There are some particularly controversial matchups set to unfold during conference championship weekend, and perhaps the strangest of them belongs to the ACC, as 10-2 Virginia is set to face off against 7-5 Duke.
That means the same Blue Devils squad that is 0-2 against Group-of-5 competition, 1-3 in non-conference games overall, and has already fallen to both Georgia Tech and—yes—Virginia, will soon have a chance to house the Atlantic Coast crown in Durham. It also means that squads like GT, Pittsburgh, SMU and Miami will all be stuck watching them fight for it from home. How could that happen?
Well, most football fans point their fingers at the ACC’s tiebreaker rules, but while those may be…questionable, it’s worth noting that the league’s been hectic all season long, and the teams no longer in the hunt ultimately have no one to blame but themselves for that. However, if you had to highlight one name that exhibited a catastrophic pairing of formidability and inconsistency that greatly assisted in such a foolish outcome, it would have to be California.
The Cal Golden Bears are also 7-5, and how they got there involved what just might be one of the most topsy-turvy sports campaigns known to man. Their journey included a convincing win over Minnesota, a shutout loss to San Diego State, a heartbreaker at Virginia Tech, and a thrilling upset at Louisville.
Those make for quite a few bumps on their own, but there were a couple of more beyond them that I feel are especially important: A heavy defeat at the hands of Duke and, most recently, another upset—but this time with an interim coach as the Golden Bears downed SMU, which was officially what punched the Blue Devils their ticket to the title game.
Again, there’s a lot of blame to share for how the ACC sits today, but it’s teams like Cal that really push things over the edge. So if you’re going to watch the rematch between the Cavaliers and Blue Devils this weekend, try to ignore Oski as he prances around in the back of your mind.