As Pitt clinches, Atlantic race tightens and Panthers get no rankings help

Pitt didn’t need any help from the rest of the college football world on Saturday, as the Panthers took care of business themselves and clinched the ACC Coastal Division championship.

But there were still several outcomes in Week 12 that could impact Pitt in a number of areas, from rankings to the ACC Championship Game and more.

Now that the Panthers have secured a spot in the conference title game in Charlotte on Dec. 4, the top storyline to watch is how the Atlantic Division shakes out in the final week of the season. There are three main contenders for the division title: Wake Forest (9-2, 6-1), Clemson (8-3, 6-2) and N.C. State (8-3, 5-2).

The Wolfpack will be the first of the three to play this weekend when they host North Carolina on Friday night for a 7 pm kickoff. Wake Forest plays at Boston College at noon on Saturday and Clemson is in the nightcap with its traditional season finale against in-state rival South Carolina.

Since it’s a non-conference game, Clemson’s matchup with South Carolina won’t have an impact on the Atlantic Division. But N.C. State-North Carolina and Wake Forest-Boston College will loom large in deciding the division winner.

The simplest scenario leads to Wake as the champ: if the Deacons beat the Eagles, they are in. If Wake Forest loses, things get a bit more complicated. For starters, a loss would eliminate the Deacons. If that loss is coupled with an N.C. State win, the Wolfpack would emerge as Atlantic champs. And if both N.C. State and Wake Forest lose, then Clemson would go to Charlotte for a rematch with Pitt - a rematch of the Tigers’ win over the Panthers in the 2018 ACC Championship Game and a rematch of Pitt’s win over Clemson at Heinz Field earlier this season.

In terms of rankings, there wasn’t much action around Pitt in Week 12. The Panthers stayed in place at No. 20 in the Associated Press poll and moved up two spots to No. 17 in the AFCA Coaches Poll.

But Pitt isn’t likely to see any movement in the College Football Playoff rankings. The Panthers entered the weekend at No. 18 in the CFP; No. 17 Iowa held off Iowa for a 33-23 win at home, No. 16 Texas A&M crushed Prairie View A&M, No. 15 Wisconsin beat Nebraska 35-28, No. 14 BYU won at Georgia Southern 34-17, No. 13 Oklahoma survived against Iowa State 28-21, No. 12 Ole Miss beat Vanderbilt 31-17 and No. 11 Baylor beat Kansas State 20-10.

The only team ranked in the ten spots above Pitt that lost this weekend was Wake Forest, who was No. 10 prior to its 48-27 defeat at Clemson. So if the Panthers have a chance of moving up, it will have to be due to Wake Forest falling more than seven spots or the CFP committee viewing Pitt as superior to some of the teams ranked above it.