The one downside to Saturday night for the Miami Hurricanes — because there really wasn’t any from their play in a 48-0 win at Duke — was that UM was eliminated from contention for an ACC Championship Game berth by way of Clemson’s win at Virginia Tech.
It was something that seemed inevitable since Notre Dame beat Clemson on Nov. 7 after the Hurricanes couldn’t do the same against the then-top-ranked Tigers on Oct. 10. Despite the ACC’s Tuesday decision to shorten determination for a title game berth to a nine-game conference slate, it didn’t make a difference as Notre Dame would’ve clinched its spot with its Saturday afternoon win over Syracuse anyway.