Coastal Confessions: Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech will have Huge Effect on the Division

Three weeks ago I said the Hokies could forget about winning the ACC Coastal if they lost to Miami. The Hokies then dominated the Hurricanes to take lead in the division. This week's game against Georgia Tech is just as important for Virginia Tech's league title aspirations.

A win for Virginia Tech would make it 4-0 in the ACC with tiebreakers over both Miami and Georgia Tech. That would mean either the Hurricanes or Yellow Jackets would have to win out and the Hokies would have to lose two of their final four league games (UNC, at UMd, NCSU, at UVa) to lose the division.

But a Georgia Tech win would complicate things. If the Yellow Jackets win, the Hokies would face an up-hill battle to represent the Coastal in the ACCCG. Virginia Tech would have to win their final four league games and Georgia Tech would have to lose one of its final three (at UVa, Wake, at Duke) which isn't likely.

The other way the Hokies could make it to Tampa would be by winning out in league play and hoping the Hurricanes and Yellow Jackets do, too. That would make all three 7-1 in conference play with losses to each other. It would create a situation similar to the one we saw last year in the Big 12. The seventh divisional tiebreaker in the ACC is just the same as the one in the Big 12. The team with the highest BCS ranking would then go to Tampa.

A loss to the Jackets would drop the Hokies enough in the polls that they would need Georgia Tech and Miami to lose non-conference games along the way. Miami still has to face Central and South Florida and the Jackets still have to face Vanderbilt and Georgia.

Beat Georgia Tech and the Hokies will be in the driver's seat for Tampa. But lose to Georgia Tech and the road becomes long and hard for a third consecutive ACC championship.

Update: This was mentioned in the comments and confirmed from Michael Kelly's feed on The Twitter. The seventh divisional tiebreaker in a three-team tie is still BCS rankings. But if the highest two in the rankings are within five spots of each other, those two teams then go back to head-to-head to decide the winner.

So, if there's a three team tie in the Coastal with VT, GT and MIA all at 7-1, we'd go to BCS standings. Well, let's say the top two are Miami at No. 4 and Virginia Tech at No. 6. Then, since the two teams are within five spots of each other, it goes to head-to-head and the Hokies would go to the ACCCG.