ACC Championship Game 2025 Early Preview, Predictions for Duke vs. UVA

One of the more unusual conference title game matchups takes place in the ACC on Saturday.

The 7-5 Duke Blue Devils are potentially one win away from a College Football Playoff berth.

The Virginia Cavaliers are the ranked program in the matchup and they are expected to lock up the ACC's automatic bid.

After all, UVA just beat Duke by 17 points on November 15 and the Blue Devils have not looked great against Top 25 opposition.

ACC Championship Game Info

Date: Saturday, December 6

Start Time: 8 p.m. ET

TV: ABC

Live Stream: ESPN+ or ESPN app

Preview

Virginia enters Charlotte as the clear favorite to reach the CFB Playoff through the ACC's automatic bid.

The Cavaliers went 7-1 in league play and lost once since Week 2.

On the other hand, Duke is 3-3 in its last six games and got into the ACC Championship Game on tiebreakers over four other teams that finished 6-2 in league play.

Duke will not be ranked going into Saturday's game, which is important to note if Manny Diaz's team somehow pulls off the upset.

The CFB Playoff takes the five highest-ranked conference champions, so if Duke is ranked below a Group of Five champion, it won't get into the 12-team playoff field.

That scenario won't come into play, though, if Duke's average performances against ranked foes continues against UVA.

Duke lost by nine or more points to the Illinois Fighting Illini, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and UVA in its three toughest regular-season games. It also fell by seven to the Tulane Green Wave in September. Tulane is currently the top-ranked Group of Five team.

Virginia outgained Duke 540-255 in the November 15 meeting. Duke only made the final score look close because it put up 14 points in the fourth quarter. Virginia held a 31-3 advantage after three quarters.

Every stat you look at suggests that Virginia will cruise to its first-ever ACC championship.

If that does happen, UVA would be a more-than-deserving CFB Playoff participant, and one with a veteran quarterback in Chandler Morris that could provide a serious threat to whichever opponent it visits in the first round.

Prediction: Virginia 38, Duke 17