CHARLOTTE, N.C. — This week’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship game will feature a pairing that was hard to imagine back in September.
It also has the potential to complicate the College Football Playoff puzzle with the 12-team bracket set to be revealed Sunday.
Duke (7-5, 6-2 ACC), by virtue of winning a five-team tiebreaker per league rules, will face No. 16 Virginia (10-2, 7-1) at 8 p.m. Saturday at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium — the home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers — after both teams overcame steep odds to reach the ACC title game.
Among the Power Four conference championship games being played Saturday, this one has the least pizzazz where rankings and records are concerned. In the Big Ten, it’s No. 1 Ohio State versus No. 2 Indiana in a meeting of 12-0 teams; in the Southeastern Conference, No. 3 Georgia (11-1) takes on No. 10 Alabama (10-2) in an established border rivalry; and in the Big 12, No. 5 Texas Tech faces No. 11 BYU with each team 11-1.
And yet it’s the ACC final that will likely draw the most interest from teams on the CFP bubble.