a 1-loss ACC champ. However, even if Wake Forest were to finish 12-1, it would receive virtually no consideration by the committee.

The Deacs were even being deemed as doubtful of getting a playoff spot with a 13-0 record still in reach; with a loss to an unranked team, their CFP window has pretty much been slammed shut (realistically speaking).

With Wake out of the way, who else in the Atlantic Coast stands a chance? Clemson, North Carolina football, Miami, and Boston College–some of the most hyped up ACC teams coming into this season–all have multiple losses already.

Wake Forest will most likely lose again, whether it is to NC State, Clemson, or both. At that point, the ACC will be taken even less seriously than it already was.

But hey, great win for North Carolina football —  the Tar Heels definitely deserved it. The only thing that both the Tar Heels and Deacs can do at this point is to try their hardest to finish their seasons on as strong of a note as possible.

As for the Atlantic Coast Conference as a whole, every school within it needs to focus on bringing more to the table next year, and I mean a lot more.

UNC stormed the field when beating Wake Forest, celebrating a hard-fought victory over the top dawg of the ACC. If that isn’t an alarming statement for the league’s image, then I don’t know what is.