Here are this week's updated ACC Bowl projections.
| Bowl Game | This Week | Last Week |
|---|---|---|
| Orange Bowl | VT (9-3)* | VT (9-3) |
| Chick-fil-A Bowl ACC #2 v. SEC 3/4/5 | FSU (8-4)* | FSU (9-3) |
| Champs Sports Bowl ACC #3 v. BE #2/ ND | Clemson (7-5) | NCST (9-3) |
| Sun Bowl ACC #4 v. Pac 10 #4 | UNC (8-4) | Clemson (6-6) |
| Meineke Car Care Bowl ACC #5 v. Big East #3 | NCST (8-4) | GT (7-5) |
| Music City Bowl ACC #6 v. SEC 6/7/8 | Miami (8-4) | Miami (8-4) |
| Independence Bowl ACC #7 v. MWC #3 | GT (7-5) | UNC (7-5) |
| EagleBank Bowl ACC #8 v. Army or C-USA #6 | MD (7-5) | MD (7-5) |
| Fight Hunger Bowl #9 | BC (6-6) | BC (6-6) |
Though no team has a great chance to win the Atlantic Division, FSU still has the best chance of those teams per Vegas. The real interesting thing here is that the bottom-tier teams will likely hope to play in the #9 bowl (San Fran) and not the #8 bowl (Shreveport, LA).
*= ACC Championship Participants
This is not a power poll. I don't attempt to rank teams based on how good I think they are. I only rank teams based on their resume. What have they done? Not how talented are their players or what other polls project them to do, but what have they done? The poll is designed to be dynamic. I try to start from scratch every week.
I do attempt to reward teams for "quality losses," while punishing them for poor performances. I do not give excessive credit for stomping horrible teams. I reward quality play, win or lose, particularly against other good teams. I am not bumping team A 10 spots and docking team B 10 spots when team A beats team B by a field goal in what was essentially an equally played game. I like to reward playing well against good teams, win or lose, and punish losing to poor teams more harshly than I reward defeating poor teams. To that end, TCU and Boise will probably not climb much higher in my poll for the rest of the year because they don't really play anyone. And if those two don't blow out the weak competition every week they will start to slip in addition to not climbing.
I Reward Grinders. I reward those who play difficult schedules. Teams that play a tough team every week don't get to spend extra time preparing for their tough games, and they also don't face the attrition other teams face because they are able to pull their starters in blowouts. Fewer plays for important players reduces the chance those players will get injured.
Change my mind using my criteria if you can.
1. Auburn
2. Oregon
3. LSU
4. TCU
5. Boise State
6. Wisconsin
7. Ohio State
8. Stanford
9. Michigan St
10. Nebraska
11. Alabama
12. Arkansas
13. Iowa
14. Mississippi State
15. Arizona
16. Oklahoma
17. Virginia Tech
18. Oklahoma State
19. Missouri
20. South Carolina
21. Florida
22. UCF
23. North Carolina
24. NC State
25. Texas A&M
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