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Friedlander: The Coastal Division is long gone, but the potential for ACC chaos is alive and well
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No tears were shed when the ACC eliminated its 2-division format 2 seasons ago. And yet, even though it was a decision long overdue, at least one tinge of sadness remained when the change was made.
For all the craziness one of the divisions was famous for producing during its 19 years of existence, including a 7-year stretch from 2013-19 in which each of its teams won a title, we never got to experience the ultimate Coastal Chaos scenario.
A 7-team logjam for 1st in which everyone finished with a .500 record, requiring a convoluted tiebreaker procedure that included a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Now that the ACC has adopted a system that guarantees a championship game matchup between its 2 best teams, all that’s left are the memories.
Or maybe not.
The Coastal Division has gone the way of the 99-cent cup of coffee. But the potential for chaos is still alive and well.
How about 3 teams finishing the season with undefeated conference records?
It’s a very real possibility in a 17-team league with an unbalanced schedule in which none of its top contenders – No. 6 Miami, No. 10 Clemson and No. 25 SMU – play one another during the regular season.
The ACC has prepared for just such an occurrence by compiling a convoluted list of tiebreaking procedures that stops just short of the rock, paper, scissors option.
More on that shortly.
First, let’s take a look into how likely those tiebreakers will be necessary.
While Miami continues to inch higher in the national rankings and is 1 of only 19 remaining undefeated FBS, the Hurricanes have the look and feel of a ticking time bomb waiting to go off after barely escaping upsets in the past 2 weeks.
They can only count on the brilliance of Heisman hopeful Cam Ward to pull them through so many times. On the plus side, though, the recent close calls against Virginia Tech and Cal are games they would almost certainly have lost in previous seasons.
So maybe this really is a different Miami team.
We’ll get a better read on that in 2 weeks when the Canes travel to Louisville. The schedule lightens up considerably after that. But given Mario Cristobal’s history, a rivalry game against Florida State and a regular-season finale at Syracuse, anything is possible.
Clemson’s Dabo Swinney has a much better track record when it comes to taking care of business and playing for championships. His Tigers have won 7 of the past 8 ACC titles and have gotten better each week since a crushing opening game loss to Georgia.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik has finally begun to live up to his 5-star potential, his freshman receivers have been difference-makers and the defense is better than the statistics suggest since a majority of the points scored against it have come with the starters watching from the sidelines in lopsided victories.
The remaining schedule, however, is anything but easy. The road to Charlotte is lined with at least 2 potential stumbling blocks in back-to-back road trips to Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh in early November.
It goes without saying that the ACC would love a Clemson-Miami matchup in its championship game on Dec. 7. As any conspiracy theorist will tell you, the league has already taken steps to ensure it happens.
But even if the Tigers and Hurricanes do run the table, there’s 1 contingency Jim Phillips and the guys in Charlotte can’t control.
SMU might be a newcomer to the conference. But the Mustangs have the talent, the momentum, the championship pedigree and the schedule manageable to throw a wrench into the works and create some old-school ACC chaos.
Should that happen, the teams meeting in Charlotte will be determined by a descending list of criteria spelled out on the ACC’s website:
- Win-percentage versus common opponents based upon their order of finish (overall conference
win-percentage, with ties broken) and proceeding through other common opponents based upon
their order of finish. - Combined win-percentage of conference opponents.
- The tied team with the highest ranking by the Team Rating Score metric provided by SportSource
Analytics following the conclusion of regular-season games.
If all that fails to break the tie, “the representative shall be chosen by a draw as administered by the commissioner or commissioner’s designee.”
That doesn’t bode well for Rhett Lashlee and his team. Think NBA Draft when the Cleveland Cavaliers “just happened” to have its ping pong ball bounce the right way the year hometown hero LeBron James was the top overall pick.
If the same folks who handle the video reviews in the ACC control room are the ones administering the draw, it’s a good bet SMU will end up being the odd team out.
Welcome to the ACC, Mustangs.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
