WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina

UNC's new cheer: Let's Go Devils!

By Dane Huffman

Nov 21, 2008

If you’re a North Carolina football fan, you may have a new cheer for the weekend.

How about, Let’s Go Devils!

The Tar Heels still have a chance to win the Coastal Division and reach the ACC Championship Game in football, but Carolina needs to win out – and have both Virginia Tech and Virginia lose a game.

The Hokies face Duke Saturday in Blacksburg at 5:30 p.m. and are home Nov. 29 against Virginia.

Hokies win the division if they win out, but the Heels have a chance to grab the division and squeeze into the ACC title game Dec. 6 in Tampa, Fla.

Here are the current standings:

• Georgia Tech, 5-3 in the ACC, with no conference games remaining

• Miami, 4-3 with a game Nov. 29 at N.C. State

• UNC, 3-3 and home Saturday against State and at Duke Nov. 29

• Virginia Tech 3-3, home Saturday against Duke and home Nov. 29 against Virginia

• Virginia, 3-3, home to Clemson Saturday and at Virginia Tech Nov. 29

Here are the scenarios:

North Carolina: Carolina advances if Georgia Tech and UNC are the only teams to finish 5-3 in the Coastal because the Heels beat the Yellow Jackets.

Carolina also advances if the Heels finish in a three-way tie with Georgia Tech and Miami because they defeated both of those teams. That scenario requires both Virginia and Virginia Tech to lose.

Carolina loses four-way ties with Georgia Tech, Miami and the winner of the Virginia Tech-Virginia game. In both those scenarios, the next tiebreaker would be head-to-head records among the four teams. Carolina would be 2-1 in either scenario, but so would Virginia Tech or Virginia. One of the Virginia schools would advance by virtue of a win over UNC.

Virginia Tech: The Hokies win the division if they finish in a four-way tie with Georgia Tech, Miami and UNC. In that scenario, Virginia Tech and UNC are both 2-1 against the four teams at the top and Tech beat UNC.

Virginia Tech also advances in a three-way tie with UNC and Georgia Tech because it defeated both teams.

Virginia: The Cavaliers win the division if they finish in a four-way tie with Georgia Tech, Miami and UNC. Virginia and UNC are both 2-1 against the four teams at the top and Virginia beat UNC.

Virginia advances in a three-way tie with Georgia Tech and UNC because it defeated both teams.

If Virginia finishes in a three-way tie with Miami and Georgia Tech, Miami advances. All three would be 1-1 in head-to-head play. Miami and Virginia would be 3-2 in the division and Miami would have a victory over Virginia.

Miami: Miami advances in a three-way tie with Virginia and Georgia Tech. (Note: Miami does not advance in a three-way tie with Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, as a previous version of this story noted).

Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets are 5-3 and done with ACC play. They win the division, of course, if no other team catches them. That’s unlikely, and their poor division record (2-3) will hurt them in tiebreakers.