Paul Finebaum: ACC should've ignored tie-breakers, 'strong-armed' Miami into championship game

The ACC is just a couple of results away from a doomsday scenario during conference championship weekend. If the Duke Blue Devils can take home the crown in Charlotte, there is a chance the ACC is left out of the College Football Playoff. All of this despite the Miami Hurricanes being ranked 12th, just outside the cut line.

Miami is not playing in the ACC title game due to tiebreakers. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum believes commissioner Jim Phillips should have “strong-armed” them into the championship game. A move we have only seen once in the CFP era, Finebaum says the ACC needs to avoid “embarrassment.”

“The commissioner should have just strong-armed and said, ‘You know what? I’m taking a gut call here, an executive decision, and we’re putting the higher-ranked team in.’ They chose not to,” Finebaum said. “They may end up with nobody in the playoffs. Remember, last year, they had a couple. They had Clemson and SMU. It would be a complete embarrassment to the ACC. And in some ways, they’ve done it to themselves because of some arcane tiebreaker system that allows a team with no business being in the ACC title game.”

Miami holds an overall record of 10-2, while Duke is 7-5. However, they both finished 6-2 against ACC opponents, as the Blue Devils lost three games in the nonconference. Given how the system is set up, they mathematically get the championship game birth over Mario Cristobal‘s program.

Finebaum is still having none of it, though. He knows who ACC executives are going to be rooting for on Saturday night, hoping to avoid the previously mentioned doomsday scenario.

“Why is Duke in there anyway?” Finebaum asked. “They’ve done nothing all season long except they manufactured the right number of wins in conference. Which, ultimately, is going to give them a chance. Nobody at that ACC conference headquarters in Charlotte, I promise you, will be cheering for Duke on Saturday night.”

If nobody is cheering for Duke, then Virginia will be their team. A win for the Hoos likely puts them in the College Football Playoff, presumably as the 11 or 12-seed. Not what Phillips envisioned when the 2025 season began but at this point, the most realistic scenario to make sure the ACC is included.

Miami does not appear to be dead yet, either. Maybe its head-to-head victory over Notre Dame will come into play on Selection Sunday, depending on other results.