All-Carolina Poll: Can someone explain why Wake Forest and Florida State are playing?
We’ve reached the end. Well, sort of.
Oddly enough, the ACC still has something of a zombie regular season going, alongside the conference championship game this weekend. That Wake Forest-Florida State game aside, though, the postseason now begins for those teams that have qualified for it. For those not, the long march through this virus-dominated campaign is over.
Some end-of-season, All-Carolina poll awards, now that we’re here:
▪ Weirdest Season Award: Wake Forest. Cancellations, long gaps between games, disparate performances on the field. It was a weird year for everyone — most weird in the Carolinas for Wake Forest.
▪ Fun to Watch Award: North Carolina. At its peak, is this the best offensive team in the history of Triangle college football? The best in the history of the Carolinas? Don’t laugh, Cemson fans: there’s an argument to be made that’d favor Sam Howell, Michael Carter and Javonte Williams and company.
▪ Funner to Watch Award: Coastal Carolina. Perhaps the darling of the 2020 season. Thank you, Coastal, for the good vibes and taking all of those Myrtle Beach/Cougar jokes after defeating BYU.
▪ True Grit Award: N.C. State. Hand in the dirt. Blue collar. The Wolfpack fought injuries, bounced back from an ugly 2019 and a couple of one-sided defeats this season (Virginia Tech, UNC) and finished strong.
▪ Tone Deaf Award: Dabo Swinney, Clemson. We could’ve guessed that at least one coach would lose perspective in this pandemic season and find a way to use the virus to question another school’s manhood and/or competitive desire. Turned out, it was Dabo.
Onto the final poll of the regular season:
1. Clemson (9-1, 8-1 ACC)
Previous ranking: 1
Last week: off
Up next: vs. Notre Dame, ACC Championship Game, Saturday
One of the big disappointments of this weird college football season: We never did get that grudge match between Clemson and Florida State. Alas. We’ll have to settle for Clemson-Notre Dame, Part II, albeit in a mostly empty stadium in Charlotte, where virus cases continue to rise like they are throughout the rest of North Carolina.
2. Coastal Carolina (11-0, 8-0 Sun Belt)
Previous ranking: 2
Last week: W at Troy, 42-38
Up next: vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, Sun Belt Conference Championship Game, Saturday
Did the Chanticleers get a little bit fat and happy after that victory against BYU? They needed a last-minute touchdown against Troy to keep alive the perfect season. It’ll be tested, again, against the Ragin’ Cajuns on Saturday in a sneaky good (maybe second-most intriguing, behind the ACC’s?) conference championship game.
3. North Carolina (8-3, 7-3 ACC)
Previous ranking: 3
Last week: W at Miami, 62-26
Up next: Regular season complete
An all-timer of an offensive performance for the Tar Heels on Saturday at Miami. How good was it? So good that Javonte Williams ran for 236 yards and wasn’t even all that close to leading his team in rushing, given that Michael Carter ran for 308. The tandem combined for more rushing yards than any two players in FBS history. More important for the Tar Heels: this was the kind of emphatic statement victory they’d lacked in a somewhat two-steps-forward-one-step-back kind of season. An Orange Bowl appearance could be next.
4. N.C. State (8-3, 7-3 ACC)
Previous ranking: 4
Last week: off
Up next: Regular season complete
All that talk before the season about how UNC and State are heading in opposite directions, and they finish with the exact same record (though, yes, the Wolfpack’s includes a lopsided defeat against the Tar Heels). UNC has pretty much always won the recruiting competition between these two, but the overall records indicate perhaps the gap isn’t all that wide on the field.
5. Wake Forest (4-4, 3-4 ACC)
Previous ranking: 5
Last week: L at Louisville, 45-21
Up next: vs. Florida State, Saturday
A truly strange season for the Demon Deacons (and everyone, but let’s focus on Wake here). Two straight losses to start the year. Then four consecutive victories. Now another two-game losing streak, including an ugly defeat at Louisville. All over a long stretch filled with postponements, cancellations and re-schedulings. Not much flow, and now sort of hard to know what to make of this Wake team, which has looked good at times and ... not, at others.
6. Appalachian State (8-3, 6-2 Sun Belt)
Previous ranking: 6
Last week: W at Georgia Southern, 34-26
Up next: Regular season complete
The Mountaineers are used to more than eight victories and multiple conference defeats but there’s a consolation, nonetheless, with an appearance in the inaugural Myrtle Beach Bowl. Yes, there’s a bowl game now in Myrtle Beach. Don’t forget your masks and hand sanitizer. In fact, bring two masks.
7. South Carolina (2-8, 2-8 SEC)
Previous ranking: 8
Last week: off
Up next: Season complete
Actually one of the better weeks of the season for the Gamecocks.
8. East Carolina (3-6, 3-5 AAC)
Previous ranking: 7
Last week: off
Up next: Season complete
ECU’s season is over, so here’s a haiku:
When a bad season
Is sort of a victory
Home for holidays
9. Duke (2-9, 1-9 ACC)
Previous ranking: 9
Last week: L at Florida State, 56-35
Up next: Season complete
A season that was best illustrated by the grimacing emoji has now become a season best illustrated by the sad face emoji. But a cause for happiness: It’s over. Officially. A serious thought: What to make of this program, which seems to have hit something of a wall. This was arguably the worst of Duke’s 13 seasons under David Cutcliffe.
10. Charlotte (2-4, 2-2, Conference USA)
Previous ranking: 10
Last week: off
Up next: Season complete
Really, the season couldn’t have ended any other way than it did for the 49ers, with Marshall canceling a game that was scheduled for last Friday. Some schools managed relatively few interruptions and/or scheduling changes this season. Then there was Charlotte, where the schedule changed seemingly every week. The 49ers became Exhibit A in the argument for how maybe this whole experiment just wasn’t a terrific idea. But, they tried.
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 12:26 PM with the headline "All-Carolina Poll: Can someone explain why Wake Forest and Florida State are playing?."