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.â€
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.â€
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.
