It’s Election Day. While you scurry off to cast votes for yet another set of politicians promising the world, you know you really want to get to your computer to vote on the real hard-hitting issues of our time. And by that, I mean whatever’s in the Birddog Tuesday Poll.
Last week, the news broke about the Army-Navy Game’s contract renewal with CBS, with the game being moved to the second weekend in December as part of the new agreement. So for the poll question, I asked if you thought it was a good idea. The results are a little surprising to me, as they were pretty much split evenly between those who approve and disapprove of the switch. With Army-Navy being the only game in town again, I figured more of you would be in favor of the move. But it’s clear that a lot of you still have some concerns, whether with the academic calendar or the crunched timeline between Army-Navy and a potential bowl game. Hopefully our fears will be allayed as we learn more.
This week we get to celebrate the Eaglebank Bowl. Having secured our bid to the game, now we watch how things play out in the ACC to determine our opponent. A few weeks into the season it didn’t seem very likely that the conference would have nine bowl-eligible teams, but things have changed quite a bit. Maryland, Georgia Tech, Miami, and UNC all have at least six wins. Florida State is 6-2, but they need one more win to be eligible because they played two I-AA teams. Wake Forest, Boston College, Virginia, and Virginia Tech are also only one win away. That’s nine teams right there. Even Clemson and Duke only need two wins apiece, with both sitting at 4-4. That means the entire conference is pretty much on the table except for N.C. State (sorry GoalieLax). So this week’s question is: who do you want to play?
I won’t reveal my answer yet so as not to sway any votes, but here’s my top 5 for who I DON’T want to play, in order:
- Wake Forest: Nobody wants a rematch.
- Duke: Slightly better than Wake Forest because we lost to them the first time around and would get a chance to redeem ourselves. But seriously, nobody wants a rematch.
- Georgia Tech: Some people desperately want to play Paul Johnson. I don’t understand those people.
- Boston College: Bowl rematches from two years ago are only slightly better than regular season rematches.
- Maryland: This is the dream scenario for the game’s organizers and would be a great matchup under different circumstances. If we do play them– unlikely, with the Terps sitting atop the Atlantic division right now– I won’t complain. But having played Maryland a few seasons ago and getting them again in 2010, I think it would be more fun to play someone we otherwise wouldn’t see.
I know a lot of you will disagree about Georgia Tech and Maryland, but that’s why there’s a comments section. Some choices aren’t very realistic, since the teams that travel well will be scooped up by bowls higher in the pecking order. But cast aside the cold fetters of reality for a moment and just vote for your dream scenario.
The Birddog 
Echo your thoughts on GT … I see little to be gained by that scenario. I mean the guy wrote our playbook. Who wants to see our own offense stood up by our own offense with better athletes? I think it would be bad for the program, and would fuel too much comparison between PJ and KN. It’s almost like a defendant putting themselves on the stand.
I just want to beat the twerps.
Virginia Tech. I want us to play (and beat) a team that is viewed, nationally, as legit.
Plus, they’re only 4 hours away, so their fans would show up, despite being disappointed in the Bowl and the opponent.
Go Navy!
I’d say Virginia Tech, UMD, and UVa fans would show up with the the greatest numbers, probably in that order. All three sorta scare me… Crazy, but we may have the greatest chance of beating VT of the three, as their offence has been pretty bad this year, and is really reeling currently. Agree with T.J. wrt GT. I’ll be watching the UMD VT game closely this Thursday…
Agree – I dont care for rematches, and want nothing to do with PJ’s team – love him, but let him take down a powerhouse in a bigger bowl.
I’m for Miami, UVA, Va Tech. Big-time schools, recognized nationally, that I think we could play and win.
Clemson is a bigger name school (for football) than UVA or Miami. I would love to play them. I think we have the best shot of beating UVA though. I think we’ll be underdogs no matter who the opponent is.
