ACC Football News and Notes: Championship Week is Here

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Championship week is here after a long and at times difficult fall. The two best teams in the ACC will square off on Saturday afternoon. Notre Dame (10-0, 9-0) will meet Clemson (9-1, 8-1) for the title and a spot in the college football playoffs. Although there is a slightly better than average chance that both teams will make it, neither one wants to leave it to the committee to decide who goes and who does not. This will be the second meeting between the two schools this year. The first one was an instant classic with the Irish winning in double-overtime 47-40 back in early November at Notre Dame Stadium. Here is some other news from the league.

The Tigers are in the title game for the sixth straight season and the eighth time overall. They are the first Power 5 team to make six consecutive championship games. There is only one other league in college football that can make the same claim. The MAC is that conference and in their case, it happened twice. First, in 1997-2002 Marshall made it six straight times. Northern Illinois also did it between the years of 2010-15. The Tigers have won the last five championship matches. Clemson has won 19 titles, which is four more than any other program. This will be the first championship game that will feature two teams that are ranked in the top five. The Tigers are at #3 and the Irish are at #2.

Saturday’s game also has two of the winningest quarterbacks in their school history. Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, who missed the first go around this season because he was under virus protocol, has a record of 33-1 (.971) as the starter. For the Irish, Ian Book is 30-3 (.909). Both guys have shown the ability to handle the big stage and lead their teams. Come Saturday, it is excepted to be no different. For the two defenses, it could be a long day trying to slow down these two guys and the weapons that they both have to use.

For some conferences across the country playing their schedule became a bit of a struggle. In the ACC, teams were able to play their games. The league will end up playing 86 total games. That is 14 more than any other conference in the country and 17 more than any other Power 5 league. Fourteen of the fifteen teams in the ACC were able to play at least ten games while nine of those teams had .500 or better records. The conference also leads all Power 5 conferences with 22 wins over teams with .500 or better records. The next closet had 19.

Last Saturday, history was made in Miami as North Carolina Tar Heels running back duo of Michael Carter and Javonte Williams ran around and through the Hurricanes defense. The pair set an all-time single-game FBS record by combing for 544 yards on the ground. Carter went for 308 yards and two TD and Williams ran for 236 and three TD. Both finished with over 1,000 yards for the year. They become the first pair to do this since Pitt in 2018 when Darrin Hall and Qadree Ollison did the trick. Carter ended his year with 1,245 on the ground and Williams finished with 1,140. This was the seventh time in FBS history that two running backs rushed for more than 200 yards in a single game. It was the first time that one back ran for 300 and another went for 200 in the same game. The 544 yards by the pair surpassed the previous mark of 506 set earlier this year by the Buffalo pair of Jared Patterson (409) and Kevin Marks (97).

We hope you enjoyed this season’s edition of the Atlantic Coast Conference football notes. Looking forward to next year and more from the ACC.