By Kartik Krishnaiyer
Canes Rising Staff
As I suspected, following North Carolina's loss to Maryland, Miami can clinch the ACC Coastal division title this week if things cut right.
That's especially good news because N.C. State is beginning to look as if it could be equally tough, if not tougher, than Georgia Tech.
Here are the scenarios. Each assumes a Miami win over GT:
- Miami beats GT, Virginia Tech beats Duke and Virginia beats Clemson.
- Miami beats GT, North Carolina loses to NC State.
- Miami beats GT, the Virginia Tech/Virginia winner on Nov 29th has won the previous week as well even if the losing team lost the previous week. Confused? Don't be. Let's just say Miami needs to win this week in Atlanta and the rest will take care of itself.
The Yellow Jackets, despite being mired in mediocrity themselves and firing Chan Gailey after last season, have beat Miami three straight years.
Now GT has Paul Johnson, one of the nation's top coaches, and the triple spread option, which can best be described as a hybrid of Florida's current offense and Nebraska's offense of the 1990s.
Miami can still win the coastal with a loss to GT if some other far fetched scenarios play out, like Duke beating North Carolina among other things, which also include the results of nonconference games involving ACC teams.
But, silliness aside, the reality is that this is a must win for both the Canes and Jackets. Miami is unlikely to win the conference with a loss on Thursday.
In the world of ACC tiebreakers the Ga. Tech game is far more important than the N.C. State game and that's probably a good thing.
N.C. State right now offers a stronger challenge to the Canes because the Wolfpack can create matchup problems with Miami's secondary.
Of course, Georgia Tech hasn't lost to Miami since 2004 and will be feeling confident that they have the Canes where they want them at Grant Field.
Posts
