ACC Football News and Notes: The Championship Game is All Set

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There will be little drama associated with the final weekend of the Atlantic Coast Conference season. The Championship Game matchup is all set and it will be the Florida State Seminoles vs the Louisville Cardinals. The game is on December 2 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. For the Seminoles, this will be trip number six to the title game. It will be their first since 2014. For the Cardinals, this will be their first-ever trip to the championship game. Quite a first year for head coach Jeff Brohm. Next week we will dive into the title game. In the meantime, let’s take a look at the final weekend of play in the ACC.

The Syracuse Orangemen (5-6) have one last shot to become bowl-eligible after losing last week at Georgia Tech. The loss also cost the head coach Dino Babers his job. On Senior Day, the Orange will host Wake Forest for the chance to have one more game. Syracuse will be coached by Nunzio Campanile, who has taken over the team on an interim basis. With a win on Saturday, the Orange will be bowl-eligible in back-to-back years. Wake Forest (4-7), on the other hand, is looking to snap a four-game losing streak. The Demon Deacons have won the last three games between the two schools. Wake has averaged 41 points a game in those three. These two teams have put up pretty much the same numbers this season. Wake’s offense is averaging 322.6 yards a game, Syracuse’s 348.7 a game. On defense, Wake allows 379.3 yards, while Syracuse gives up 377.8 a game.

The Commonwealth Cup returns after a two-year absence. The Virginia Tech Hokies (5-6, 4-3) take on the Virginia Cavaliers (3-8, 2-5). The Hokies need this one if they want to play in a bowl game. Both teams have struggled this season. The Hokies record on the road is 1-4. Their lone road win came two weeks ago at Boston College. Virginia is just 2-3 at home. However, they defeated Duke last Saturday at home.

The Pittsburgh Panthers (3-8, 2-5) head to Duke (6-5, 3-4) to finish the season. The Panthers have had success against the Blue Devils since they joined the ACC. Pitt is 8-1 overall and has won the last seven games between the two. Pittsburgh ranks in the Top-25 in both red zone offense (21st at 90.3%) and red zone defense (14th at 73.7%). They are one of just eight teams in FBS that can make that claim. Duke’s red zone defense is ranked 24th at 76.3%. They are 26th in scoring defense at 19.8 points. Duke also ranks 25th in team passing efficiency defense at 120.45.

The North Carolina Tar Heels (8-3, 4-3) will travel to North Carolina State (8-3, 5-2) and third place in the league standings could be on the line in this one. The Wolfpack led the league in total defense and scoring defense in league play. They are holding ACC teams to 308.4 yards a game and 16.4 points a contest. In their last nine games, their defense has allowed just 88.5 yards on the ground. Overall, the defense of NC State ranks in the Top-25 of FBS in ten different categories. The Tar Heels have one of the better QBs in the league and maybe the nation. Derek Maye has thrown for 3,354 yards and ranks #33 in the country in passing efficiency at 151.8. He has thrown 22 touchdown passes. Maye has been responsible for 182 points this season which ranks him #15 in the nation. He has been named ACC Quarterback of the Week twice this year. Special teams have been good for UNC. Noah Burdette ranks fourth in the country in points per game at 10.4. He is 18-of-19 in field goal attempts this season. He is just one of six players to average double-digits per game this year.

Next week we dive into the championship matchup between Florida State and Louisville.