By Dave Holcomb
SouthernPigskin.com

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Dave Holcomb previews North Carolina and Wake Forest.

This is the part of the football schedule that starts to get a little complicated for the middle-tiered Power 5 teams around the country. Thats particularly true in the ACC this year, where there is no frontline favorite to make the College Football Playoff.

In a perfect world, every Power 5 school wants its conference represented in college footballs final four. Theres bragging rights and financial gains to be made for even schools such as Duke and Boston College, who could go winless in the ACC this fall.

But its also true that no school wants to lose just for the sake of having their conference in the playoff. Take Miami for instance, the Hurricanes essentially eliminated Pitt from the playoff field with their upset win at Heinz Field last Saturday. But fans better believe that Manny Diaz wanted every bit of that victory even if it means the ACC wont have a playoff representative for the first time ever.

With that Miami win, Wake Forest remains the only ACC team without two losses. At 8-0, the Demon Deacons are the last hope the ACC has at getting a playoff team this season.

But Sam Howell and North Carolina would love nothing more than to do exactly what Miami did a week ago — play spoiler to the playoff hopeful.

Before the season started, it was the Tar Heels many expected to be in the November playoff conversation. But North Carolina started the season slowly against Virginia Tech and have been inconsistent all season. The Tar Heels are 4-4 and havent won more than two games in a row. Theyve also not lost two straight this year, and they just fell to No. 10 Notre Dame last week.

Howell will have to be at his very best for North Carolina to keep up with the Wake Forest offense, which hasnt scored fewer than 35 points in any game this season. Howells numbers arent as good as last season, but thats in large part because the Tar Heels lost so much of their offense to the NFL last offseason. And despite that, Howell is still third in the ACC (among quarterbacks with 200 attempts) with 9.1 yards per pass and fourth with 274 passing yards per game. He also has 19 touchdowns and has thrown just four interceptions over the last seven contests.

The junior quarterback is doing the heavy lifting on the ground for North Carolina too. Howell is second on the team with 596 rushing yards, 5.3 yards per carry and six rushing touchdowns.

Senior running back Ty Chandler is having a season, but his 829 yards and nine touchdowns dwarfs in comparison to the production from Michael Carter and Javonte Williams last year. Sophomore receiver Josh Downs is also having a nice breakout campaign, but Howell still misses Dyami Brown and Dazz Newsome.

The loss of those key offensive players has pushed North Carolina back to the middle of the Coastal division this year. But with Howell, the Tar Heels can still compete with any ACC program.

North Carolina should move the ball against the Wake Forest defense, a unit that was struggling prior to dominating Duke last week. The Demon Deacons allowed an average of 42.3 points per game in the three contests before giving up just seven points to the Blue Devils last Saturday.

Wake Forest is ranked 11th in the ACC in total defense and sixth in passing yards allowed per game. The Demon Deacons also allow 23.9 points per contest, which is seventh in the conference.

If Wake Forest makes a run at the College Football Playoffs, it will be because of quarterback Sam Hartman. He leads the ACC with 9.9 yards per pass and is one of just three signal callers in the conference averaging more than 300 passing yards per game. Hartman also has 22 touchdowns versus three interceptions.

The Wake Forest defense isnt bad, and theyd probably benefit from a more ball-control style of offense. The Demon Deacons are second in the ACC in points but 11th in the conference in time of possession. Wake Forest scores quickly, and as a result, the defense is on the field too much.

Even still, its hard trusting that if needed, the Demon Deacons can win a game to keep Wake Forest undefeated. Hartman has to be the guy. Going up against another quarterback whos x9cthe guyx9d for his program — maybe the best signal caller Wake Forest has played this season — and ready to play spoiler makes that fact all that more intriguing.

Prediction: Wake Forest 35, North Carolina 30