Virginia and Duke play for the ACC Championship on Saturday. How did the ACC get here? Well, Virginia went 7-1 in the conference having beat Stanford(3-5), Florida State(2-6), Louisville(4-4), North Carolina(2-6), Cal(4-4), Duke(6-2) and Virginia Tech(2-6). Duke went 6-2 in the conference and tied Miami, Georgia Tech, SMU and Pittsburgh, but gets the tiebreaker based on opponents winning pct. If Duke beats Virginia on Saturday, there is a very good chance that the ACC will not have a team in the 12 team playoff.
I have come up with a better solution for a tiebreaker, at least in my opinion. It should be based on point differential. That’s probably the best indicator for determining a team’s real ability. My thought is if two teams are tied and there is no head to head between them or three or more teams are tied, use the points differential from their conference games. And to make sure teams don’t unnecessarily run up the score, we can set a limit of 40 points a game in the points differential.
So lets compare Duke, Miami, Georgia Tech, SMU and Pittsburghs point differentials.
Duke
| Opponent | Score | Differential |
|---|---|---|
| NC State | 45-33 | +12 |
| Syracuse | 38-3 | +35 |
| Cal | 45-21 | +24 |
| Georgia Tech | 18-27 | -9 |
| Clemson | 46-45 | +1 |
| Virginia | 17-34 | -17 |
| North Carolina | 32-25 | +7 |
| Wake Forest | 49-32 | +17 |
| Differential | +70 |
Georgia Tech
| Opponent | Score | Differential |
|---|---|---|
| Clemson | 24-21 | +3 |
| Wake Forest | 30-29 | +1 |
| Virginia Tech | 35-20 | +15 |
| Duke | 27-18 | +9 |
| Syracuse | 41-16 | +25 |
| NC State | 36-48 | -12 |
| Boston College | 36-34 | +2 |
| Pittsburgh | 28-42 | -14 |
| Differential | +29 |
Miami
| Opponent | Score | Differential |
|---|---|---|
| Florida State | 28-22 | +6 |
| Stanford | 42-7 | +35 |
| SMU | 20-26 | -6 |
| Syracuse | 38-10 | +28 |
| NC State | 41-7 | +34 |
| Virginia Tech | 34-17 | +17 |
| Louisville | 21-24 | -3 |
| Pittsburgh | 38-7 | +31 |
| Differential | +142 |
Pittsburgh
| Opponent | Score | Differential |
|---|---|---|
| Louisville | 27-34 | -7 |
| Boston College | 48-7 | +40 |
| Florida State | 34-31 | +3 |
| Syracuse | 30-13 | +17 |
| NC State | 53-34 | +19 |
| Stanford | 35-20 | +15 |
| Georgia Tech | 42-28 | +14 |
| Miami | 7-38 | -31 |
| Differential | +70 |
SMU
| Opponent | Score | Differential |
|---|---|---|
| Syracuse | 31-18 | +13 |
| Stanford | 34-10 | +24 |
| Clemson | 35-24 | +11 |
| Wake Forest | 12-13 | -1 |
| Miami | 26-20 | +6 |
| Boston College | 45-13 | +32 |
| Louisville | 38-6 | +32 |
| Cal | 35-38 | -3 |
| Differential | +114 |
So based on my tiebreaker system, here’s the final order of the teams: Miami, SMU, Duke and Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech
More proof that Miami should be playing Virginia in the conference championship.
All rankings can be found here: