CFN usually does a good job analyzing the landscape of College Football. Obviously a lot of football left to be played, but as I scanned through I saw some really good potential match-ups for the ACC. It would be cool if some of these held... Most of our time here is spent analyzing what has happened or speculating about what might happen, so we'll just put this under the "speculating what might happen" category.
Here is the link: http://collegefootballnews.com/2016/college-football-playoff-bowl-projec...
St. Petersburg Bowl:
ACC vs. American Athletic
Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL, 11:00 am ET, ESPN
*Boston College vs. South Florida
Camping World Independence Bowl:
Independence Stadium, Shreveport, LA, 5:00 ET, ESPN2
ACC vs. SEC
Wake Forest vs. South Carolina
Military Bowl:
Navy-Marine Corps. Stadium, Annapolis, MD, 3:30 ET, ESPN
ACC vs. American Athletic
Georgia Tech vs. Houston
This match-up has the potential to be interesting with these two offenses being so different.
New Era Pinstripe Bowl:
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY, 2:00 ET, ABC
ACC vs. Big Ten
Pitt vs. Iowa
Could be really good with two teams that, traditionally speaking, are very good up front.
Russell Athletic Bowl:
Orlando Citrus Bowl, Orlando, FL, 5:30 ET, ESPN
ACC vs. Big 12
Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia
Wow... really? I hope this one doesn't hold... Would love to somehow sneak into the Orange Bowl. Dang-it Syracuse!
Belk Bowl:
Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC, 5:30 ET, ESPN
ACC vs. SEC
NC State vs. Kentucky
Hyundai Sun Bowl:
Sun Bowl Stadium, El Paso, TX, CBS
ACC vs. Pac-12
North Carolina vs. UCLA
Camping World Stadium, Orlando, FL, 11:00 ET, ABC
SEC vs. Big Ten or ACC
Auburn vs. Florida State
Tax Slayer Bowl:
Camping World Stadium, Orlando, FL, 11:00 ET, ABC
SEC vs. Big Ten or ACC
Ole Miss vs. Miami
If this one holds, I'm not sure Miami has a chance.
Capital One Orange Bowl:
Saturday, December 30, 2016
New Miami Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL, 8:00 ET, ESPN
ACC vs. Big Ten or SEC or Notre Dame
Louisville vs. Wisconsin
Chic-fil-a Peach Bowl:
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA, 3:00 or 7:00 ET, ESPN
CFP vs. CFP
Alabama vs. Clemson
Alabama looks like one of the best teams I've seen, ever. Clemson is doing their best to drop one. I think this potential match-up could get ugly.
Comments
Hopefully, if we take care of business the next few weeks, we can flip all these predictions on their collective heads with an ACCCG victory.
Don't forget this one:
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl
Camping World Stadium, Orlando, FL, 11:00 ET, ABC
SEC vs. Big Ten or ACC
Auburn vs. Florida State
So, they're projecting VT to be the 4th best ACC team?
And what's funny is how many folks have been wanting to get a bowl game against WVU for years, but this year, we probably want to avoid it, since we get them to start next year anyway. (Of course, if we could have beat Clemson in 2011, we probably would have been seeing the couchburners in the Orange Bowl.)
Bowl game are no longer linear but are tiered. So the 2-4 best teams all can jumble up bowl game being picked, this bowls will go with team that will sell their tickets.
The first few games are linear:
-Playoff (if qualified)
-Orange Bowl
-Citrus Bowl (if B1G is in Orange)
-Russell Athletic
Then the tiers kick in.
So, if the ACC has a team in the CFP and the B1G has a team in the Orange Bowl, then there are 4 ACC teams taken before the Tier 1 bowls even get to look.
Thanks (fixed)... Not sure how I missed that one. Could be a whale of a match-up as well!
Wait?? Boston College?!
Everyone except Loluva, of course.
But what if we count Moral Victories???
In other words, the UVA Thoroughbreds will graduate without going to a Bowl game, but they sure will try to ruin another team's bid of an ACC Championship game.
They have 4 wins with UConn and Wake left on the schedule.
Loeffler owns a house on 6-Win Boulevard.
Wake isn't a guaranteed out anymore.
It is one of the only two winnable games they have left on the schedule. No games are guaranteed outs for Boston College.
Do all of their wins count toward bowl elligibility?
Their only FCS game was against Wagner so yes
We are getting the citrus bowl if we win out the regular season
I'm alright with this. Having young kids means Orlando is a great destination twice in December (on top of us taking a vacation there next week).
In terms of who a venue would like to see, I think VT is the 4th or 5th biggest draw (not fanwise, but TV ratings and interestwise)
1. Clemson- everyone knows now who Watson is and what the team is capable of
2. L-Ville- the only people who don't know Lamar Jackson's name don't watch college football. Heisman frontrunner is instant ratings
3. FSU- regardless of record, they still have a higher casual fan draw than VT
4. UNC or VT- depending on how the rest of the year plays out, a bowl venue would essentially do a coin flip depending on how many fans they could draw
Despite being a comparable team in terms of quality of football with the others higher on this list, VT's loyal fanbase is not enough when they talk about TV viewers. It sucks, but that is where we are at in terms of national brand. Probably always will be without more signature wins.
