Boston College Baseball: ACC Baseball Playoff Race, Update #4

If there was ever any doubt about Boston College's baseball schedule and conference affiliation being among the toughest in the nation, look no further than what's happened in one week's time in the ACC standings.

Although the Eagles should've beaten Notre Dame on Sunday, they went home to Chestnut Hill as the recipient of a three-game sweep loss. BC entered the weekend a half game out of the playoff race, a full game behind the then-ninth place Fighting Irish. But despite losing three games out in South Bend, BC actually didn't lose as much ground as what would've been expected.

That's because Clemson traveled to Louisville and got creamed, taking three losses of their own. As a result, the Tigers, who were tied for fifth place with North Carolina, tumbled to tenth place, now on the bubble of being eliminated from the ACC playoffs altogether.

Virginia Tech also won a game against Pittsburgh, preventing a Coastal Division sweep for the Panthers. But both Duke and Wake Forest won a game against Miami and Florida State, respectively, putting the Eagles at a loss but not knocking them out entirely.

The point is this - BC didn't do themselves any favors by losing that game on Sunday, but they didn't lose all hope. Even if Notre Dame is now the fifth place team in the league, the tightly-packed standings ensure that nobody is out of reach, all while nobody is actually safe.

Hope is something that should be hard to come by for the casual baseball fan this weekend. Louisville became the first ACC team to reach 30 wins, and they swapped spots with Miami to become the top-rated conference school in the RPI ratings (L'ville is now #2 and Miami is now #3). The Cardinals are a top-five team, and that's something that should make Eagle fans cringe a little bit given that they're rolling - and coming into games against BC.

But Louisville has never been to the Birdcage. They played their first three games against BC last year down in Louisville, and they'll get their first taste of the northernmost ACC school this weekend.

As part of the schedule this week, both Pittsburgh and NC State are idle in conference play, posting non-conference series against Miami University (Ohio) and North Carolina A&T, respectively.

Here's the series for this week, followed by the updated standings:

Louisville at Boston College
Notre Dame at Florida State
Georgia Tech at Clemson
Virginia at Miami
North Carolina at Wake Forest
Duke at Virginia Tech
Miami (OH) at Pittsburgh (non-conference)
North Carolina A&T at NC State (non-conference)

Since the standings are getting packed again in the middle, a big series out of anybody could cause some havoc in the table. The key series to watch for BC fans is how Miami does against Virginia, especially since the Cavaliers lost their series at BC earlier this year. Clemson also hosts Georgia Tech after getting beaten pretty soundly by Louisville; a good series either way could either take them off the bubble and put them back into the thick of the race or it could knock them out altogether.

Imagine that. Clemson is a a game away from being in the top five of the league, but they're also a game away from being knocked out of the postseason altogether. That's Clemson, an iconic league powerhouse program.