On December 5, a number of conference championship games will take place around college football. Among those is the Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC) Championship between the Clemson Tigers and the North Carolina Tar Heels, and this football game is arguably going to be the most intriguing of them all.
Clemson, the top football team in the nation, is the 5.5-point favorite in this game, but the eighth-ranked Tar Heels are not a team the Tigers ought to take lightly and easily could pull out a huge victory. The one question surrounding this game is, if Clemson were to get upset, who would be worthy of replacing them in the College Football Playoffs? Here are three teams that could make a legitimate argument to do so.
North Carolina Tar Heels
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In most scenarios the team that knocks off the top dog should be a near-lock to replace them, but that is not the case here.
The Tar Heels have been very impressive this season posting a record of 11 wins and just one loss. They have tremendous offensive talent and they are led by a senior at quarterback in Marquise Williams, who’s had himself a wonderful season. Williams has passed for 2605 yards, 18 touchdowns and he has even added 10 rushing scores as well. Williams, however, is not the only dynamic player for the Tar Heels; they boast one of the greatest playmakers in NCAA history in receiver and return man Ryan Switzer, who holds the record for return touchdowns in a season (He’s not far from the career return mark either) among others. This football team is well-equipped to pull off an upset, but even if they beat the Tigers, North Carolina has one major flaw against them:
Their schedule.
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The Tar Heels are 11-1 this season, but that 1 loss came at the hands of a South Carolina Gamecocks squad that won only three games this season. As for their wins, only one came against a ranked team and that team, the Pittsburgh Panthers, are no longer ranked (They were 23rd at the time of the Tar Heel win). Even in some of their wins they had to gut out tough performances against subpar opponents, most notably the game against Virginia Tech, who was looking to send their head football coach Frank Beamer out on top after he announced his plans to retire.
The Tar Heels have a lot to prove on Saturday, but do not count them out if they do pull off the unthinkable in the ACC Championship.
Ohio State Buckeyes
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Contrary to what most people may think, Ohio State could still sneak into the playoffs much like they did a season ago. However, this season they face a more uphill battle.
Last season, the Buckeyes helped their cause with a 59-0 drubbing of the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten Championship game. Because of their upset loss to the Michigan State Spartans on November 21, Ohio State lost their chance at the Big 10 Championship, so they can only watch helplessly from the sidelines and hope for a few upsets.
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Ohio State has one of the deepest rosters in the nation; they brought back almost everyone from that championship-winning team from a year ago, including quarterbacks J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones, linebackers Darron Lee and Joshua Perry and most importantly running back Ezekiel Elliott (They even brought back former quarterback Braxton Miller and turned into a dynamic receiver-running back), so it is not as if this is a team of good fortune.
However, besides the fact they won’t have a final game to use to potentially sway the playoff committee, they too, like the Tar Heels, played an incredibly soft schedule. Ohio State did not play a ranked opponent until the final two games of the year against the two Michigan schools, and we all know how they fared against Sparty.
Their win the following week is what could potentially save them, because the Buckeyes looked awfully impressive versus their hated rival the Michigan Wolverines in a 42-13 throttling on the road. Their defense figured to play well, but what was equally impressive was the offensive attack. Against the nation’s third best defense, in their environment, the Buckeyes rushed for over 300 yards and scored five of their six total touchdowns on the ground. They physically manhandled a very good defense and Michigan could not do anything about it.
This latest win against the Wolverines could ultimately be the difference between them and North Carolina, who currently does not have a win versus a currently ranked opponent.
Stanford Cardinal
Stanford is an interesting football team simply because they have two losses while everyone else only has one, but just like UNC and Ohio State, they could pose a real threat to sneak in the playoffs should Clemson fall.
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Stanford is currently in a position to win the Pac-12 and take on the Southern California Trojans, who are no easy out. Stanford is led, like the others, by a veteran quarterback presence in Kevin Hogan, as well as an incredible playmaker and Heisman candidate in Christian McCaffrey.
Stanford stands apart from the Buckeyes and Tar Heels in terms of their schedule, though. While Ohio State went 1-1 against ranked opponents and North Carolina doesn’t have a win to speak of, the Cardinal played more ranked opponents then either (three opponents, USC, UCLA and Notre Dame) and they beat them all. Their most notable win came against the Fighting Irish a week ago, who not only were ranked but were ranked higher than Stanford, and the Cardinal was able to spoil their playoff hopes.
Stanford’s two losses may come back to hurt them regardless of their impressive wins, simply because the losses were more horrific. They lost to an unranked Northwestern team in the season’s opening week and then they laid an egg at home against an unranked (but sill dangerous) Oregon Ducks team, so they have no room for error against the Trojans Saturday night.
Stanford has a long shot to make it even if they win the PAC-12, but they certainly are not dead.
Of course, all of these scenarios will be squashed if Clemson takes care of business Saturday, but until then, it doesn’t hurt to look at these potential scenarios.