by No. 9 Clemson and No. 23 North Carolina will meet in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina. This conference championship matchup will be a rematch of the 2015 conference title game that started the Tigers’ streak of six straight trips to the College Football Playoff. There are no CFP implications for either team in this case, but the game remains a key point for two programs in two different places on the ACC landscape. Clemson wants to take home the ACC title for the seventh time in eight years after seeing the race break down in 2021, while North Carolina hopes to win the school’s first ACC football championship since 1980.
Clemson has dominated the overall series between these two founding ACC members, holding a 38-19-1 lead and currently riding a four-game winning streak that includes the 2015 ACC title game. Dabo Swinney has a record of 4 -1 against the Tar Heels, he lost his first matchup at Chapel Hill in 2010 but won the next four and racked up 45 or more points in three of those four wins. The outlier was the 21-20 thriller in 2019 that saw Mack Brown, then in his first year back as North Carolina head coach, go for a two-point conversion that he missed late in the fourth quarter against then-No. 1 Clemson.
The Charlotte-based title game is an easy pick for both fan bases, so the stadium should provide plenty of appeal for a conference championship that’s more about program pride than playoff implications. . Let’s get into what you need to know for the showdown.
Follow all the action between Clemson and North Carolina with our live ACC Championship Game blog.
How to watch Clemson vs. live north carolina
Date: Saturday, December 3 | Weather: 8 p.m. Eastern time
Location: Bank of America Stadium – Charlotte, North Carolina
TV: ABC | Live broadcast: fuboTV (Try it free)
Clemson vs. North Carolina: I need to know
Tigers’ playoff hopes are dashed by streak-breaking opponent: Clemson had a one-loss path to the playoffs as the conference champion until falling to rival South Carolina in the final week of the regular season to fall to 10-2 on the year. The loss also snapped the program’s 40-game home winning streak, which had lasted so long that no member of the current roster had experienced a loss in Death Valley. Playing for the ACC Championship represents an opportunity to quickly move past that disappointment and focus on holding a trophy to showcase the team’s efforts to reestablish Clemson’s place among its peers in the league.
Tar Heels going into consecutive losses: North Carolina also enters the game hoping to overcome recent setbacks on the field, having lost back-to-back home games to Georgia Tech and rival NC State by a combined seven points to close out the regular season. A few more plays in the other direction in the last two weeks and the Tar Heels, currently sitting at 9-3, might have been among those teams looking to add some chaos to the playoff picture on Saturday. Instead, the stakes are winning the conference, which still resonates given the program’s 42-year ACC title drought.
Drake Maye collects ACC Player of the Year honors: Although many realized that North Carolina had a talented quarterback prospect in Drake Maye, few could have foreseen that the redshirt freshman would take college football by storm as he has in 2022. This week, Maye became the second freshman in ACC history to be named conference player of the year, joining Jameis Winston from the 2013 campaign that saw him win a Heisman Trophy and Florida State win a national championship. . The four-award sweep of ACC Player of the Year, ACC Offensive Player of the Year, ACC Rookie of the Year, and ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year places him among the most decorated Tar Heels in program history, and his 3,847 passing yards are already a new single-season school record. The quarterback strength in the ACC was well documented at the start of the season, but no one had focused on Maye having not only the best season in the conference, but one of the best seasons by any player in the entire country. . Saturday night’s test against a solid Clemson defense will be a great opportunity for Maye to perform on a big stage and potentially add an MVP award to this busy week of accolades.
Clemson vs. Prediction North Carolina picks
featured game | North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Clemson Tigers
Clemson is the better team, but the door is open for an upset we haven’t seen in a while when it comes to these conference championship matchups against the Coastal Division. North Carolina has some injury issues and has been far from a consistent team this season, but it has a market advantage at quarterback and should be playing with much less pressure given preseason expectations. Prediction: North Carolina +7.5
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