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According to a report from ESPN's Brett McMurphy, the ACC and the American Athletic Conference have reached a six-year deal to play in the Military Bowl beginning in 2014. The game will be moved from RFK Stadium to Navy's Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis beginning this season.
The American will send the third through six picks to the Annapolis, Maryland bowl, while the ACC will send seventh through 10th selections.
This gives the ACC another Northeast bowl game and a tie-in with the conference formerly known as the Big East. The American loses previous bowl tie-ins with the Russell Athletic (now ACC vs. Big 12), Pinstripe (ACC vs. Big Ten) and Belk (ACC vs. SEC).
Much like the Big Ten, the ACC will begin tiering its bowl selection for the 2014-19 cycle in an effort to freshen up the bowl lineup for teams that are regular fixtures in the postseason. Once the Champs Sports bowl takes the conference's first selection after the Orange / College Football Playoff, the remaining ACC bowls will be placed into tiers.
While the ACC hasn't formally announced its complete bowl line-up for 2014-19, the conference's bowl picture is shaping up thusly:
ACC Champ
Orange / College Football Playoff
Top Tier (ACC #2)
Russell Athletic vs. Big 12
Middle Tier (ACC #3-6)
Capital One (conditional ACC) vs. SEC
Gator / Music City (sharing a tie-in with the Big Ten over a six-year cycle) vs. SEC
Pinstripe vs. Big Ten
Belk vs. SEC
Sun vs. Pac-12
Lower Tier (ACC #7-10)
New Detroit Lions bowl vs. Big Ten
Military vs. American
Independence?
The addition of the Military Bowl gives programs like BC, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Virginia a reasonably close bowl destination to go with the conference's new tie-in with the Bronx-based Pinstripe Bowl. It's also a familiar venue for Boston College. The Eagles are 9-2 all-time vs. Navy in Annapolis. Navy will join the American as a football-only member in 2015, keeping alive the possibility of BC playing more bowl games against a team in a virtual road game.