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Boston College did much to solidify its position in this week's bowl projections in the eyes of college football prognosticators with a 34-27 victory over Virginia Tech. Let's see where each of these publications have the Eagles this week:
SB Nation: Independence Bowl vs. Vanderbilt
ESPN (Mark Schlabach): Independence Bowl vs. Vanderbilt
ESPN (Brad Edwards): Independence Bowl vs. Vanderbilt
National Football Post: Independence Bowl vs. Vanderbilt
College Football News: Independence Bowl vs. Notre Dame
Sports Illustrated: Music City Bowl vs. Georgia
ESPN (Adelson / Dinich): Music City Bowl
Phil Steele: Military Bowl vs. Rice
Athlon Sports: Military Bowl vs. East Carolina
Haters: CBS Sports, USA Today, Orlando Sentinel
The Eagles' win over Virginia Tech was enough to convince SB Nation, ESPN's Adelson and Dinich, Phil Steele and even Athlon Sports to put Boston College into the ACC's bowl mix this week. BC even got upgraded by ESPN's Mark Schlabach, who last week had the Eagles as the odd ACC team out (relegated to the Pizza Bowl vs. Ball State).
Not terribly worried about the CBS Sports, USA Today and Orlando Sentinel predictions at this point. BC is a significant road favorite this weekend at New Mexico State and will likely be a TD or better favorite next weekend vs. N.C. State. In all likelihood, BC will be a road dog vs. both Maryland and Syracuse, but not a prohibitive one.
The award for this week's most interesting bowl projection goes to College Football News (Scout.com), which has BC opposite Notre Dame in the Independence Bowl. Now before you go booking your travel for Shreveport, Louisiana realize that Notre Dame is the equivalent of a bowl game free agent this year. Short of qualifying for the BCS, the Irish have to hope that a conference can't fulfill its bowl obligations in order to make a bowl game this season (which surprisingly enough is looking more and more like the Big Ten).
In order for the Irish to land in the Independence Bowl, the SEC needs to have one less team bowl eligible (two less with just one SEC team in the BCS, but not happening). While qualifying 11 of 14 teams for bowl games seems ridiculous at face, the conference already has six bowl eligible. Five more teams with work left to do have very favorable schedules.
Georgia needs one win and plays Appalachian State this weekend. Ole Miss also needs one more win and has yet to face Troy. Florida needs two more wins and still plays Vanderbilt and Georgia Southern. Vanderbilt needs two more and faces Kentucky and Wake Forest. Tennessee two more with Vanderbilt and Kentucky. You get the idea. Basically, it's tougher to construct a scenario where the SEC doesn't have 11 in than it is to construct one where it does.