One is neat and tidy, like an accountant’s office. The other is messier than a teenager’s bedroom.
There's the buttoned-down ACC Atlantic, which became Florida State's domain one month ago and was clinched by the Seminoles on Nov. 9. Then there's its wild-child brother, the ACC Coastal.
As laid out by Patrick Stevens of the Syracuse Post-Standard, the Coastal has 32 different tiebreaking scenarios involving five teams. Heading into the final two weeks of the season, no division in major college football presents more possibilities.
The scenarios stem from five relevant games: Duke-Wake Forest and Virginia-Miami this week, and Miami-Pitt, Duke-North Carolina and Virginia Tech-Virginia next week.
Duke seems to have the easiest path, needing only to win its final two games to win the Coastal outright and play Florida State in the ACC title game Dec. 7 in Charlotte, N.C. Beating Wake Forest and North Carolina would make the Blue Devils 6-2 in ACC play. With how well they’ve been playing (see below), that’s a likely scenario.
But a loss in one of those games could open the door for Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech or Miami to take the division. The Hokies actually have the most opportunities, winning or sharing a piece of the title under 11 different scenarios to Duke’s 10. The Hokies, who beat Miami on Nov. 9, have lost three of their last four, all in the ACC.
Georgia Tech is favored in nine and Miami two. The Hurricanes’ unlikely chance comes if they win out, Virginia upsets Virginia Tech and UNC beats Duke.
Will to win: What a strange season for Maryland. The Terps were at one point 4-0 and ranked 25th in the nation before losing several key players to injuries and falling to 5-4. On Saturday at Virginia Tech, they scored a 27-24 overtime upset of the Hokies, who needed to win that game to stay on top in the Coastal.
One of the heroes was freshman cornerback Will Likely of Glades Central High. He was named ACC co-rookie of the week after returning a punt 63 yards for a touchdown for Maryland’s first score. He finished the game with 179 all-purpose yards (106 punt return yards, 73 kickoff return yards). He also contributed three tackles and broke up a pass.
Unfamiliar territory: Duke's 4-2 ACC mark represents the first time the Blue Devils have been that good in the conference in quite some time. The last time Duke was .500 in conference play was 1994, which is also the last time it earned a Top 25 ranking.
With two games left, the Blue Devils have a chance to do what just one Duke team has done in 50 years: finish more than three games above .500 in the ACC.
Duke, which is 144-259 all-time in ACC games, was 6-1 in ACC play in 1989 under Steve Spurrier.
This is David Cutcliffe’s sixth season in Durham, N.C. Duke’s two previous coaches, Ted Roof and Carl Franks, combined for six conference wins in nine seasons. Here’s betting Cutcliffe stays around for a while.
Then there's this: In a Monday radio interview with 560 WQAM, the Hurricanes' flagship radio station, former boxing star Mike Tyson was informed that UM lost to Duke on Saturday. "Oh, Duke is hard to beat," he replied. "Duke is really hard to beat."
Tyson maintained his stance when informed the host was talking about football, not basketball.
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