Dabo: No matter what, ACC deserves playoff spot

Carolina hasn’t won the ACC since 1980, when Dick Crum was the head coach. The quarterbacks were Homer Jordan and Scott Stankavage. Clemson 33, No. Carolina 24. Wayne Gallman (1,145 yards, nine rushing TDs) returned to gain 102 yards on 19 carries in the 37-32 victory over SC last week after missing the contest against Wake Forest with an ankle injury. They already have two losses and lost the ACC Atlantic to Clemson.

North Carolina coach Larry Fedora is equally awed by Clemson’s defense.

It is, quite simply, the most anticipated college football game in Charlotte history. “They will have to play their best game of the year, hands down”.

Clemson has posted more than 500 yards of offense in eight consecutive games and averages 502.5 yards per game. Coordinator Brent Venables joked that the game plan starts with forcing a three-and-out every UNC possession, but he knows that’s pretty far fetched.

The sport, in 1981, was still your grandfather’s version of college pigskin. They also as one of the hottest and highest scoring teams in the country behind the arm of quarterback Marquise Williams and the legs of running back Elijah Hood.

The same goes for the Clemson defense against North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams. To win the ACC title, the Tar Heels will have to beat another team from the Palmetto State and one of only two teams in the country with a longer win streak.

The key to this game is the defensive performance of North Carolina. Clemson, despite its offensive prowess, has a minus-three turnover margin. A swing pass that should have been thrown forward was instead thrown backward.

In what amounted to an unofficial league title game, Clemson outlasted the Tar Heels 10-8 in a defensive slugfest common to the era. Fans may also join the conversation regarding Saturday’s game by heading over to our live blog. Plus, as the committee showed past year when they suddenly moved an undefeated-but-teetering Florida State team ahead of one-loss TCU in the final rankings, an unbeaten team from a Power 5 conference trumps all.

And Clemson certainly has the all-time edge over North Carolina. Now, that just looks like a bad loss. Their last two games were a 30-27 victory over Virginia Tech and a 45-34 win at N.C. State. DeShaun Watson and the Tigers offense will prove to be too much for the North Carolina defense to handle. “But you have to think as well as the team has been performing all year long and getting into the playoff and with his name circulating the way it is, he would be one of the frontrunners heading into next year”.

“I’m all up for guys doing it just like me”, Williams said.

So, here’s what we know about the College Football Playoff situation.

Thanks for reading along this year, everyone!

Still, the Tigers are the only squad in the conference who can match North Carolina’s considerable firepower.

Through it all, Clemson ended the regular-season seventh nationally in the Football Bowl Subdivision, allowing 288 yards a game.

The program had followed a winding road in the years since Mack Brown’s departure for Texas in 1997, the last time UNC won 11 games or appeared in the top 10 before now. Even as a 4½-point favorite, Clemson can’t escape questions.

The Tar Heels are still playing amid an NCAA investigation into an academic fraud scandal, an offshoot of the original case that has led to five more largely broad-based charges against the school.

Clemson’s defense has been stellar all season. For the Tar Heels to win, their defense needs to come out of the gate and make huge stops against the Tigers.

So what does he have to do to make the most of that do-over?