2021 ACC Championship Game

Led by head coach Pat Narduzzi, in his seventh season, the Pittsburgh Panthers opened their 2021 campaign with a rout of UMass at home.[7] The Panthers followed this victory with a road contest against Tennessee; after a slow start, a 27-point second quarter propelled them to a one-touchdown win, 41–34.[8] Pitt's third game of the season saw them face Western Michigan, who scored an upset against the Panthers in a 44–41 win, the first Power Five win they'd achieved under head coach Tim Lester.[9] This was all despite the fact that Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett succeeded in tying the school's single-game record for passing touchdowns, set by Dan Marino, with six.[10] Narduzzi's squad was able to bounce back the following week, as they "drilled" New Hampshire by ten touchdowns to move to 3–1.[11] A pair of conference games on the road faced the Panthers to open the month of October; they defeated Georgia Tech by a 31-point margin, in a win that was helped by the Pitt defense intercepting Tech quarterback Jeff Sims on each of his first two passes of the game, the second of which was returned for a touchdown.[12] Pitt continued their good form in the following week's game at Virginia Tech, where they won a lower-scoring contest by a margin of three touchdowns.[13] This second win propelled the Panthers into the AP poll for the first time in the season, as they were ranked No. 23 entering their next matchup against defending ACC champions Clemson.[14] Pittsburgh defeated Clemson by ten points,[15] before concluding October with a home game against Miami, who was able to hand Pitt their second loss of the season with a four point win.[16] Pittsburgh was able to respond again, as they got through November with a perfect record following defeats of Duke,[17] North Carolina,[18] Virginia,[19] and Syracuse,[20] sending them to the title game with a 10–2 record. They clinched their spot in the championship game on November 20, after their defeat of Virginia.[19]

The Demon Deacons and eighth-year head coach Dave Clawson opened their season with a trio of home games. The first two, both non-conference, saw the Deacons defeat Old Dominion and Norfolk State with relative ease, by margins of 32 and 25 points, respectively.[21][22] The Demon Deacons opened conference play the following week at home against Florida State, winning the game by three touchdowns.[23] They fared similarly the following Friday evening at Virginia, as Wake defeated the Cavaliers by twenty and,[24] as a result, entered the AP Poll at No. 24 the following week.[25] Wake forest returned home and edged Louisville in a three-point contest.[26] Another three-point game followed, as No. 19 Wake Forest defeated Syracuse on the road in overtime to move to 6–0.[27] To finish the month of October, the Demon Deacons defeated Army in a high scoring 70–56 affair that saw quarterback Sam Hartman set a new Michie Stadium record for single-game passing yards[28] and featured just one punt in its entirety.[29] Wake returned home to conclude the month for their homecoming game against Duke, and defeated the Blue Devils by 38 points to move to 8–0 on the year, marking the best start to a season in school history.[30] The following week, Wake achieved a ranking of No. 9 in the first College Football Playoff rankings to be released,[31] but suffered their season's first loss on the road against North Carolina;[32] though North Carolina is an ACC opponent, the game did not count as a conference game since it was scheduled between the two schools in order to play each other more often than ACC scheduling would otherwise allow.[33] In their home finale, the Demon Deacons earned their first win over a ranked opponent when they defeated No. 16 NC State by a field goal.[34] The Deacons returned to the top ten in time for their matchup with Clemson, though the Tigers defeated Wake in convincing fashion, handing the Demon Deacons their first conference loss of the season.[35] Despite this, Wake Forest secured its spot in the championship game in its final regular season game on November 27, defeating Boston College by a score of 41–10.[36]