The way things are going are Boston College and/or Miami even going to Bowl qualify?
Damn, if only some really, really good looking person on this site had made a similar prediction first...
http://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/480005#comment-480005
If the Hokies win out they make the orange bowl if one of the big 4 loses and Louisville wins out I think Washington will either get upset by USC or Arizona State and their strength of schedule wouldn't compare to Louisville's. Also the BCS bowl committee would take a 10-2 (and ACC championship appearing) Va Tech over a 9-3 FSU possibly. I live in State College and if both Va Tech wins out and Penn State wins out there is a substantial chance of them playing each other in the Orange bowl if Washington can lose a game.
Only in a perfect world, right?
I am so clearly also a bowl master and foresee a possible Wake Forest v Minnesota matchup in Yankee Stadium
We also want FSU to lose at least one more, maybe even UNC. How frustrating would it be for Clem/L'ville to both get in the Final Four and UNC beat us out for the Orange Bowl because we lost the ACC-CG?
BCS voters are humans too- maybe
uh........
BCS voters don't exist.
Okay, it took me a few reads to figure out what you're saying.
-You think that Washington will lose, and drop out of the CFP.
-You think Louisville will win out and take that fourth spot.
-You think that guarantees VT to go to the Orange Bowl if they win in November, but lose in December.
Here's the thing with the Orange Bowl. It's a straight up ranking system. If Clemson wins the ACC, but also secures a playoff spot, the committee just goes down the list to the next ranked ACC team to fill the Orange Bowl. Same thing works if we somehow get two teams in the CFP. They would just go to the third highest ranked ACC team. Technically right now, that's FSU, but I'm pretty sure that by December, the rankings will even out, and if we're playing in the ACCCG, we'll be ranked higher than UNC and FSU.
I think the safest bet for the Orange Bowl is to say that there are only three ACC teams that have a shot: Clemson, Louisville, and the Coastal champ.
Its nobody till the CFP rankings come out. Last years first CFP rankings had a lot of differences from the AP. Theres a good chance we open the CFP rankings above them.
The only reason we wouldn't would be is because of strength of schedule
I think we'd have to sedate HoaT and show papers proving the frothing mouth isn't rabies or hoof and mouth.
BC v USF is intriguing
Wasn't sure where to stick this, so bowl thread of sorts will do until told otherwise: I've never bought bowl tickets through the school (never been to a tech bowl game either)...Belk is the only one I could conceivably attend. Now, for Christmas a few years ago I got the fianc club level seats (I'm a baller)for the UL-UGA (she's a Card) game and ticketmaster bent me over a barrell and showed me the 50 states, so will not being that again. So, if I "buy" the tickets for the game thru the little sheet they sent out a couple days ago, is that a hard buy, or do they just charge you for the bowl if that is indeed the bowl tech goes to?
TL;DR: If tech doesn't go to a bowl that one selects, do I get refunded for that? Might be a stupid question.
If you order bowl tickets through the school for a bowl VT doesn't get into you will be refunded.
From hokietickets.com:
It would be hard for me to see VT or WVU be interested in matching up in a bowl game when they play again on September 2nd in FedEx.
If VT is in the Russell Athletic Bowl against a Big 12 school I could see the match-up being against Oklahoma State.
If VT doesn't get into the the playoffs or into the Orange Bowl (both long shots right now) I'd welcome going to the Belk Bowl in Charlotte. Easy to get to and match-up against a SEC opponent in great recruiting ground.
On a side note, will the Belk Bowl pull out of Charlotte?
Couldn't see that happening. Bowl games are tied into the stadium too much for that to be feasible in my mind and feel like with Belk having their headquarters in Charlotte they wouldn't move.
Belk won't leave Charlotte, but there is the very small potential the NCAA can revoke its bowl charter.
After the way Houston handled Navy, they might be the perfect matchup for GT.
Bama looks awesome obviously, but I think a team like Clemson with a talented defensive line will do well against them. Bama has a problem. That problem is that they can't rely on the passing game. They have been crushing teams on the ground, but when the QB has been in passing situations, he struggles.
Looking at Bowl projections from different sites. Some sites think we'll win 2 out of the last 4 apperently cuz they have us in the freakin Belk Bowl! Russell Athletic I get, but the Belk Bowl?!?!?!? What do you guys think?
It's in Charlotte, maybe that's why
Let's be honest, Belk bowl loves us because we sell the damn place out.
Here are the ACC tie ins for this year.
Current standings:
Clemson 8-0
Louisville 7-1
VT 6-2
UNC 6-2
FSU 5-3
Wake Forest 5-3
Pitt 5-3
GT 5-3
The CFP places the teams in the semi finals and Orange Bowl. Right now, that puts Clemson in the semis, and Louisville in the Orange Bowl as the next highest ranked ACC team.
