A lot of changes took place in the College Football Playoff projections after Week 5 of the season, thanks primarily to the Alabama Crimson Tide taking down the Georgia Bulldogs as well as the Utah Utes falling unexpectedly to the Arizona Wildcats – which knocks them out of the playoff picture for now.
However, projections for how the ACC will be represented in the CFP, and throughout the other bowl games, didn’t change much. Both the Miami Hurricanes and Clemson Tigers remain in the picture after securing wins in Week 5 over Virginia Tech and Stanford, respectively.
Miami is still projected to win the ACC and earn a top four seed in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, while Dabo Swinney’s Tigers are projected to get one of the seven at-large bids.
Below is a look at projected matchups for the two ACC teams in the playoffs, as well as nine other conference programs who are projected to make a bowl game according to Erick Smith of USA TODAY:
College Football Playoff
Clemson drew the nine seed in Smith’s latest projections, meaning they would play on the road against the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions out of the Big Ten. The winner of that game would play Alabama, the No. 1 overall seed, in the Sugar Bowl on January 1st.
The ‘Canes would first appear in the Peach Bowl, also on New Year’s Day, and would face the winner of the Oregon Ducks vs. Iowa State Cyclones matchup.
Other Bowl Games
Nine other ACC programs were projected to appear in bowl games this season, including the Boston College Eagles who were surprisingly snubbed in last week’s projections but are back after a 21-20 win over Western Kentucky puts them at 4-1 on the year.
With Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Syracuse still on the schedule, the Eagles have a good chance of qualifying for bowl eligibility assuming Thomas Castellanos is healthy enough to play the rest of the season.
Last week the Golden Bears of Cal were included as one of the Pac-12 programs, but they were replaced despite not playing last week. A huge matchup on Saturday against Miami – with College GameDay coming to Berkeley – will help determine if this program has what it takes to make a bowl game in their first year in the ACC.
Here is a look at each bowl projection for the ACC:
NC State Wolfpack vs. Iowa Hawkeyes (Duke’s Mayo Bowl)
Louisville Cardinals vs. LSU Tigers (Gator Bowl)
Pittsburgh Panthers vs. Washington Huskies (Sun Bowl)
SMU Mustangs vs. Memphis Tigers (Military Bowl)
Syracuse Orange vs. Indiana Hoosiers (Pinstripe Bowl)
Boston College Eagles vs. Tulane Green Wave (Fenway Bowl)
Duke Blue Devils vs. Washington State Cougars (Holiday Bowl)
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. Arkansas Razorbacks (Birmingham Bowl)
North Carolina Tar Heels vs. South Florida Bulls (Gasparilla Bowl)