UVa or Va Tech for me. Good crowd will be there. UVa preferred because my two sons are UVa grads. One has a Va Tech grad girl friend who is an over-the-top Hokie fan, so that would be entertaining as well.
I want nothing to do with Mike’s unpreferred 5 or any of the other ACC schools for that matter. I prefer a Virginia school.
Concur with Mike’s comments. I voted for VA but I would be happy with Va Tech. Playing and beating Maryland is almost as good as playing and beating Air Force. All would likely provide an excellent draw which I am sure is on the minds of the bowl committee. (NC and Clemson would also likely provide a good draw.) The EaglesBank people have to be happy with most of the possible match ups. Imagine how happy they would be if we beat Notre Dame and N. Illinois and ARMY!
A good crowd would be fun. I don’t BC or one of the FL schools would bring a crowd with them.
I would think that Navy for these big schools is kind of like trying to figure out how to deal with a big raccoon that you find somehow got into your garage. Feisty, mean, scrappy, and surprisingly quick.
Prefer the U or FSU. Clemson or VT would be interesting too. That said, anybody but BC. I’d prefer a rematch w/ Duke or Wake to BC. Just a little BC’d out over here.
Anybody but Wake, Duke or BC. I don’t think Georgia Tech game would be fun for either coaching staff.
no worries – i actually enjoy pissing off my fellow NC State followers by giving them the old “i told you so” about hiring TOB instead of PJ
i’d take VT first – people will travel and their passing game is terrible. they really never stopped GT in their game this year…GT killed themselves and gave that game away
other than VT I’d like the U or Clemson. no others
clemson, vt, miami or fsu are four schools we would likely never play otherwise, so give me the canes!
Hold on jgish92, “Clemson is a bigger name school (for football) than … Miami”? You must have been talking about Miami (OH) as opposed to The U. Do you realize tha Miami has won five national titles (83, 87, 89, 91, 01) compared with Clemson’s one (81). Granted Miami has been down the past few years, but Clemson hasn’t been great. In fact they have been the biggest choke job team in recent history, leading to their coach being fired in mid-season. I don’t even know if they will be bowl eligible this year.
As a Miami Law grad, I would love to see Navy play The U. VT would be great too considering my dad was in the corps of cadets and is a season ticket holder. We might actually be able to beat them based on their horrid offense this year. The old man might actually welcome a Navy victory, if it led to the OC’s dismissal.
Miami- and anyone who doesnt like my pick please dont say I suck for it.
Who in the ACC has not played Georgia Tech? That is who I want to play.
My prediction is that Georgia Tech is going to be in a big time bowl, so we don’t have to worry about them.
For my money, I would love to see us against the U or FSU. Even though these schools wouldn’t travel as well as a school closer to DC, they are the most storied football programs out of the current ACC choices.
Clemson. One, we can beat them. Two, personal reasons.
No way, no how do I want to see GT.
I screwed up with Clemson, by the way. They played two I-AA schools as well, so they’ll need 7 wins. Probably not going to happen.
I would like to play Miami since its my wife’s favorite school (her Dad’s alma mater) . However they don’t travel anyone. Virginia and VT would give us a real bowl atmosphere with a packed stadium
I said GT just from the fun part of it, but now I’ll flip-flop (hey where have I heard that before?) and say the U or VT. They’re big name schools and I think we could beat them with the current teams.
NavyFan – I agree that it would be to our advantage to meet someone who has not played Ga Tech. That would be Md, Wake or NC State. (MD is 6-2 and I think have a chance to meet Ga Tech in the championship game. Ga Tech lost to Va Tech 20-17 on 9/13 and to Va 24-17 on 10/25. They beat BC, Clemson, Duke, and FSU. They play NC this weekend and Miami on 11/20. However you slice it, we are going to have a very interesting bowl game. The more people who show up (on both sides), the more it highlights Navy’s drawing power. Wish I could be there!
UVA, I’ve never forgiven Welsh for Welching out on us. Although he did get us Nap, and thus I got carry-on.
