ACC shakeup: How Miami's loss affects the ACC's College Football Playoff representation

It hasn't quite been the ACC's year at the top of the college football world, and Miami's loss to Georgia Tech could make things even more bleak for the conference's College Football Playoff outlook. After losing this weekend, Miami fell to No. 12 in the College Football Playoff rankings — right on the edge of the field of 12. Granted, the Playoff doesn't just take the top 12 teams in the rankings, it takes the five highest-ranked conference champions and then seven at-large bids.

Now, whichever team wins the ACC Championship will surely qualify for the CFP, but with Miami no longer being undefeated, there is only one undefeated team left in ACC play — SMU — and the Mustangs do have a loss on their overall record to BYU.

What does this mean? Well, it means we might see a one-bid ACC in the College Football Playoff this season. Say SMU wins out but loses in the ACC Championship to Miami. If that happens, the Mustangs getting into the playoffs suddenly seems unlikely, even though their two losses would be to BYU and Miami — two teams who will inevitably make the field — because the strength of their wins won't be particularly convincing to the committee.

And what about Clemson? At 7-2 and ranked No. 17 in this week's AP Poll, the Tigers are hanging on by a thread to CFP life. With games remaining against Pitt and South Carolina, this team does have the opportunity to boost its resume, and that South Carolina game on November 30th might be what determines this team's fate. Weirdly, winning out but not making the ACC Championship Game would probably be better for Clemson's chances — and the only way the conference could even conceive of three teams making it in — than making the championship game and losing.

But the ACC would be happy with two teams at this point, and the best chance for that to happen would be for both SMU and Miami to win out and for SMU to beat Miami in the ACC Championship game. But even then, a two-loss Miami getting in feels anything but certain.

How Louisville might control the fate of the ACC's College Football Playoff hopes

It sounds strange to say that Louisville, a team who is not going to make the College Football Playoff, controls this conference's destiny, but it might be true. Louisville is a good team that has been beaten by both Miami and SMU. If the Cardinals finish the season strong, the resumes of Miami and SMU look a lot stronger and gives the ACC a better chance at two bids.

If Louisville doesn't finish strong — in other words, if it loses to Kentucky — the Selection Committee is far more likely to neglect the ACC for an at-large big. That's why Louisville versus Kentucky suddenly holds a lot of weight for the college football landscape.

Miami losing quite possibly killed the conference's chance at sending two teams to the College Football Playoff. The last bit of hope that both Miami and SMU sneak in might come down to Louisville beating Kentucky. What a world we live in.