Clemson’s loss to Louisville means they won’t benefit from Miami upset at Georgia Tech

The ACC Championship Game picture just got even more interesting after the first window of the Week 11 slate. Previously undefeated Miami lost for the first time on the road to Georgia Tech. That means at the time of this writing there are no undefeated teams left in the ACC, only a few one-loss teams, including one-loss SMU, whose only loss on the season came in the non-conference to BYU.

So this does open up things for Clemson to potentially make its way back to Charlotte, right? Not exactly. See 6-2 Clemson's two losses on the year to Georgia in the non-conference and in ACC play to Louisville do not help them. Because Clemson does not play traditional rival Georgia Tech this year, the second tiebreaker among ACC teams is record vs. common opponents, which includes Louisville.

Clemson can get the head-to-head tiebreaker over Pittsburgh here shortly, but the Tigers may not have the opportunity to overcome the Louisville loss when it comes to getting ahead of Miami in the ACC standings. The conference tiebreakers are going to be a doozy across the board, as there are now divisions left to be had in the Power Four, with many quality teams avoiding each other as well.

While neither the Georgia or Louisville defeats are bad by any means, but they may cost Clemson.

Clemson does not benefit from Miami's loss to Georgia Tech much at all

Even though the loss by Miami does open things up as far as pathways to get to Charlotte, Clemson still does not control its own destiny. SMU is in the driver's seat to get to Charlotte, while Miami still holds the edge over Clemson, who still has to play later this season. Pittsburgh has the hardest pathway in, as SMU blew the Panthers out, and they still need to beat Clemson to have any hope here.

While College Football Playoff expansion should allow teams like Clemson to take advantage of the increased likelihood of getting a team in, the Tigers are not exactly the same program they were even five years ago under Dabo Swinney. The changes in the game when it comes to the transfer portal and NIL have left the last remaining holdout, outside of the service academies of course, in the dust.

Although Miami was bound to lose at some point, the Hurricanes have been by far and away the more steady of the two ACC powers this season. While there is a chance that the ACC could get two teams into the playoff, SMU is throwing a wrench in all of this. Even though SMU is doing so well in playing up during its first season as a Power Four team, Clemson and Miami should not be looking up at them.

Regardless, Clemson will need to win out and need some help to make it to the ACC Championship.