We know Florida State is in the playoffs and Georgia Tech is headed to the Orange Bowl. Everything else has taken a turn for the interesting, because Mississippi State jumped Michigan State in the final top 25. That puts the Bulldogs in the Orange Bowl, and means that the Citrus Bowl stays with the Big Ten. Now there are five ACC teams in the mix for four Tier 1 games: Duke, NC State, Boston College, Notre Dame, and Louisville.
It also means the ACC has more more bowl-eligible teams than bowl slots.
And that leaves us with ...
Only ACC intel I feel good about right now: Russell: Clemson Music City: Louisville Dead honest, the rest is a coin toss
— Joe Giglio (@jwgiglio) December 7, 2014
If the ACC got that Citrus slot, NC State could not drop below the Tier 1 games. There was going to be a spot for everybody. Alas, the league was no fortunate enough to land such a clean result. The Tier 2 games are back in play since one of the five eligible for Tier 1 is going to drop. My guess would be that if NC State isn't going Belk, it'll go Military.
Geography might actually work against State, in a sense ... like, the league and bowl officials may be more inclined to drop NC State out of Tier 1 because the Military Bowl also makes perfect sense for the Pack and everybody involved.
And let's be clear--NC State is not getting a Tier 1 game over Duke or Louisville, not with both of those teams finishing with two more wins than the Pack. We definitely aren't getting a game over Notre Dame. So that leaves Boston College and State for the last Tier 1 game, and if it's, say, the Pinstripe, BC probably makes the most sense and then the Military Bowl gets what it wants as well.
We shall see. Stay tuned!