
I’ll try my best here to summarize the lay of the land. There are going to be 10 teams eligible for ACC bowl bids:
Clemson 10-2
UNC 9-3
FSU 9-3
Notre Dame 8-4
Pitt 8-4
NC State 8-4
Duke 8-4
Louisville 7-5
Wake 7-5
Shitacuse 7-5
Nobody will go to the CFP. Clemson or UNC will go to the Orange Bowl. Notre Dame is eligible for everything other than the Orange Bowl and will be able to jump any team other than Clemson.
There are 9 Tier 1 bowls available for the 9 teams that don’t go to the Orange Bowl. That’s the good news. The bad news is some of them are optional. Not sure how that option works, but anyone who can opt for a B1G team over an ACC team this year will do that. So the number of Tier 1 spots that are actually available may be 8 or even 7. Here are the 9 Tier 1 bowls, ranked in order of how attractive I think they are. The optional bowls are marked with a (*)
1. Gator* (vs. SEC)
2. Reliaquest (Outback)* (vs. SEC/B1G)
3. Duke’s Mayo (vs. B12)
4. Holiday (vs. P12)
5. Sun (vs. P12)
6. Pinstripe (vs. B1G)
7. Cheez-It (vs. B12)
8. Fenway (vs. American)
9. Military (vs. American)
Clemson 10-2
UNC 9-3
FSU 9-3
Notre Dame 8-4
Pitt 8-4
NC State 8-4
Duke 8-4
Louisville 7-5
Wake 7-5
Shitacuse 7-5
Nobody will go to the CFP. Clemson or UNC will go to the Orange Bowl. Notre Dame is eligible for everything other than the Orange Bowl and will be able to jump any team other than Clemson.
There are 9 Tier 1 bowls available for the 9 teams that don’t go to the Orange Bowl. That’s the good news. The bad news is some of them are optional. Not sure how that option works, but anyone who can opt for a B1G team over an ACC team this year will do that. So the number of Tier 1 spots that are actually available may be 8 or even 7. Here are the 9 Tier 1 bowls, ranked in order of how attractive I think they are. The optional bowls are marked with a (*)
1. Gator* (vs. SEC)
2. Reliaquest (Outback)* (vs. SEC/B1G)
3. Duke’s Mayo (vs. B12)
4. Holiday (vs. P12)
5. Sun (vs. P12)
6. Pinstripe (vs. B1G)
7. Cheez-It (vs. B12)
8. Fenway (vs. American)
9. Military (vs. American)