The Coastal Division Finally Has a Leader after Week 9

UVa won! That always makes these recaps more enjoyable. While the Hoos aren't at the top of the Coastal, they're sitting at 2-2 and not necessarily out of contention (though the real focus/hope should be on scraping enough wins together to make a bowl game). As we take a look at the conference results, we'll see that both divisions have clear leaders, but the conference has a ton of teams who should finish right around that 6 win mark. If Virginia can win @ Miami, it may be time to seriously reflect on bowl positioning...

UNC 26 - Pitt 19

By winning on Thursday night, Carolina seized control of the Coastal division and is now (spoiler alert) the only team with a flawless conference record in the division. The Heels led 20-3 at the half and held on for the win behind Marquise Williams' two scores and 270 yards passing.

Louisville 20 - Wake 19

Lamar Jackson threw for two touchdowns as the Cardinals scored the only points of the second half (a field goal) to sneak past the Deacs. Louisville moves back to .500 on the year and sit at 3-2 in the conference. While Wake's probably out of luck on the bowl contention, the Cardinals still have UK, UVa, Syracuse, and Pitt on their schedule. Enjoy the Beef o Bradys bowl or whatever, Petrino!

Clemson 56 - NCSU 41

Clemson used a strong third quarter to pull away from State on Saturday. Neither team really felt like playing defense, apparently, but in the end Deshaun Watson and his 5 TD passes were enough to keep the Tigers in playoff contention. It wasn't their best work, but any road wins in the meat-grinder ACC are tough to come by. State, on the other hand, is still looking for that elusive 6th win and sits at 1-3 in the conference.

Cuse 21 - FSU 45

Though they didn't have Everett Golson or Dalvin Cook, the Seminoles had no trouble scoring against visiting Syracuse. Sean Maguire threw for 3 scores and Jacques Patrick rushed for 3 of his own as the Noles racked up 575 yards of total offense. While FSU is already bowl eligible, the Orange are in rough shape as they sit at 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the ACC.

Miami 30 - Duke 27

You've seen the highlight and read all of the Miami whining about the Duke whining about the terrible ACC refs. While there was always zero chance the conference would change the result (something I, for one, agree with 100%*), we can now on Monday fully appreciate where this leaves the two Coastal squads in their standing. Miami jumps to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in conference, so they'll need a lot of luck to make the ACCCG, but should be in solid standing for a decent bowl game. Duke is bowl eligible, but now trails UNC in the division standings. Luckily for the Blue Devils, they play the Heels this week, so they'll have their shot to regain control of the division.

VT 26 - BC 10

The Hokie offense was pretty meh-level Saturday, but the defense played great and added a score to lead VT past Boston College. Not that keeping the Eagles offense in check is asking all that much of a team, but Bud Foster has to be happy with a rebound performance from a disastrous game against Duke. The Hokies still need two more wins to make a bowl - with @GT, UNC, and @UVa on the schedule. It's a doable road to get Beamer to a final lower tier bowl game, but certainly not a gimme.

*Ok, seriously, you can't retroactively go back and change the outcome of a game based on one play. Even if it was an egregiously awful error - which it was - there's more to the game than that one play. The game was terribly officiated, something no ACC fan should be surprised by, and while the refs completely botched the play (and subsequent review), if the league were to review and overturn that final play, how do they not go threw every single other bad call and reverse those? There's no beneficial way to set a precedent here. The final play, while it might be the clearest indication of how a result can be determined by poor officiating, is not the only play of the game that determines the outcome. I'm sure I'd be angry, bitter, and hoping for intervention if it happened to UVa, but it wouldn't make me correct. Oh, and as a fanblogger, I wholeheartedly reserve my right to change my mind on this when it inevitably happens to the Hoos. The only real plausible benefit to this clusterbomb of incompetence (besides taking joy in Duke's misery), is that now that their precious Tobacco Road has been scorned, the league will do something about the conference's miserable officiating overall.