Folks, stay tuned to this entry, as we’ll be adding updates as they roll in relative to the Wolfpack’s bowl destination.
We learned on Monday that NC State was out of the running for one of the nine bowls with ACC ties after the NCAA held a lengthy teleconference with conference and bowl officials to go over the selection process. But, as we spelled out this afternoon in this very important entry…nothing is set in stone and the ultimate bowl selections remain very fluid.
Again, before reading this entry you would be well served to lay some groundwork by starting with this entry.
Update #7: Georgia Tech Officially Accepts Chick-Fil-A
This doesn’t affect State directly, except to eliminate a wildcard. Georgia Tech has officially accepted their expected invitation to the CFA/Peach Bowl in Atlanta:
No. 16 Georgia Tech accepted an invitation to the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Wednesday, staying at home to face a Southeastern Conference team on New Year’s Eve.
Bowl president Gary Stokan got permission from the Atlantic Coast Conference to make the announcement ahead of Saturday’s league championship game after the selection committee decided on the Yellow Jackets (9-3) over Florida State.
The pieces are starting to move, so stay tuned.
Update #6: ESPN’s Heather Dinich Explains Scenarios / SFN Analyzes
Bowl Update: Close But Not Quite
“Nothing is finalized yet, but it looks like the Gator Bowl wants Clemson and the Chick-fil-A Bowl wants Georgia Tech. That announcement could come as early as tomorrow.
“As for North Carolina playing in Charlotte, it depends on who wins the ACC championship game and what the Champs Sports Bowl does.”
Dinich continues by giving the scenarios a decent review, and don’t forget that ESPN owns some of the at-large bowls that State may ultimately end up playing in…so do not discount her employer as a player in this situation.
As we pointed out in our afternoon entry, although the following statement is technically correct, Dinich’s hedge (italicized) is unnecessary.
If Virginia Tech wins, the Champs Sports Bowl is likely to take FSU, Boston College would fall to Music City, and North Carolina would go to Charlotte. If Virginia Tech loses but puts on a good showing, Champs might take the Hokies over FSU, which would likely send North Carolina to the Music City Bowl, and the Meineke Car Care Bowl would have Maryland, Miami or Florida State to choose from.
Folks, VPI is NOT going to put on a good showing in the ACC Championship. Even if the Hokies were to put on a good showing traveling to Tampa for the second consecutive year, why would that trip to Florida be a GOOD thing for the Champs?
VPI is playing in Florida for the ACC Championship for their second consecutive year and for the third time in four years. The Hokies played in the Orange Bowl in Miami last year for their bowl game. Who in their right mind would think that Hokie fans would/could travel BACK to Florida to play in the Champs Bowl one year after an Orange Bowl appearance and three weeks after an ACC Championship game appearance?
The biggest variable to NC State’s bowl selection in this scenario has nothing to do with Virginia Tech. Since it is now obvious that the Champs is leaning FSU, the primary risk is that UNC-CH tries to work a deal with the Champs to supplant FSU in Orlando. Again, we’ve got it all covered for you here.
Update #5: More potential wrenches? EagleBank calls Maryland’s bluff
ESPN’s Heather Dinich is reports:
The Humanitarian Bowl is considering choosing undefeated Ball State over an ACC team, a decision that would be difficult to move forward with unless most parties involved agree to it.
If that happens, the teams most likely to get farmed out to an at-large spot would be Wake Forest and Maryland, both of which have given reasons not to play in the Eagle Bank Bowl.
The Eagle Bank Bowl might take Wake Forest, even though they made an agreement with Navy not to schedule rematches. The Eagle Bank Bowl is also willing to work around Maryland’s exam schedule.
“We would work our bowl schedule to accommodate Maryland,” said Sean Metcalf, a co-CEO of the bowl. “Not our game date, but what we need them to do as a team here in town.”
Update #4: Independence Bowl News
Site member TVP1 passed along this tidbit and link in the comments section, which I will post up top.  Props to TVP1 and Chrispy over at the Wake boards for the information.
“The contingency deal the Independence and Papa John’s bowls have with the Sun Belt DOES NOT require them to take a 6-6 Sun Belt team over other 6-6 teams for an at large spot.”
