College football has reached the halfway mark of the season, giving fans and analysts enough substance to start projecting which 12 teams will be part of the inaugural expanded College Football Playoff this winter.
While the ACC has made headlines primarily for the complete disaster that has been the Florida State Seminoles, the conference does in fact have two teams projected among the 12 CFP programs in the latest projections from Erick Smith at USA TODAY.
The SEC has three teams (Texas, Georgia, and LSU) which is tied with the Big Ten (Ohio State, Oregon, and Penn State) for the most. The Big 12 also has two teams – Iowa State and Kansas State – while the other two spots go to Notre Dame and Boise State.
Here is a look at which two ACC teams made the latest College Football Playoff projections from USA TODAY, as well as nine other ACC teams with bowl projections ahead of Week 8 of the season.
Two ACC teams in CFP
With Clemson picking up the ACC’s automatic bid and getting a bye into the quarterfinals, Miami is projected to face the LSU Tigers on the road in a battle of No. 8 vs. No. 9. The winner – projected by Smith to be LSU – gets the unenviable task of then facing the No. 1 seed Texas Longhorns in the Sugar Bowl.
Dabo Swinney’s club is the No. 3 overall seed ahead of Big 12 winner Iowa State, and they await the winner between the No. 6 Oregon Ducks and No. 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The winner of that game would face Clemson in the Peach Bowl on January 1st. USA TODAY projects Oregon to defeat Notre Dame and to defeat Clemson, setting up a rematch against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl with the winner facing Texas in the National Championship.
Other Bowl Projections
The lone ACC team removed from the bowl projections from last week is Dave Doeren’s NC State Wolfpack, who are now 3-4 overall and 0-3 in league play after falling to Syracuse in Week 7.
Otherwise the projections look pretty similar, with five of the exact same projected matchups and a few others where only the opponent changed.
Here is a look at the other nine bowl projections for the ACC:
Louisville Cardinals vs. Iowa Hawkeyes (Duke’s Mayo Bowl)
SMU Mustangs vs. Texas A&M Aggies (Gator Bowl)
Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Oregon State Beavers (Sun Bowl)
Virginia Cavaliers vs. Memphis Tigers (Military Bowl)
Pitt Panthers vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (Pop-Tarts Bowl)
Syracuse Orange vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers (Pinstripe Bowl)
Boston College Eagles vs. Tulane Green Wave (Fenway Bowl)
Duke Blue Devils vs. Utah Utes (Holiday Bowl)
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. Arkansas Razorbacks (Birmingham Bowl)
With quite a few high profile matchups in the ACC this week, including Notre Dame at Georgia Tech, Virginia at Clemson, and Miami at Louisville, significant changes could be coming to the bowl projections ahead of Week 9.