When the Miami Hurricanes looked like one of the top teams in the Country, it looked like the ACC could end up earning multiple bids into the 12-team College Football Playoff. The last few weeks have been an absolute disaster for the ACC with Miami taking two losses while Louisville, Georgia Tech, and Virginia have all suffered set back losses.
The ACC went from a team that could get two teams or more back in the Playoff like they did in 2024 with SMU and Clemson to being at best a 1 bid league. For those rooting for the ACC to put as many teams as possible, who think this can't get worse, it certainly can.
Duke winning the ACC would be a nightmare for the conference
While most think the 4 highest conference champions earning a bid means the Power 4 each is guaranteed a bid, that isn't the case. There's currently a nightmare scenario brewing for the ACC, which would be the Duke Blue Devils winning the Conference Championship.
The Duke Blue Devils are currently just 5-4 on the season which would have them far out of Playoff contention, but they're 4-1 in ACC play. Having only one loss in ACC play puts Duke in contention for the conference championship game.
If Duke can beat Virginia in a big matchup before facing North Carolina and Wake Forrest, they'll likely find themselves in Charlotte. If the Blue Devils, then win the Conference Championship game, the ACC could find itself left out of the College Football Playoff.
The Group of 5 will get a team into the Playoff, but if there are two strong contenders, it may become a serious debate with the ACC. Tulane is in the mix in the American, and they already have a win over Duke which helps the American's case. If the American and Sun Belt each end the year with 1 loss conference champions, it's going to be almost impossible to put a 4-loss ACC champion in the Playoff.
If Tulane wins the American, they'd already have a win over Duke and a better record which may result in them already being a higher ranked team than Duke. James Madison could win out in the Sun Belt and with an 12-1 record with their lone loss coming in a close game to Louisville, it would be tough to keep them out in favor of a 4 loss Duke team. Even Conference USA could have a team in the debate if Kennesaw State wins out as their two losses would be against Indiana and Wake Forest.
As things currently stand, if the 5 teams tied at 1 ACC loss (Georgia Tech, Virginia, Pitt, SMU, and Duke), all won their remaining league games, the ACC Championship Game would be between Georgia Tech and Virginia. The issue with that is that Georgia Tech plays Pitt and Virginia plays Duke while SMU will only face Louisville who's still in contention.
If Duke beats Virginia, regardless of the outcome of Georgia Tech Vs Pittsburgh, the Blue Devils would make the ACC Championship if every other 1 loss team won their remaining games. The ACC doesn't root against any of it's teams, but for the sake of the playoff, they'll be rooting against the Blue Devils.