Was listening to the Podcast, and heard Bud say he was not sure of the ACC Bowl Tie ins. I have also noticed some people say statements about the bowl process and how selection works. Therefore, with everyone panicking about what Bowl FSU will go now that they have three losses, two coming in the ACC already, I decided to explain what Bowls the ACC has and how they choose teams for Bowls. Before going into how teams are selected we should touch up on the ACC Bowl Tie-Ins and order in selecting teams:

Orange Bowl-Miami,FL

Chic-Fil-A Bowl-Atlanta,GA (Formerly the Peach Bowls to those who remember those days)

Champs Sports Bowl -Orlando,FL (Tangerine Bowl)

Sun Bowl-El Paso, Texas

Belk Bowl-Charlotte, North Carolina (Formerly Meinke Car Care Bowl)

Music City Bowl- Nashville, Tennessee

Independence Bowl- Shreveport, LA

Military Bowl- Washington D.C.

*Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl- San Fransisco, CA

First the * of the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. This is contingent on the KFHB not having it's two primary partners available for the bowl and the ACC having 9 bowl eligible teams, then the KFHB would take the 9th ACC team. 8 of the 9 years this Bowl has been around the ACC has sent a team. More often than not some ACC team will be going to San Fransisco.

How the selection works

The Bowls as listed above are in order of when they have a selection. For example, the Chic-Fil-A Bowl has the second choice in terms of what ACC team is selected. However the ACCCG Runner up can fall no lower than the Sun Bowl.

The ACC Champion, unless ranked #1 or #2 in the BCS(in which case they play for the BCS National Title) will always go to the Orange Bowl. No confusion here amongst fans and everyone understands this. After this bowl things seem to get confusing for some.

Some believe that the Chic-Fil-A Bowl has to select the loser of the ACCCG. This is false. The Bowl thought process is decided based upon: ability to sell tickets, sell hotel rooms, create compelling matchups, and generate local/national media buzz. For example, let  us say Clemson and GT play in the title game this year and Clemson wins. The Chic-Fil-A Bowl may not be inclined to take GT since they already play in Atlanta and have difficulty already selling tickets. If, for example, FSU wins out and finishes within one game(conference record and yes title game counts towards conference record) of GT they would make a much better decision for that Bowl since FSU travels better and is a larger TV Ratings boost.

What does this mean for FSU?

Barring Clemson having a meltdown season, the best case scenario for FSU is the Chic-Fil-A Bowl. That would include Clemson winning the title game. In the event Clemson and GT play in ACCCG and GT wins I would see the Chic-Fil-A Bowl taking Clemson since they would more likely than not be a higher ranked team and they travel just as well as FSU. My prediction is that FSU eventually ends up in Orlando with a matchup against Notre Dame in the Champs Sports Bowl.