5:45pm Update: NC State to play Rutgers in PapaJohns.com Bowl

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Nothing different from what we have been sharing…official announcement will be out later…

5:10pm Update
Our spies in Florida tell us that the Champs Bowl is going with Florida State, so this would mean that most of the rest of the projections of the conference’s bowl line-up should fall into place as previously projected. This development helps mitigate some of the potential risks to NC State’s chances of receiving a bid to the PapaJohns.com Bowl.

3:20pm Update
No change. The damn Champs Bowl is going ultimately choose FSU and will have inconvenienced half the damn country in the process of ultimately doing exactly what everyone knows they are going to do.

Champs officials are expected to choose Florida State for but still haven’t officially ruled out North Carolina.

If Florida State goes to the Champs Sports Bowl on Dec. 27 in Orlando, North Carolina will be selected for the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte.

“I cannot imagine they don’t take Florida State,” Meineke Bowl executive director Will Webb said at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, “but they have surprised me in the past.”

Stewart Mandel’s bowl projections at SI.com offer nothing different from our previously discussed expectations.

1:40pm Update
At 12:35pm this afternoon WRAL Sports announced what SFN and ACCNow have been reporting — NC State expected to land in Birmingham Bowl.

N.C. State is expected to go to the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., a top bowl official confirmed Sunday morning. Official bids are expected later Sunday.

Detroit’s Motor City Bowl has been keenly interested in the Wolfpack, which is only 6-6 overall but finished strong with four straight wins. But Ken Hoffman, executive director of the Motor City, told WRAL Sunday that NCSU is expected to go to Birmingham. Hoffman said he had been in touch with conference and bowl officials about likely scenarios.

“I’ve gotten the impression N.C. State will be in Birmingham,” Hoffman said. “That’s the preference and the priority.”

Previous Entry
As we have hinted through through the latter part of the week, NC State has been positioned to play in the PapaJohns.com Bowl if a few dominoes fell into place.  Troy’s win over Arkansas State last night and Navy’s waiver of their ‘re-match’ clause to accommodate the ACC & EagleBank Bowl allowed those pieces to come together.  SFN has learned that NC State will be playing in the PapaJohns.com Bowl on Monday, December 29th at 3pm.

The N&O’s Joe Giglio has provided fantastic coverage of the complicated and constantly evoloving bowl landscape throughout the week and his most recent projections for the entire bowl line up look pretty in sync with things that we have heard.

Throughout the week we have emphasized the importance of the variables the Champs Bowl and the Emerald Bowl play in bowl selections.  Although it would represent a surprise if the two bowls do not choose Florida State and Miami, respectively, the Florida press is certainly not reporting it as a ‘done deal’.  (Click link)

I just got off the phone with Gary Cavalli, the Emerald Bowl’s executive director, who said his San Francisco-based game will pick Miami unless the Champs Sports Bowl surprises everyone and doesn’t choose Florida State.

“If Champs takes North Carolina, that could change everything,” said Cavalli, adding that the Emerald Bowl would be interested in FSU if the Seminoles don’t go to Orlando.

Champs Sports Executive Director Steve Hogan has said his game will not make its selection until the Bowl Championship Series picks are made on Sunday. The Champs has declined to release North Carolina so that the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte can finalize plans to bring the Tar Heels to Charlotte.

Here’s your morning bowl link (Alabama has a newspaper – who’d have thunk it?):

Troy’s win Saturday night has shifted the sights of the Papajohns.com Bowl directly on N.C. State to fill its SEC slot against a Big East team, likely Rutgers.

With Troy headed to the New Orleans Bowl as the Sun Belt Conference champion, the Papajohns.com Bowl clearly prefers 6-6 N.C. State as its at-large team. But everything is on hold until two at-large teams with seven wins or more – Louisiana Tech (7-5) and Western Michigan (9-3) – are officially placed into games.

“Obviously, we’d love to have N.C. State,” said Chris Turner, senior director of programming and events of ESPN Regional TV, which owns the Papajohns.com Bowl. “It’s our understanding they want to come and at some point it’s up to the NCAA to allow that to occur.”

Rutgers is the Pack’s likely opponent, a team that similarly came back from the dead. The Scarlet Knights started the season 1-5 (including a blowout home loss to UNC), but rallied to win six straight. UConn is also possibility.

