The conference title race in the ACC takes a turn to a familiar location when No. 4 Miami visits Death Valley to take on Clemson. The Tigers, despite a 16-8 record against AP-ranked opponents at home under Dabo Swinney, find themselves as heavy underdogs to Mario Cristobal's Hurricanes, and hope to use this stage to reaffirm their place as an ACC contender. Miami and Clemson are the only two teams with a 2-0 record in ACC play, so this makes Saturday's game a battle for solo first place in the standings.
That's exactly where Miami expected to be as a top-five team with national title aspirations, but it's also been an elusive goal during 22 years of conference membership. While Miami has had great seasons since joining the league in 2004, including reaching the national championship game last season, it has yet to win the ACC Championship in football and has only played in the title game once. The opponent in that one ACC Championship Game was against Dabo Swinney and Clemson in 2017, with the Hurricanes being the third of six consecutive teams to lose to the Tigers in Charlotte.
The all-time series between these two national title-winning programs is split dead even at 7-7, with each team winning half of their games at home (8 at Miami, 4 at Clemson) and each team winning one of the two neutral-site meetings. Darian Mensah is building a Heisman Trophy case: This game will be a big-time stage for Miami quarterback Darian Mensah and any prospects he or other teammates could have for award recognition at the end of the year. Even as the oddsmakers have identified little difference between Miami playing Clemson and another ACC opponent like Pittsburgh or Virginia Tech, a more mainstream view would target the Tigers as Miami's biggest foe in the conference, making this Saturday night primetime stage an opportunity for Mensah to prove his candidacy against top competition.
Through four games, Mensah has been the runaway leader for best quarterback in the country, completing 88.7% of his passes at 11.4 yards per attempt with 14 touchdowns and zero interceptions. Clemson might be struggling offensively at the moment, but its defense, particularly against the pass, has been leading the way the last couple of weeks. It's a worthy opponent for Mensah to make his case as the most outstanding player in college football, and the national audience will be dialed in to put that claim to the test.
Miami has been historically dominant: The Hurricanes are not just 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the ACC; they have been beating teams by historic margins and have hinted at the potential to be one of this season's true juggernauts. Miami has been beating its opponents by an average of 42.8 points per game, which is the most in school history through four games. The closest margin came in a 13-point road win at Wake Forest last week, and the Demon Deacons' subsequent win at Louisville further highlights the value of that victory.
Miami has jumped all over opponents early in games, holding three of its four foes to under 100 yards of offense in the first half and scoring fast and early behind the firepower that comes from Mensah, Malachi Toney and the rest of an offense that's averaging 51.8 points per game. Dabo Swinney is one win away from tying an ACC legend: Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is one win away from tying Florida State legend Bobby Bowden for the most head coaching wins in ACC regular season play (117). Swinney already holds the conference record for overall wins as an ACC head coach thanks to the Tigers' success in postseason games, but it does provide an interesting wrinkle as Dabo stares down a potential statement game against Miami.
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