It hasn’t exactly been the ACC’s year at the top of the college football world, and Miami’s loss to Georgia Tech could make things even bleaker for the conference’s football playoff prospects university. After losing this weekend, Miami fell to 12th in the standings. College Football Playoffs rankings — right on the edge of the field of 12. Granted, the playoffs don’t just take the top 12 teams in the rankings, they take the five highest-ranked conference champions and then seven at-large bids.

Now, whichever team wins the ACC championship will surely qualify for the CFP, but since Miami is no longer undefeated, only one undefeated team remains in ACC play – SMU – and the Mustangs have one loss on their overall record against BYU.

What does this mean? Well, that means we could see a one-bid ACC in the College Football Playoff this season. Let’s say SMU wins but loses in the ACC Championship to Miami. If that happens, the Mustangs’ playoff appearance suddenly seems unlikely, even though their two losses would be to BYU and Miami — two teams that will inevitably be in the field — because the strength of their wins won’t be particularly compelling to the committee . .

And what about Clemson? At 7-2 and ranked No. 17 in this week’s AP poll, the Tigers are hanging by a thread in the CFP. With games remaining against Pitt and South Carolina, this team has the opportunity to strengthen its resume, and this South Carolina game on November 30 could be what determines the fate of this team. Oddly, winning but not making the ACC championship game would probably be better for Clemson’s chances — and the only way the conference could even conceive of three teams being able to make it — than making the championship game and lose.

But the ACC would be content with two teams at this point, and the best chance for that to happen would be for SMU and Miami to win and for SMU to beat Miami in the ACC championship game. But even then, entering Miami with two losses seems anything but certain.

It seems strange to say that Louisville, a team that won’t make the College Football Playoff, controls the destiny of this conference, but it might be true. Louisville is a good team that has been beaten by both Miami and SMU. If the Cardinals finish the season strong, Miami and SMU’s resumes look much stronger and give the ACC a better chance at two bids.

If Louisville doesn’t finish strong, in other words, if it loses to Kentucky — the selection committee is much more likely to overlook the ACC for a large group. This is why Louisville vs. Kentucky suddenly carries a lot of weight for the college football landscape.

Miami’s loss most likely killed the conference’s chance to send two teams to the College Football Playoff. The last hope of Miami and SMU sneaking in could come down to Louisville beating Kentucky. What a world we live in.