I had preferred a matchup with Ball State as a more exciting, TV-friendly game – but that was before the Cardinals lost the MAC championship game to a mediocre Buffalo team. Now, I agree with Coach O’Brien that Birmingham is our best option.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

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29 Responses to 5:45pm Update: NC State to play Rutgers in PapaJohns.com Bowl

  1. coppertop 12/07/2008 at 10:15 AM #

    “Alabama has a newspaper – who’d have thunk it?”

    Hey Now, what do you call that rag they print there in Charlotte? I’ll be the first to admit that AL is not known for it’s journalistic excellence but they do alright considering their target audience.

    Should we go to this bowl you can count me in as I’m only 3 hours away.

    Should be an interesting day for us. Just remember, not going to a bowl is way worse than going to one called the papajohns.com bowl! 🙂

  2. Scooter 12/07/2008 at 10:28 AM #

    Birmingham against Rutgers would be a good matchup for us. They are a decent team and have made a lot of teams pay for either being unable to score points or keep points off the board. The Rutgers schedule is weak, but they have put up strong points. The teams they have beaten have been slumping when they played (over-hyped UConn team, up-and-down Pitt, injury-riddled South Florida).

  3. wufpup76 12/07/2008 at 11:11 AM #

    We may actually be rewarded today for being State fans and supporting our team so much … How often does that happen?

    If we do get in, thanks to the team for such a strong, exciting finish to the season … And the fans deserve some credit, too – for sticking by NC State no matter what and for traveling and supporting our teams … The very fact that we may go to a bowl is in no small part thanks to the support of our fans … It’s not often you see *any* bowl so badly want a 6-6 team … Way to go team, and way to go State fans

    Will our vaunted AD say anything like this^? … He talks to the media so much, it’d be nice if he at least mentioned something like this in passing

    Goo Pack 🙂

  4. LRM 12/07/2008 at 11:18 AM #

    I understand that TV-wise, the Motor City Bowl was preferable, but Birmingham is far more ideal than Detroit for those with the vacation time to make the trip to watch it in person. Birmingham is an easy drive from really anywhere in the southeast (although it’s a solid 8 hours from Raleigh), and now that they’re giving away gas again, it’s an affordable drive. Legion Field sits nearly 72,000, and hopefully it’s packed out.

  5. packalum44 12/07/2008 at 11:30 AM #

    I’m there! 2 weeks vacation with nothing better to do! Go Pack!

  6. Greywolf 12/07/2008 at 11:57 AM #

    “SFN has learned that NC State will be playing in the PapaJohns.com Bowl.”
    OK, where did SFN learn this? I only saw “if this” and “probably that” when I clicked on the link. From all I could tell, our going to a bowl at all is still not a done deal. Maybe I just missed it or perhaps my limited ability to comprehend failed me and my only ability to “read between the lines” is when someone holds up three finges minus the thumb and pinky. 😉

  7. tooyoungtoremember 12/07/2008 at 11:59 AM #

    “But everything is on hold until two at-large teams with seven wins or more – Louisiana Tech (7-5) and Western Michigan (9-3) – are officially placed into games.”

    I’ll believe it when I see it. And not until then.

  8. branjawn 12/07/2008 at 12:21 PM #

    “SFN has learned that NC State will be playing in the PapaJohns.com Bowl.”

    I have to agree with Greywolf that this statement seems a bit misleading and presumptuous.

  9. BJD95 12/07/2008 at 12:35 PM #

    If you don’t like or trust our sourcing, then you don’t have to believe it. Free country and all that.

  10. StateFans 12/07/2008 at 12:45 PM #

    (sarcasm) I know…we have such a long of history of being wrong.

    Not saying that something really weird doesn’t happen this afternoon…just telling you the last things we have heard from our College Football sources and our NC State sources.

  11. Carnot 12/07/2008 at 12:49 PM #

    It figures that I spend the whole regular season sitting in Alabama watching games on TV, and then when I go to NC for Christmas, the Pack comes to Alabama for a bowl game 90 minutes from my house.

  12. buttPACKer 12/07/2008 at 1:13 PM #

    . . . i trust you SFN! 🙂

  13. branjawn 12/07/2008 at 1:55 PM #

    Just saying, the original entry said you learned something, implying FACT. The rest of the entry provided the readers with PRESUMPTIONS. In other words, you didn’t provide the FACTS that we assume you have. We weren’t saying you were lying or wrong even, just that we wanted to hear more of the factual evidence and less of the stuff that is on every other message board.

