ACC Football Week 15: Staff Predictions

It may be a couple weeks late, but we made it to Championship Weekend! To say it took a few twists and turns to get here is underselling it a little bit, because even though this is the weekend for conference title games, there will be other games played as well thanks to COVID.

And yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same. We enter Championship weekend with Clemson, Ohio State, and Alabama all going to their title games looking to win and make it to the College Football Playoffs. However, for the first time since 2015, UNC fans have a direct rooting interest in the ACC Championship Game. Unlike 2015, though, Carolina fans want Clemson to win in order to help seal a trip to Miami for the Tar Heels.

The game itself will be interesting, as for the first time Notre Dame heads to Charlotte to face off for the title-perhaps looking to take conference crown for their lone trip through the ACC. Now, maybe this experience was enough to give the Irish a taste of that sweet, sweet conference life, and should the lose and still get to the CFP it may actually cement their desire to join on a more permanent basis.

As long as they keep their NBC money.

The games last week brought some tough decisions for the staff, although everyone got at least one game right as we were all united in saying that the Heels would beat the Hurricanes. However, I doubt any of us expected the thorough beat down that ultimately happened.

As a reminder, here’s what we thought would happen last week-again, apologies for the low resolution here, your friendly writer has a laptop on its last legs.

Douglas gets the golden...picker? I’m not sure what we hand out here for perfect weeks, but Douglas would get it since he got all of his picks right. Meanwhile, Jake has pretty much sealed up last place, which yours truly is thankful for that as I’m next up. Evan continues his dominance, and at this point it’s pretty clear he’s the favorite to take it all. Especially with this slate of games that really doesn’t lend itself to surprises.

Without further ado, here’s what we think will happen for Championship Weekend:

Also, in the service of being open and honest with you, when I made this sheet I had Alabama versus Georgia, and was rightfully called out. That said, does it really matter who Alabama is playing?

Sit back, enjoy your Saturday, and let’s hope by the end of the day UNC can look forward to heading to Miami!