Then, the other bowls get to choose, and they go based off of records. They can choose a team within one game of the highest record. Assuming we have access to the Citrus Bowl, they could take any of the next 7 teams. Same with RAB. So, if those bowls pick UNC and FSU, then we would fall into Tier 1, and one of those bowls would have to take us, because they wouldn't be allowed any of the current 4-4 teams before we're selected. The Belk Bowl is not shy about liking us, they really wanted to get us last year, but got screwed by the other Tier 1 bowls not wanting Pitt.
In fairness, who does want Pitt?
Here's a futile effort, continued from the other thread, but I'm slightly bored on a Sunday.
Post week 10 projections based on the AP Poll. Of course, what does the AP know, because they still have us below UNC?
1.) Playoffs
We'd still be facing #1 Alabama, if we somehow hit full chaos mode for the month of November.
2.) Orange Bowl vs. SEC or Big Ten
Current opponent: #7 Wisconsin
Current ACC projection: #5 Louisville
3.) Cotton Bowl
Current opponent: #14 Western Michigan
Current projection: #10 Texas A&M
4.) Citrus Bowl
Since Wisconsin is currently projected to the Orange Bowl, ACC gets this bowl.
Current opponent: #19 LSU
Current ACC projection: #15 UNC
5.) Russell Athletic Bowl
Current opponent: #11 West Virginia
Current ACC projection: #19 Virginia Tech
Could you recap how an ACC championship game appearance affects our order, assuming also 10-2 before (hypothetically) losing to Clemson?
I'll work on the assumptions of all of the expected teams winning out.
Clemson would be 13-0 champs and in the CFP.
Louisville would be 11-1.
VT would be 10-3.
UNC would be 10-2.
FSU is 9-3 or 8-4 (depending on the Florida game)
I think that would pretty much be the pecking order. The Orange Bowl slot is filled by the CFP committee, and it's simply the highest ranked ACC team after Clemson. Unless Louisville loses out, I don't see us jumping them. But, if Louisville collapses down the stretch, and the ACCCG does have the two highest ranked ACC teams playing it in, then we'd go to the Orange Bowl win or lose.
Could we be high enough with 3 losses to take the Cotton Bowl wild card spot? I doubt it, but anything is possible.
The Citrus Bowl is contractually obligated to choose the winningest Big Ten and SEC team. I'm not sure if that extends to the ACC when/if we replace the Big Ten, but I imagine it would. It could be a toss up between two 10 win teams, but I think we'd probably have the edge.
Once we get into the non-CFP bowls, then the bowls pick, and I think they have the one win rule. So, the first bowl up could take us, UNC, or even 9-3 FSU. But if FSU is 8-4, they're not eligible.
If we do slip into the Tier 1 bowls, I'd like to think that we have the inside path to the Belk Bowl, seeing as how they really wanted us last year, but couldn't take us. I know some folks expect the Belk to prefer a NC school, but in this scenario, UNC would likely already be Florida bound, and WF and NC State would be a couple of wins behind us. And Duke might not be bowl eligible.
Is this conference record or overall record?
Overall.
I'm going with VT to the Citrus vs LSU (or aTm)
Yes, please. That would be one heck of a bowl game to land - vs either of those SEC opponents. Winner likely finishes top 10.
Phil Steele has us in the Orange Bowl against Wisconsin right now
That would be an amazing game. I'd love a shot at Wisky (respect for their program).
Lville in the playoff?
Russell Athletic Bowl vs Baylor... I wonder if he smells an upset against Oklahoma?
How is Lville going to end up below us? Is this the VT beats Clemson but they get in the playoff anyway model?
I'm not sure what path he uses to determine that, but a Louisville loss seems unlikely and we certainly won't be favored in the Clemson matchup.
And the bowl projections following the second CFP rankings:
1.) Playoffs
We'd still be facing #1 Alabama, if we somehow hit full chaos mode for the month of November.
2.) Orange Bowl vs. SEC or Big Ten
Current opponent: #7 Wisconsin
Current ACC projection: #6 Louisville
3.) Cotton Bowl
Current opponent: #21 Western Michigan
Current projection: #9 Auburn
4.) Citrus Bowl
Since Wisconsin is currently projected to the Orange Bowl, ACC gets this bowl.
Current opponent: #24 LSU
Current ACC projection: #14 VT
5.) Russell Athletic Bowl
Current opponent: #16 West Virginia
Current ACC projection: #17 UNC
Games left to play, of course. But if we can win out and go to the ACCCG, what an amazing season! I never dreamed we'd be looking at a top 15 bowl matchup this season.
So stoked! But again, it starts with going 1-0 on Sat.
All this looking ahead to bowls is not healthy. I think we just need to push all that out of our heads and focus on the next thing: going 15-0 next season.
Seems reasonable.
Hype Train baby. Haha