The next play: ACC-Big Ten Challenge highlights the week ahead for Triangle
Scores will be settled this week in basketball, football and hockey, with the ACC looking to break its losing streak in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, the ACC football championship decided in Charlotte and the Carolina Hurricanes battling the Washington Capitals in a key Metropolitan Division matchup.
ACC tries to break skid vs. Big Ten
The ACC has some work to do if it wants to win the challenge for the first time in four years, with only one team (Duke) ranked in the AP Top 25 compared to three for the Big Ten. In Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency ratings, the Big Ten is ranked second among conferences (behind the Big 12) while the ACC is fifth.
Things get started Monday with Iowa-Virginia and Notre Dame-Illinois. Duke travels to Ohio State in Tuesday’s biggest game while North Carolina hosts Michigan and N.C. State hosts Nebraska on Wednesday. Boston College is this year’s odd ACC team out.
ACC football will crown champion
Coastal Division champion Pittsburgh is going to play somebody in the ACC football title game on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, but will it be Clemson (for the seventh straight time), N.C. State or Wake Forest? That all remained undecided going into Wake Forest’s game against Boston College on Saturday. Of the three, only N.C. State has yet to represent the Atlantic Division.
Canes in Metro grudge match
After a marathon 11-day, six-game road trip that took them from coast to coast, the Hurricanes are back home at PNC Arena on Sunday against the Capitals, with the two teams neck-and-neck atop the Metro. The Hurricanes head to Dallas on Tuesday before hosting Ottawa on Thursday and Buffalo on Sunday. Whatever happens against the Caps, the Hurricanes will be heavy favorites the rest of the week.
