ACC NOTEBOOK Cavaliers hold ACC's fate for playoff

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The worst-case scenario for the Atlantic Coast Conference — not getting a team into the College Football Playoff — is one more upset away from becoming a reality.

With five-loss Duke using tie-breakers to reach Saturday's title game against Virginia, a Blue Devil win means the conference could be left out of the expanded playoff altogether.

More on that later. Here is what to know about the ACC heading into championship weekend:

ACC Championship

Charlotte, North Carolina

No. 18 Virginia (10-2, 7-1 ACC) vs. Duke (7-5, 6-2 ACC), Saturday, 8 p.m. ET/7 CT, ABC

Someone is going to end a long drought by winning the ACC title game Saturday night.

The Cavaliers haven't won the ACC since splitting the crown with Florida State in 1995. Duke hasn't won an ACC crown since sharing the regular season with Virginia in 1989.

The teams met just two weeks ago, with Virginia doubling up the Blue Devils, 34-17, in Durham. The Cavaliers never trailed in a dominant win and held Duke season lows in total offense (255), rushing yards (42), passing yards (213), pass completions (18), points scored (17) and first downs (11).

The Blue Devils feature a high-powered attack led by transfer quarterback Dariah Mensah, who has guided the offense to 30 or more points in eight games, including at least 45 points in five of Duke's six victories.

Mensah is in the top 10 nationally in passing yards, passing yards per game, passing touchdowns and completions per game.

A win for coach Tony Elliott and the Cavaliers will give UVa its first-ever outright ACC Championship, including its first ACC Championship game victory and set the program’s single-season wins record.

Playoff possibilities

The 12-team playoff calls for automatic bids for the five highest-ranked conference champions. In the pentultimate rankings, James Madison moved into the rankings at No. 25, while Duke was unranked.

That means if JMU wins the Sunbelt and Duke upsets UVa in the ACC title game, it seems unlikely the Blue Devils would go from unranked to ahead of James Madison.

Both teams in the American Conference Championship game — No. 24 North Texas and No. 20 Tulane — are ranked this week as well and the winner likely stays ahead of the Blue Devils.

Virginia is ranked 17th this week — ahead of Tulane, North Texas and James Madison — and should earn one of the five automatic bids with a win over Duke.

Miami is the ACC's highest-ranked team at No. 12, but could be left out barring a late change of heart from the committee and some help. Because of tiebreakers, the Hurricanes didn't earn a spot in the ACC title game.

Sitting at No. 12 means the 'Canes are likely out of the field with at least one conference champion bumping them and possibly two. The only thing that could save Miami is the committee remembering The U beat Notre Dame head-to-head to start the year and move them ahead of the Fighting Irish, who sit at No. 10 this week.

All-ACC

Miami led the way with a league-best 14 All-ACC selections across the first, second and third teams when the all-conference teams were announced.

The Hurricanes were also one of four programs — California, Clemson, Georgia Tech and Miami — to land four players on the first team. Duke and Virginia followed with eight total honorees each, while Louisville and Pitt added seven standouts apiece across the three teams.

Heading south

The ACC announced this week that Virginia and NC State will take part in College Football Brasil, the first-ever college football game in South America.

The two teams will open the 2026 season in a Week 0 matchup on Aug. 29, 2026, at Nilton Santos Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

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