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The college football bowl season is a mere 25 weeks away which can only mean one thing -- way too early college football bowl projections. SB Nation's Jason Kirk has got you covered, with guesses for each of the 35 (!) college football bowl games in 2013-14.
Kirk is picking Clemson to win the ACC, set to face ACC newcomer Louisville in the Orange Bowl. Yes, the American gets a BCS automatic qualifier for one more season. No, we cannot fast-forward to the 2014-15 college football playoff unfortunately.
A total of eight ACC teams (of 14) make bowl games, but Boston College is not among them. Here's how the ACC breaks down:
Orange: Clemson vs. Louisville
Peach: Miami vs. South Carolina
Russell Athletic: Florida State vs. Cincinnati
Sun: North Carolina vs. UCLA
Belk: Georgia Tech vs. Central Florida
Music City: Virginia Tech vs. Missouri
Independence: N.C. State vs. Louisiana
Military: Pittsburgh vs. Rice
Home for the holidays: Boston College, Duke, Maryland, Syracuse, Virginia, Wake Forest
Where I disagree slightly is in the placement of Louisville. After seemingly getting the last pick of BCS at-larges every single year, the Orange Bowl gets to pick first this year. I doubt they'll pick the American champ, even if it is Louisville. You'll recall that the bowl got stuck with the MAC's Northern Illinois last season. There aren't obvious alternatives to Louisville with these projections -- the other two projected BCS at-larges are Oklahoma State and Boise State, according to Kirk -- though the Orange has been left holding the Big East champ bag far too often for me to think that they'll dip back into the American one final time. Teddy Bridgewater Heisman campaign or no.
If Florida State is to finish second in the Atlantic Division, have to think the Seminoles will jump the Hurricanes for the final ACC tie-in with the Atlanta-based Peach Bowl. Miami, presumably in the ACC Championship Game for the first time in program history, can technically fall to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, which has fourth pick of ACC teams. But I'm willing to bet that if the predicted order of the finish holds, FSU would go to Atlanta leaving the Canes for Orlando.
Of course, I also disagree that Boston College will be home for the holidays. With a projected four of seven ACC Atlantic Division teams failing to qualify for a bowl game, math is on the side of at least one of those programs to rattle off enough wins to get to bowl eligibility. Out of those four programs -- BC, Maryland, Syracuse and Wake Forest -- I do like BC's chances to get to at least three conference wins. The non-conference schedule is manageable enough (Army tho) that 3-5 should be good enough to put the Eagles back in the postseason for the first time since 2010.