Blue Devils Have ACC Championship Game In Sight
CHARLOTTE (CBSMiami) – The 2013 sports year has been filled with oddities like the Super Bowl blackout.
But perhaps no one could have forecasted a year that could see the Miami Hurricanes beat the Duke Blue Devils for the ACC basketball championship and Duke beat Miami on the football field and be on the cusp of playing for the ACC football championship.
If Duke can win one more game on Saturday over arch-rival North Carolina; the Blue Devils can clinch the ACC Coastal Division and play in Charlotte against the Florida State Seminoles for the ACC Championship.
The Tar Heels are coming off a powerful performance that saw them put up 80 points on a woeful Old Dominion team and nearly beat Miami just a few weeks ago. If Duke isn't able to put it all together against North Carolina this weekend, chaos could ensue.
Miami could still sneak into the ACC championship game if they beat Pittsburgh on Friday and both Duke and Virginia Tech lose this weekend. If Duke loses and Miami and Virginia Tech win, there would be a five-way tie at the top of the Coastal Division.
Virginia Tech would win a five-way tie thanks to a 5-1 Coastal Division record.
But, perhaps fate is on Duke's side this season. The Blue Devils, once the ACC doormat, have reeled off nine victories this season and are establishing themselves as a team that can beat anyone on a given Saturday.
The Blue Devils haven't won nine games since 1941.
"Seventy-two years is a long time," Duke head coach David Cutcliffe told ESPN. "That's pretty significant. … The thing that pleased me is every time we've won a game, the next one gets bigger. The challenge gets bigger. This will be our greatest challenge of the year coming forward. Who knows what's going to happen?"
Still, whoever comes out of the Coastal Division is looking like a sacrificial lamb at this point.
The Florida State Seminoles have completely dominated the ACC this season and will be waiting in Charlotte for the Coastal Division champion. FSU is ranked second in the country and with a win over Florida on Saturday and an ACC Championship game victory is poised to play for the BCS National Championship.
