Entering Week 13, North Carolina needed two things to happen in order it to the ACC championship game next weekend. Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, they never made it past Step 1.
Looking as if they had just finished a Thanksgiving feast just prior to kickoff, UNC fell behind rival North Carolina State 21-0 five minutes into the second quarter. Halfway through the fourth quarter, the deficit was down to seven as a Mitch Trubisky touchdown pass to cut the lead to 28-21. That would prove to be the final score as the Tar Heels failed to dent the scoreboard on their final possession and the Wolfpack managed to eat up the remaining 3:10 of the game for the win.
With the UNC loss, Virginia Tech, which beat the Tar Heels earlier in the year, is the 2016 winner of the ACC Coastal title. Tech will now square off against Clemson in the ACC championship game in Orlando this coming next Saturday night. It will mark the Hokies’ first appearance in the league title game since 2011 and their fifth overall since the first one in 2005.Coastal Champs
But we’ve got business to take care of first... #BeatUVA 🏆
— HokiesFB (@HokiesFB) November 25, 2016
The 2016 Dr Pepper #ACCFCG is set! @VT_Football will represent the Coastal Division and face @ClemsonFB.
Tickets: https://t.co/w3L4mE9Itg pic.twitter.com/Fg1TWYXtDt
— ACC Football (@theACCfootball) November 25, 2016
UNC needed both a win vs. NC State and a Tech loss to rival Virginia tomorrow to earn its second consecutive berth in the title game.
NC State’s win, meanwhile, pushed the Wolfpack to 6-6 overall and into a bowl game -- and potentially saved Dave Doeren‘s job in the process. NCSU will now have gone to three straight bowls under Doeren after staying at home his first season in Raleigh.
Perhaps the most noteworthy moment in the game, though, came in the first half when a scuffle erupted into a bench-clearing “brawl” between the two rivals.