Next week’s ACC championship game won’t include the league’s best team. It will instead feature a doomsday scenario that could leave the power conference out of the College Football Playoff entirely.

First, the matchup: No. 18 Virginia vs. unranked Duke. The Cavaliers (10-2, 7-1 ACC) easily earned their spot with Saturday night’s 27-7 triumph over Virginia Tech. J’Mari Taylor rushed for a touchdown and threw for another in the first half, and the defense forced seven three-and-outs and snagged two interceptions in the Hokies’ first 10 drives to put the Cavaliers in the conference title game for the first time since 2019.

“This is what we came here for,” Cavaliers head coach Tony Elliott said on the ESPN broadcast. “Just super proud of the staff, super proud of the players, but we have four more quarters.”

Those four quarters are, surprisingly, against Duke, which ended up atop a log jam of five other teams with two conference losses (joining Miami, Pitt, SMU, Georgia Tech) … even though the Blue Devils were the only one unranked by the CFP selection committee.

Duke’s first appearance in the ACC championship since 2013 opens the door for a disastrous scenario for the conference. The CFP’s protocol does not guarantee a bid to every Power 4 conference. Rather, it reserves a spot for the five top conference champions, regardless of their league. Duke’s resume includes defeats against UConn, Illinois and Tulane. If the Blue Devils beat Virginia, the CFP selection committee could snub the ACC’s champion in favor of whoever wins the American Conference (Tulane or North Texas) and James Madison (11-1 entering next week’s Sun Belt championship) for the fourth and fifth automatic bids. The Mountain West’s champion (San Diego State, New Mexico, Boise State or UNLV) could also have a case.

The Athletic’s Playoff projection model gives Duke a 47 percent chance of winning the ACC title game, but just a 7 percent chance of making the Playoff — while James Madison has a 47 percent chance.

No. 12 Miami is regarded as the ACC’s top team, but losses to SMU and Louisville put the Hurricanes in a complicated web of tiebreakers despite Saturday’s 38-7 triumph at No. 22 Pitt.

The No. 21 Mustangs (8-4, 6-2) were in the best position to join Virginia in Charlotte, N.C., next week. All they had to do was beat a 6-5 Cal team led by interim coach Nick Rolovich to play for the ACC title for a second consecutive year.

They could not. SMU lost a wild game 38-35 on the road despite making a furious comeback. The Mustangs trailed by 17 early in the fourth quarter but scored touchdowns on four consecutive drives to take the lead with 2:22 to go. Cal’s standout freshman quarterback, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, led the Golden Bears on a 75-yard drive, and Kendrick Raphael twisted out of a would-be tackle and past the goal line for the winning score with 43 seconds remaining. SMU missed a 52-yard field goal in the closing seconds, sealing the loss.

CAL COMPLETES THE UPSET OVER SMU‼️ pic.twitter.com/8r9VenWZ2o

— ACC Network (@accnetwork) November 30, 2025

The Mustangs’ defeat gave the final spot to Duke, which did its part Saturday afternoon with a 49-32 win over Wake Forest. The Blue Devils (7-5, 6-2) recovered three fumbles, and quarterback Darian Mensah threw for two touchdowns to pass Maalik Murphy for the Blue Devils’ single-season record (28). Mensah also rushed for a touchdown.

Regardless of who wins the ACC, Miami would still have a shot at making the field as an at-large team. That bubble is crowded, too, however, as the Hurricanes compete against the likes of Notre Dame (which Miami beat), Alabama, BYU and Texas.

The 5th-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders look to stay the course to make a national title run with a schedule that takes them to Morgantown to face the West Virginia Mountaineers in their season finale. The game is scheduled to start at noon ET with TV coverage on ESPN and streaming on-demand.

How to watch #5 Texas Tech vs. West Virginia on TV and stream without cable:

• When: Saturday, Nov. 29 at noon ET
• Where: Milan Puskar Stadium, Morgantown, W.Va.
• TV channel: ESPN
• Streaming on: FuboTV (free trial) | DirecTV (free trial) | SlingTV (low intro rate) | ESPN Unlimited ($29.99/mo.)

#5 Texas Tech vs. West Virginia: The matchup

Texas Tech has just one little hiccup to this point in its campaign, a 26-22 road loss to then-unranked Arizona State on Oct. 18, but has otherwise looked the part of a contender with an offense that ranks No. 3 nationally in scoring (42.6 ppg) and a defense that ranks No. 4 in the same category (12.3 ppg). Not only that, but the Red Raiders are No. 3 in turnover margin and No. 1 defending the run, showing few statistical weaknesses in their bid to win the Big 12 and secure prime position in the playoff bracket.

• See also: College football coverage on PennLive

Meanwhile, West Virginia is showing its teeth late in the season after a five-game losing streak mid-season derailed coach Rich Rodriguez’s reunion season in Morgantown. The Mountaineers are 4-7 overall with a surprising early win over current No. 22 Pitt (31-24) and road win more recently over then-No. 22 Houston (45-35) on Nov. 1 that they followed with a 29-22 win over Deion Sanders and Colorado. The possibility of a three-game win streak slipped away last weekend in Tempe with a 25-23 loss to Arizona State.

#5 Texas Tech vs. West Virginia: Know your live streams

FuboTV (free trial): Offers most extensive package of live sports with rates competitive with DirecTV. The FuboTV Pro Package ($54.99) includes ESPN Unlimited, but the Elite with Sports Plus package ($74.99) is required for NFL Red Zone. Monthly rates rise to $84.99 and $104.99 after that.

DirecTV (free trial): DirecTV offers a 5-day free trial and $49.99 first month ($89.99 after) with a current offer for $40 off the first full month. DirecTV’s Entertainment package ($49.99) carries ESPN Unlimited and NFL Red Zone on its channel lineup.

SlingTV (low intro rate): Full month of streaming runs as low as $45.99 with day passes available for 24 hours ($4.99), Friday-Sunday ($9.99) and 7-day access ($14.99). Most noteworthy omission is CBS, which carries college football and NFL games.

ESPN Unlimited ($29.99 bundle): ESPN has a new, standalone package that includes ABC broadcasts, all of ESPN’s sports channels, and access to ESPN+. For a limited time, ESPN can be bundled with Disney Plus and Hulu for $29.99 per month. This package is included free in select FuboTV and DirecTV plans, along with other TV providers.