Boston College's Bowl Opponent Comes Into Focus

BC likely won't know their bowl fate for another day or so. The uncertainty surrounding the ACC's bowl selections isn't stopping other programs from accepting bowl berths, nor is it stopping bowl execs from narrowing their focus to just a few teams.

Here's a rundown of what we know.

We're down to two in San Francisco

While Boise State seems like the favorite to snag the WAC's top bowl slot, Nevada is making a late push to get into the January 9th bowl game. Kraft Fight Hunger bowl exec Gary Cavalli confirmed on Tuesday that the bowl will invite either Nevada or Boise State. It will likely come down to which program will bring the most fans. While this favors Boise State, many Nevada alum are stumping to get the Wolf Pack into the San Francisco-based bowl. 

While the individual bowl execs are incentivized to maximize ticket revenue for their own game, WAC commissioner Karl Benson will be focused on maximizing revenue, exposure and ticket sales across all WAC bowl tie-ins. And while Boise State might maximize ticket sales in San Francisco, there's this little consideration Benson and Humanitarian Bowl exec Kevin McDonald will have to consider when selecting the WAC representative:

"Nevada's win also gave the Wolf Pack a share of the WAC championship, and Nevada might be the more appealing candidate for one of the WAC's two highest-profile bowls, the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, because of its proximity to San Francisco. That and the rather poor chances that the city of Boise would welcome its hometown team's conquerors to the area with open arms might conspire to send the Wolf Pack to the Bay Area, while Boise State stays in Boise for its first Humanitarian Bowl berth since 2005."

Of course, the "Nevada to Boise" dilemma might be solved by the WAC brokering a deal with the Las Vegas Bowl, who will also be looking to fill their open slot left by the Pac-10. The WAC could then send either Boise State or Nevada to Las Vegas (opposite Utah), Fresno State to Boise and Nevada/Boise to San Francisco, and vacate their slot in the New Mexico Bowl. The early New Mexico bowl date -- December 18 -- makes it one of the less attractive options for the WAC in terms of exposure.

From the ACC, Cavalli has said it'll be either BC, Miami or Georgia Tech. It is sounding more and more like Clemson will get scooped up by the Meineke Car Care Bowl, while North Carolina heads to the Music City Bowl and Georgia Tech will play in the Independence Bowl.

East Carolina to the Military Bowl

One half of the Dominique Davis Bowl is now complete.

While North Carolina or N.C. State aren't likely to fall this far in the bowl pecking order, ECU's presence in this bowl all but assures that they won't be considered for this game to avoid a regular season rematch. ECU actually played three ACC teams in the regular season, losing games to Virginia Tech (49-27) and North Carolina (42-17), but upsetting N.C. State (33-27) in overtime in Greenville. The Pirates will get their fourth shot this season at an ACC team.

Caulton Tudor writes that BC, Georgia Tech and Clemson are in the mix for the Military Bowl. The fact that Tudor didn't mention Maryland is certainly interesting. If the Terps don't stay home for the holidays and parlay their 8-4 regular season record into a better bowl game, they could very well be headed to the Champs Sports Bowl or the Sun Bowl.