    All sources are saying State will be playing in the Pizza Bowl anyways, I’m pretty sure everyone knows that by now.

  14. wufpaxno1 12/07/2008 at 2:02 PM #

    Rutgers vs. NC State would make for one of the more interesting non-BCS bowls storey wise. Both teams were pronounced dead in late October and both came back from the grave to finish strong.

    I said in a post earlier this week that I preferred the Papajohns.com Bowl followed by the Motorcity Bowl, but just so I make sure and make the right choice for the Pack, who would our likely opponent be in the Motorcity Bowl if we went there. 😉

  15. Noah 12/07/2008 at 2:17 PM #

    State would beat the living hell out of Ball State. That game would have been about as entertaining as a pro team vs. a high school team.

    As far as the Motor City bowl goes…you can fly direct to Detroit from just about anywhere. Good luck finding a flight to Birmingham.

    But that’s neither here nor there since it appears we’ll be playing in…Birmingham. Lovely Birmingham. Beautiful, scenic, cesspool-of-a-town Birmingham.

    Is there some particular reason they don’t just play two games in Mobile? Schedule them a week apart if you have to. Mobile is a beautiful place and would make for a good trip.

    Birmingham is a giant ball of suck.

  16. wirogers 12/07/2008 at 2:27 PM #

    You can fly to Birmingham from anywhere Southwest flys, one of the odd ball places they go. Round trip direct from RDU for less than $300.

  17. NCSU88 12/07/2008 at 3:10 PM #

    There is a really nice Children’s Science museum in Birmingham.

    Article about the bowl game.

    http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/122864134467920.xml&coll=2

  18. BassPacker 12/07/2008 at 4:45 PM #

    Been to B’ham several times on business, not a bad town as depicted. Always enjoyed the visits, nice municipal golf course in the heart of city, some really good resturants, specially if you like bar-b-que style ribs, the original Dreamland eatery is worth the trip. So is the Fish Market. Easy to get around city, just put a quarter in the box, hop on the trolley right outside your hotel.

    Go Pack !

  19. packalum44 12/07/2008 at 5:40 PM #

    I’m going. Don’t care where it is.

  20. Dogbreath 12/07/2008 at 6:07 PM #

    Somebody must have bought and sent Jed on a golfing junket to Siberia so he had no chance to fuck up the whole thing for everyone.

    What’s the skinny on this? Noah?

  21. b 12/07/2008 at 6:13 PM #

    So Birmingham and Rutgers it is….

    And how far is Atlanta from Charlotte?

    About 31 points. Hee Hee.

  22. blpack 12/07/2008 at 7:42 PM #

    Bring on the Scarlet Knights. They finished on a roll, but so did we. They will be a challenge. I like our chances. Go Pack!

  23. TomCat 12/07/2008 at 8:08 PM #

    Rutgers is a great matchup. Two teams with strong finishes. Very do-able game. Birmingham… a bowl is a bowl. That’s all that matters. This is a made-for-tv game. ESPN forces both teams to sit on the same side of the massive Birmihgam stadium for “appearances sake” on TV (which I thought a bit strange). Also- the city acts as if they weren’t notified bowl game was planned (do-not mess with the cops. You’ll regret it). That was my experience. Other than that, it’s a great opportunity to extend the season and showcase the NCSU on TV and that is all that matters.

  24. highstick 12/07/2008 at 9:56 PM #

    Holy smoke, guys! Are we playing the Mafia? And these folks get upset about “nappy heads”! Sounds like the term “lack of institutional control” comes to mind!

    http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/topstories/index.ssf/2008/12/rutgers_football_a.html

  25. Greywolf 12/07/2008 at 11:26 PM #

    branjawn
    Dec 7th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
    “SFN has learned that NC State will be playing in the PapaJohns.com Bowl.”

    “I have to agree with Greywolf that this statement seems a bit misleading and presumptuous.”

    I (Greywolf) didn’t say the statement was either misleading or presumptuous. What I did say was I didn’t see it (in the link provided.) If pressed, I might have called it “premature” to declare it as a done deal. By all reasonable conclusions we were going to the PapaJohns.

    BJD95,
    It was a slow day, the Canes didn’t play until 5:00p and the Panthers on Monday night, and I was just reading and posting something to stay “in the conversation.” No offense meant by my original post. OK?

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