Shreveport Times: I-Bowl Narrows Pool
The Independence Bowl would have to come to an agreement with [Louisiana] Tech to play in the Dec. 28 game at Shreveport’s Independence Stadium.
On the other side of the matchup, Bergeron said, “we’re trying to stay geographic. There’s some possibilities in Conference USA. There is a possibility out of the ACC. Notre Dame is out there as a wild card.”
In Conference USA, both Southern Miss and Memphis finished the regular season at 6-6 and could fit into the I-Bowl’s plans. North Carolina State won its last four games to get to 6-6 and become bowl eligible.
Looks like one thing that won’t be happening in Shreveport is an NCSU-Notre Dame game, which would nbe a rematch of the 2003 Gator Bowl. Considering the Notre Dame rumors swirling about, I will leave it to you to decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Update #3: Interesting Scenario from AJC.com
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution;s Tony Barnhardt (aka Mr. College Football) is making some interesting projections with some sound logic behind them:
Eagle Bank: N.C. State (6-6) vs. Navy (7-4): N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien, whose team finished with four straight wins, goes against his alma mater. Navy still has a game with Army on Saturday.
Motor City: Maryland vs. Ball State (12-0). Maryland can’t go to the Eagle Bank on Dec. 20 in Washington, D.C. because it conflicts with exams. Wake Forest can’t go because it played Navy this season. The Big Ten won’t fill its slot in the Motor City so the ACC cuts a deal for the Terps to play a 13-0 Ball State, which faces Buffalo for the MAC championship.
Update #2: News coverage from 12/2
We’ve got two links that focus on the impact of the muddy ACC Bowl picture on the EagleBank Bowl in Washington.
- The Washington Times discuss the big picture for the bowl in this link.
- The Wilmington Star talks about the impact related to the Wolfpack in this one.
Some of the speculation regarding Maryland and Wake Forest are echoed by some Wolfpackers on message boards and in our comments section. The question I have for eveyone is — have your forgotten that Miami is in the ACC?
I could be wrong and things could definitely change, but I don’t understand why fans are forgetting Miami’s presence. The Hurricanes don’t have any traveling fans to begin with; and they are limping to the finish line in miserable fashion. They would be a candidate to fall to the league’s last bowl spot regardless of any issues with Wake Forest &/or Maryland. Unless something changes amongst the schools, the bowl, the ACC office and the NCAA then it seems pretty obvious that will be the only logical result for the EagleBowl.
Regardless of the realities of this situation, we encourage you to really rub it to the bowl and conference and go to EagleBankBowl.org and quickly vote for NC State. It can’t do anything but show how much support and excitement exists around NC State football.
Turning the focus to NC State– ESPN is projecting State to head to Detroit for the Motor City Bowl, but ACCNow’s Joe Giglio has just posted a great update on what is going on with the Wolfpack — he says that Pack is working for the PapaJohns.com bowl in Birmingham.
Update #1: Morning news coverage from 12/2
“By the way, to complete N.C. State’s best-case scenario from yesterday, the Motor City Bowl would the No. 1 choice at this point.
“An unbeaten Ball State will likely be there (with a win over Buffalo in the MAC title game) and State wouldn’t have to worry about competing against an at-large MAC team for the spot.
“For a spot to come open in the Motor City, which is played in Detroit on Dec. 26, Ohio State must be taken as a BCS at-large.”
CO/N&O, Tysiac: Pack Not In ACC Bowls
“The shortage of bowl-eligible teams in the SEC, Big 12 and Pac-10 conferences mean that there might be opportunities for at-large spots in other bowls. Those bowls must take 7-5 teams first, though.
“It appears there will be between two and four open at-large spots for 6-6 teams. N.C. State and Notre Dame are the only 6-6 teams in the BCS without an automatic bowl slot.
“Louisville (5-6, at Rutgers) and Arizona State (5-6 at Arizona) could get to 6-6 this week and occupy additional bowl slots.”
Ovies, 850 The Buzz: So Much For Interpretation
“This silly notion that the NCAA has nothing to do with bowl games is crazy. The NCAA is the body that sanctions, approves and sets eligibility rules for those games. It’s their rule, and a good one at that, that protects teams from getting shut out with 7 or more qualifying wins. With that said, Barry Bonds and O.J. will come clean before State gets left out of the bowl line up.”
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