What needs to happen for UM to make ACC title game and the strange tiebreaker twist

A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Monday:

▪ The Miami Hurricanes are still alive — barely — in the battle for a berth in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. But they’re going to need help to make it to Charlotte for the conference title game at 4 p.m. Dec. 19 on ABC.

Here’s where things stand, keeping in mind that COVID could result in more changes to these scheduled games:

Miami is in third place at 6-1 in the conference, with games remaining Saturday at Duke (8 p.m., ACC Network), Dec. 12 home against North Carolina (time, TV to be announced next weekend) and Dec. 19 against Georgia Tech (which will be played only if it does not affect who will be in the ACC championship game that day).

Notre Dame is first in the conference at 8-0 and plays Syracuse on Saturday at home (2:30 p.m., NBC) and Dec. 12 at Wake Forest and will be heavy favorites in both games.

Clemson is second in the conference at 7-1 (with its one loss against Notre Dame) and closes its regular season Saturday at Virginia Tech (7:30 p.m., ABC).

Notre Dame, Clemson and UM are the only teams who will enter December in contention to play in the ACC championship game.

Notre Dame will win the conference if it wins out or if it loses once and finishes tied with Clemson.

Notre Dame also would win a three-way tie in the loss column with Clemson and UM because the three-team tiebreaker is combined head-to-head win percentage among the tied teams. Among those three teams, Notre Dame is 1-0, Clemson 1-1 and Miami 0-1.

What’s more, even if Miami wins out to finish 9-1 in the conference and Clemson beats Virginia Tech to finish 8-1 in the conference, Clemson would be awarded the berth in the ACC title game instead of Miami for this reason:

The ACC decided before the season that if teams are tied in the loss column but have played an uneven number of games because of COVID, head-to-head results will take precedence over win-percentage. And Clemson beat UM, which gives the Tigers the nod in that scenario.

And even if Notre Dame loses once and Miami wins out — leaving both teams at 9-1 - Notre Dame would win the tiebreaker with UM because of a better win percentage against common conference opponents.

Notre Dame is assured of not having any losses against common opponents because the Canes do not play Syracuse or Wake Forest, the Fighting Irish’s final two opponents.

UM, meanwhile, lost to Clemson, which lost to Notre Dame.

So how could Miami win the conference? Two potential ways:

1. If Notre Dame stunningly loses to Syracuse and Wake Forest and Miami wins its next two (Duke, North Carolina). In that scenario, Miami would advance to the Dec. 19 ACC championship game and the UM-Georgia Tech game would not be played.

2. If Clemson loses to Virginia Tech to finish 7-2 in the ACC and Miami beats Duke and North Carolina to finish 8-1 in the conference. Then UM would advance to the ACC championship and the UM-Georgia Tech game would not be played.

▪ Manny Diaz said no Hurricanes player has opted out of the season beyond the four who opted out in August or September: Greg Rousseau (who’s turning pro), Tate Martell, Kai-Leon Herbert and Zalon’tae Hillery.

With UM not having practiced in two weeks, Diaz said it’s too early to tell whether Navaughn Donaldson will return this week simply as a backup or whether he will compete with Jakai Clark and D.J. Scaife to start at guard.

“We have to get on the grass and see where Navaughn is at,” Diaz said, noting it’s not entirely clear how practice will look this week because of COVID limitations and there’s “only so much rock ‘em, sock ‘em” that Miami can do in practice this week.

That said, Diaz said the “five best guys” will play on Saturday at Duke.

“We’re happy we have Navaughn back,” Diaz said. “He worked really hard in rehab” after a knee injury late last season.

Donaldson is a redshirting senior and is able to return in 2021 if he chooses.

▪ UM doesn’t have a quarterback committed among its 21-player group of nonbinding 2021 commitments. The Canes reportedly continue to try to flip four-star prospect Jake Garcia from Southern California.

How much urgency does UM feel to add a quarterback in this class, with two weeks left before the early signing period?

“We’re always looking to add the best quarterbacks [to] our roster,” offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said. “We feel good about guys we’re still recruiting. Feel very good about guys on our roster and feel good about guys in later classes we’re recruiting. We’re optimistic we’re going to find the right guy. Just signing a quarterback doesn’t do you any good if he’s not the right fit.”

Lashlee said “quarterbacks get recruited a year ahead of every other position” and most of the top 2021 commitments were already committed or close to doing so when he joined the Hurricanes in January.

▪ Anybody on defense UM wants to play more over the final few games?

Defensive coordinator Blake Baker said he would like to give the backup defensive ends (Jahfari Harvey, Cameron Williams, Chantz Williams, perhaps end/tackles Jason Blissett and Quentin Williams) more work “because we would like to give Jaelan [Phillips] and Quincy [Roche] a little more rest… Chantz Williams is really making some strides and I can see him being a guy that helps us.”

▪ Even if Brevin Jordan turns pro after his junior season, UM appears in good shape at tight end for 2021 with junior Will Mallory, Dominic Mammarelli and two solid non-binding commitments: Texas-based Elijah Arroyo (11 touchdown receptions in seven games) and Miami Northwestern’s Khalil Brantley (eight TDs last year, not used quite as much in the passing game this year but played well at linebacker against American Heritage in the playoffs).

Here’s my Monday Dolphins piece with news and notes at every position and a schedule change.

Here’s my Monday Heat piece with an in-depth look at how the franchise can add two more All-Stars, plus news on two more players joining the team.