Georgia Tech and Florida State will play in the ACC Championship

Georgia Tech is going to the ACC championship.

Thanks to Duke ‘s 45-20 loss to North Carolina (the Tar Heels are bowl eligible now, by the way), the Yellow Jackets are the outright winners of the ACC Coastal Division. They had clinched a share of the division title last week after Duke lost to Virginia Tech, but they needed the Blue Devils to drop one of their two final games to win the division outright.

That actually seemed like a bit of a pipe dream considering the Blue Devils' final two contests were against two teams without winning records — the Tar Heels and Wake Forest. But North Carolina jumped on Duke early, forced turnovers and never relinquished the lead.

Georgia Tech is now headed to the ACC title game for the third time in the past six years, and this year’s trip might be the most entertaining.

Florida State clinched the ACC with little fanfare. In fact, the Seminoles made games harder on themselves with several come-from-behind wins. Florida State hasn’t lost a game since 2012, but the matchup against the Georgia Tech is definitely interesting because of the Yellow Jackets’ style of play. The triple option is not an easy system for which to prepare. Teams that know they’re going to face the triple option at some point in their schedule often set aside time during spring practice to prepare for it. But save for a game against FCS-level Citadel, Florida State would not have been one of those teams. In fact, Georgia Tech was picked to finish fifth in its seven-team division.

Georgia Tech’s offensive style also is built around ball control and time of possession. If Florida State gets into a deep hole against Georgia Tech, it might not have enough possession time to get it back.

Also, the Georgia Tech defense has been great at forcing turnovers and turning those turnovers into points, especially in the past four games.

Duke’s loss is the college football fan’s gain.

While it looked like Florida State would roll though the rest of its schedule into the College Football Playoff, there’s now some resistance, and actually some opportunity for the Seminoles. If Georgia Tech could somehow find a way to beat Georgia in its regular season finale, it would ascend in the College Football Playoff rankings and, perhaps, give Florida State that (potential) win it’s seeking to push it into the No. 1 spot in the rankings depending on what happens with the other teams in the top 4.

On the flip side, it also might be its toughest game to-date.

For more Georgia Tech news, visit JacketsOnline.com.

For more Duke news, visit DevilsIllustrated.com.

For more Florida State news, visit Warchant.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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