While the ACC didn't directly say it, the new championship tiebreaker rules were a direct response to Duke's stunning conference title last season.
Despite going 7-5 in the regular season, the Blue Devils were 6-2 in the ACC and won a complicated tiebreaker over Miami and three other teams that all finished with identical conference records. Duke made it to the ACC Championship Game, and very nearly cost the conference their lone bid to the College Football Playoff by upsetting Virginia.
With five losses, Duke wasn't given serious consideration for the playoff. Instead, Miami leapfrogged Notre Dame in the final rankings to prevent a catastrophe for the league. The ACC is not taking any chances of that happening again, changing its tiebreaker rules and effectively giving the conference autonomy to pick whoever it wants in case of ties with no head-to-head results.
The narrative that Duke shouldn't have made the ACC Championship Game a season ago is not one that Manny Diaz is prepared to accept. He went on the offensive quickly while at ACC Media Days this week.
"I heard we made the news," Diaz said at ACC Media Days on Friday. "I heard we got a rule named after us. That's pretty cool, right? The Duke tiebreaker rule. I want to start remarks by just addressing our thoughts on that. Inherent in the narrative of changing a tiebreaker for the conference championship game is the assertion that last year's team was undeserved of being in the championship game. You hear that word that now there will be more deserved teams in the championship game. I want to push back against that narrative. I think it's not just false; I think it's insulting."
Manny Diaz says the narrative about last year's Duke team is "insulting"
It was a frustrating out-of-conference slate last year for the Blue Devils. Duke lost three of its four non-conference matchups, falling to Illinois, Tulane, and UConn.
That doesn't change the fact, though, that Duke went 6-2 in the ACC. By doing so, they showed the potential of the team. They also played their best football when it mattered most. At one point, Diaz's team was just 5-5 with bowl eligibility not even guaranteed. From there, Duke won four straight games, including the ACC Championship over Virginia and the Sun Bowl over Arizona State.
It was Duke's first outright ACC crown since 1962. Regardless of what the conference wants to say, or all the talk from fans and pundits across the country, that's something nobody can take away. They might have made it tougher to happen again, but that 2025 ACC Championship flag will fly forever in Wallace Wade Stadium.
Duke fans should rejoice, though. This is just more obvious bulletin board material for Diaz to get his team ready for the 2026 season. This offseason has been chock-full of it, and the Blue Devils won't be short on motivation this fall.
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