No. 4 Miami Falls to Georgia Tech, Gives Pitt Chance in ACC Title Race

Miami has been close to losing quite a few times this season (a near Hail Mary vs. Virginia Tech and a late fourth quarterback comeback vs. Cal), but the Hurricanes have finally fallen in ACC play.

Georgia Tech welcomed Miami to Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta and sent the ‘Canes packing with a 28-23 loss.

Miami quarterback Cam Ward, a leading Heisman Trophy candidate, had a chance to lead a go-ahead drive late in the fourth quarter, but he was sacked on second-and-10 at the Canes’ 17 with 1:48 left in the game. He lost the ball, and GT defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg recovered.

It’s the first loss of the season for Miami, and it opens up the ACC championship picture. Miami and SMU both had a 90% chance to qualify for the title game, according to ESPN analytics. That’s changed.

SMU is now No. 1 in the ACC, with Clemson, Pitt and Miami all having one loss. It will likely come down to the wire, but if Pitt wins out, the Panthers will very likely be in the ACC championship game.

The ACC will use the highest winning percentage, after any tiebreaker, to decide who the No. 1 seed is for the Championship game.

If there is a two-team tie for a spot in the ACC Championship game, there are six different tie-breakers available to break the deadlock.

1. Head-to-head competition between the two tied teams.
2. Win-percentage versus all common opponents.
3. Win-percentage versus common opponents based upon their order of finish (overall conference win-percentage, with ties broken) and proceeding through other common opponents based upon their order of finish.
4. Combined win-percentage of conference opponents.
5. The tied team with the higher ranking by the Team Rating Score metric provided by SportSource Analytics following the conclusion of regular season games.
6. The representative shall be chosen by a draw as administered by the Commissioner of Commissioner’s designee.

If there is a three or more team-tie for a spot in the ACC Championship game, there are seven tiebreakers to decide the teams. The ACC will use these tiebreakers to first pick a representative for the Championship game and then once they determine a team, they will use the tiebreakers again for the remaining teams.

1. Combined head-to-head win-percentage among the tied teams if all tied teams are common opponents.
2. If all the tied teams are not common opponents, the tied team that defeated each of the other tied teams.
3. Win-percentage versus all common opponents.
4. Win-percentage versus common opponents based upon their order of finish (overall conference win-percentage, with ties broken) and proceeding through other common opponents based upon their order of finish.
5. Combined win-percentage of conference opponents.
6. The tied team with the highest ranking by the Team Rating Score metric provided by SportSource Analytics following the conclusion of regular season games.
7. The representative shall be chosen by a draw as administered by the Commissioner of Commissioner’s designee.

If Pitt wins out, which would include taking down No. 23 Clemson next weekend, it would likely come down to overall conference win percentage. And as it stands, Pitt has a better conference win percentage than Miami. So, it will come down to the wire if the Panthers can handle business.

Current ACC Standings:

SMU — 8-1 (5-0)

Miami — 9-1 (5-1)

Clemson — 6-2  (5-1)**

Louisville — 6-3 (4-2)*

Pitt — 7-1 (3-1)**

* — off this week

**– haven’t completed their game yet this week