C’est fini.
Done.
The regular season is yesterday’s nose … er news. All three of the ACC bubble teams did what they had to do over the weekend. Was it enough? For Georgia Tech, I’d say probably so. They beat Boston College for another solid win and that pushed them to 20 wins overall. Still, they are going to get dinged for their road record and their overall power numbers. I suspect the Jackets are in win or lose, but they’d better beat Wake Forest on Thursday to be sure.
Clemson had the best win of the weekend, going to Blacksburg and winning on senior day. Given their struggles and how important Virginia Tech’s seniors have been, this might have been the most surprising result of they year. Well, might have been had this year not been so crazy. Still, it was huuuuge for the Tigers. Most national pundits still have them out of the Dance, but as you know, I’ve been optimistic about their chances for a few weeks now. I’ll say the same thing I’ve been saying, look at their overall record and their power numbers. Everyone seems to be caught up in their recent slide, but this team has still won 21 games and has an RPI of 36. I simply can’t imagine an ACC team with those stats being overlooked. Well, I can imagine it, but it shouldn’t happen. Remember, no 20-win ACC squad has ever been left out.

Finally, we have the Seminoles of Florida State. They damn near torpedoed their season by losing to Miami, but behind Al Thornton’s 45 points, they pulled it out in OT. That win didn’t impress the computers much, but a win is always better than a loss. The ‘Noles now have 19 wins and Joe Lunardi says they are just barely out. I suspect they are bit farther away than that, but either way, they aren’t in yet.
And that brings us to what is probably the most interesting game on Thursday game – Clemson versus Florida State. Winner gets in? Probably not, but it’s close. More accurately, the loser misses out. Clemson might, might be able to get in with a loss, but that’s not true for FSU. In fact, I suspect that Florida State would need to beat both Clemson and North Carolina on Friday to get a bid. Beating the Tigers alone just wouldn’t impress enough folks. On the flip side, if Clemson wins, they would have 22 victories and a three-game winning streak going into their Friday game. That would put them in.
Given all that, I’m rooting for Clemson. I don’t think there’s any way that both are getting in, so I’m going with the squad with the best chance. It’s quite likely that the ACC can get eight teams in the NCAAs and I’d love that. Go Tigers!