Nap McCallum 232yds rushing
ARMY 187 yds rushing
Nap was spotted later that night with RADM shoulder boards, given personlly but Supt Larsen ’58. That class sounds familiar.
GO NAVY! BEAT COLUMBIA!
I voted for Virginia Tech. I think it would be the better match up. Plus the history geek in me likes that they are one of the “senior military colleges.” I know their football team is nowhere near filled with cadets like it was back when all of their students had to be in the Corps, but would still be nice to see that old rivalry from their early days (1903-1915) come back.
Va Tech – nephew goes there so it would be a family event
UVA – a good matchup of local teams should yield a rockin’ stadium
Clemson – Just for fun
Fla schools – ok
Oops, left off MD, my number 2 – wife’s alma mater….
Well, NAVY just lost a BIG one to Columbia. God help us all.
Huh?
Someone mentioned earlier a good point- its about who traveks well so we have a larger crowd but its also true that any ACC team will look at the game as one they probably would rather not want to play in and Navy does not conjure up much emotion.
Its the U MD attitude of win win for Navy and that they cant win no matter the outcome.
I would like to play FSU. Storied program, legendary coach, and we will probably never play them otherwise.
However, I predict that we will play Miami. After you strip out the ACC teams that would represent a rematch (Wake/Duke/BC) and the teams that are at the top of the heap (GT/MD/FSU), that leaves Clemson, Miami, VT, UNC, and UVA. Eagle Bank probably gets last pick, and they would probably get the school that doesn’t travel well, and that would be Miami.
Question: Does Eagle Bank get the last choice of the 9 ACC bowl games?
Yes. We need to root for Wake and BC to win so another bowl has to take them (thanks to the “Boston College Rule”), and for Duke to lose and not be eligible.
Mike – good news and bad news
Wake plays BC on 11/22
BC remaining schedule: Notre Dame, FSU, Wake, Md
Wake’s remaining schedule: Va, NC State, BC, Vandy
Duke’s remaining schedule: NC State, Clemson, Va Tech, NC
On an earlier post I asked about a bowl’s “status” being enhanced (and its selection order with a conference tie in) based upon attendence success. (Which is why Navy’s drawing power puts it in demand with the “lesser” bowls.) I would assume that is a function of payouts to attending schools and comes up when contracts are negociated. Is that your understanding?
I looked up conf tie in’s. The ACC appears to have six (I don’t know the pick order). 1. Konica Minolta Gator (J’ville) 2. Chick fil A (Atlanta) 3. Gaylord Hotels Music City (Nashville) 4. Champs Sports Citrus (Orlando) 5. Meineke Car Care (Charlotte). 6. EaglesBank (DC). I assume they also have a BCS (7th tie in). ESPN has a “projected bowl” feature – which changes from week to week. They “project” Georgia Tech to be in the Orange Bowl – a BCS bowl.
Does the Boston College Rule force the bowls to pick the highest ranking school in the conference based upon their picking order?
I voted for Miami, but the Virginia schools are starting to seem more compelling, especially given their proximity to D.C. and likelihood of drawing a big crowd. I also think we have at least a decent shot at beating any one of those teams.
However (and I know most won’t agree), I can’t seem to get rid of this nagging desire to see a Navy/BC rematch. Thinking about the ’06 Meineke Car Care Bowl still makes me cringe. Ultimately I’d rather it be another team, but I do think we’d have a chance, especially if BC were to have an off day. Plus, I have a good friend who goes to BC and my ideal scenario would be for Navy to come out with a win so I could spend a few days annoying her about it like the good friend that I am.
By the way…what is the “Boston College Rule”?
The ACC has 9 bowl tie-ins.
The Boston College rule means that when bowls pick teams, they can’t pick a team that finished farther than 1 game behind in the ACC standings. So say the Music City Bowl gets to pick. And let’s assume that Wake Forest is 6-2 in the conference, North Carolina is 5-3, and Virginia Tech is 4-4. Virginia Tech has the best reputation for traveling fans. But the Music City Bowl couldn’t pick them over Wake Forest, who finished two games ahead. They COULD take North Carolina, who is only one game behind.
