Clemson vs. Pitt 2018 live stream: Time, TV schedule, and how to watch ACC Championship online

The ACC Coastal Division’s random event generator went to work this fall. And after cycling through a billion different scenarios, the football gods have settled on...

to represent the division in its annual conference championship bloodletting on Saturday evening.

The 7-5 Panthers satisfy all the requirements of a bewildering Pitt team. There are high-octane offensive playmakers like Qadree Ollison and Taysir Mack. There’s competent, occasionally electric quarterbacking from Kenny Pickett. And, most importantly, there are head-scratching losses like North Carolina and Miami smudging up the unhappy side of their ledger.

And for those efforts, Pitt gets the opportunity to shock the world as a 26-point underdog against an undefeated Clemson team. The Tigers are good again. Just picture last year’s team and the year before’s and you’ve pretty much got them pegged. Hunter Renfroe’s still there and everything, just wiling away the years before he signs with the Patriots as an undrafted free agent.

The S&P+ ratings rank Clemson 2nd in the nation and Pitt 63rd. Logic suggests this should be a 49-17 rout. But the Panthers defy logic, especially when it comes to ruining the seasons of vastly superior teams. Pittsburgh 27, Clemson 26.

Clemson has the best defense in the country, per S&P+. That D is amazing against both the run and the pass. Since 2016 Pitt, nobody except Alabama has had a running day like that against Clemson.

Pitt’s 12th in Rushing S&P+ and 87th in Passing S&P+, so it’s a good guess that Clemson DC Brent Venables will try to force QB Kenny Pickett to win, rather than Pitt’s two really good running backs, Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall.

The Tigers are so good that trying to simply run over them, like Pitt has done at times this year, probably will not work. It’s a safe assumption that Clemson’s staff will drill its defensive front on how to not get conned by 2016’s toss read.

So Pitt’s current coordinator, Shawn Watson, needs to come up with some other ploy that can have Clemson scrambling for a while. He makes more money than me and can figure that out on his own.

Is Pitt seriously gonna do this?

While this looks like a blowout on paper, don’t take this matchup for granted. Few teams are better at spoiling the seasons of more prosperous rivals than the Panthers when they’re at their most mediocre. Last year’s team went 7-5 but still beat then-No. 2 Miami in the last week of the season. The year before they went 8-4 with a win over then-No. 2 Clemson. And, in 2007, they got possibly the greatest sour grapes win in college football history by knocking West Virginia out of the BCS championship with a bonkers 13-9 win.

So don’t count out Pitt. Especially if you’re a highly ranked team on your way to a title shot.