There is a full month remaining in the 2016 college football season, long enough for anything to happen. Syracuse’s two-touchdown win against Virginia Tech and North Carolina’s last-second victory over Pittsburgh are strong reminders just how volatile the college football seasonOne minute a division can look like the race is over and one team is coasting and the next it becomes wide open.So despite inevitable headlines containing the popular buzzword “Coastal Chaos,” the Hokies’ 39-36 victory at Pittsburgh on Thursday has essentially reduced the battle for the ACC’s Coastal Division championship to a two-team race.If that many.Although Tech and North Carolina are mathematically tied atop the division standings with 4-1 records (6-2 overall), the Hokies are technically a game ahead courtesy of their 34-3 drubbing of the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill during Hurricane Matthew.In addition to the head-to-head advantage the Hokies have on the Tar Heels, they also hold tiebreakers over other top Coastal contenders Pitt (2-2) and Miami (1-3) all but eliminating either of those teams from realistic contention.”I’ve been saying this all along, so yeah, I definitely do feel like there could be something special here,” Tech quarterback Jerod Evans said after Thursday’s game, before warning that “We still have a ways to go.”While Tech’s first ACC Championship Game appearance since 2011 is still anything but a done deal, coach Justin Fuente’s surprise team is securely in the driver’s seat as it heads down the home stretch on the road to Orlando.The Hokies’ remaining conference games are at Duke on Nov. 5, home against Georgia Tech on Nov. 19 and home against rival Virginia in the regular season finale on Nov. 26. Those three opponents have a combined ACC record of 2-8.Virginia Tech would have to lose at least one of those games for UNC to have a chance at repeating as Coastal champs. Even then, coach Larry Fedora’s Tar Heels would need to win out, although Carolina’s remaining schedule is much less daunting than the games it’s already played.UNC’s remaining opponents Georgia Tech, Duke and NC State have also won just twice in a combined 10 ACC games.Although the odds are squarely against the Tar Heels heading into the season’s final month, quarterback Mitch Trubisky and his teammates aren’t ready to concede the division title just yet.”I never thought we were out of it just because we lost one game,” said Trubisky, whose team had a bye on Saturday. “It’s a long season and pretty much anything can happen.”