Thanks Mike. I found the complete info on tie ins
Orange (Miami) – BCS – ACC
Chic Fil A (Atlanta) ACC #2
Gator (Jax) ACC #3
Champs (Orlando) ACC #4
Music City (Nash) ACC #5, #6, #7
Emerald (San Fran) ACC #5, #6 #7
Meineke (Charlotte) ACC #5, #6, #7
I don’t know the select order for these three. I assume this is where the BC Rule came in but I suppose it could apply to higher ranked bowls.
Humanitarian (Boise) ACC #8
EaglesBank (DC) ACC #9
It applies to all the bowls. Nashville, San Francisco, and Charlotte rotate picks each year.
Question: say 10+ ACC teams are eligible and they only get 1 BCS bid and another bowl, say the Independence Bowl, has a spot available because not enough conference teams qualified. Would the Independence Bowl get the 10th pick of ACC teams or could they leapfrog, or is it up to the schools? For instance, if Miami finishes 9th, and the Congressional Bowl offers a bid, could Miami turn them down and take an Independence Bowl bid?
Maybe a stupid question but it’s a bye week.
Miami couldn’t turn the Congressional Bowl down. They would be obligated to go to the ACC’s bowl game. However, once in a while deals get made between the conference & the bowl game to switch things up a bit. Last year the Mountain West’s bowl games allowed the conference to send TCU to the Texas Bowl when the Big 12 couldn’t provide a team.
I’m going to agree with Mike on this one. Nobody wants a rematch against Wake Forest or Duke, and the Maryland game should be saved for 2010. I’m already excited as hell about it. I like the idea of playing a Virginia team, whether its UVA or Tech. With the Bowl being in DC there’d be a good turn-out from fans and locals alike, and both VA teams have some talent on them which would make for a good game.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Clemson (just because) then Va Tech. Would love, just love, to beat Beamer Ball. My relatives would never ever hear the end of it.
Fla schools may not travel well to play Navy, and think it would be great to have a sell out crowd. I don’t want to play PJ after first season gone. Focus would be on the coaching “saga” and not the players.
Scout.com is predicting Navy to play MD in the EagleBank Bowl. If Navy does meet the Terps in the postseason, how do you think that’ll affect ticket sales for the 2010 game?
It won’t. The game will sell out either way. Scout.com is stupid, though. There’s no way another bowl doesn’t scoop up Maryland long before the ACC gets to the 9th pick.
A quick look at the ACC standings and games remaining and it becomes very clear that we will not know who we will play until after the last regular season game – and probably not until after the ACC championship game – but it is still fun to speculate. Without making any attempt whatsoever to break ties, here is the current record of ACC teams along with the number of ACC games remaining on their schedule (before the championship game).
FSU 4-2 conf. 7-2 overall 2 ACC games to play
Wake 4-2 6-2 2
Ga T 4-3 7-3 1
Md 3-2 6-3 3
NC 3-2 7-3 3
VaT 3-2 6-3 3
Mia 3-2 6-3 3
VA 3-3 5-5 2
BC 2-3 6-3 3
Clem 2-4 4-5 2
Duke 1-4 4-5 3
NCSt 1-4 3-6 3
It’s going to be interesting to watch the ACC scores roll by each week. But somehow I don’t think Coach N or any members of the team are giving EaglesBank a single thought during practice this week.
BEAT NOTRE DAME!
I think it’s more likely to be Clemson or perhaps VA if they qualify. I really doubt the sponsors or the ACC would want a rematch between Navy and Duke or Wake Forest… under any scenario- even to the extent of taking a #10 ACC team and let Wake or Duke go elsewhere… I think either Clemson or VA would be almost as attractive to the Bowl as MD. Travel for fans should not be too bad.