NC State will learn its postseason destination this weekend, after the College Football Playoff is set on Sunday. There’s still a lot up in the air in terms of which ACC team(s) will be involved there—Clemson gets in by beating SMU, and SMU may (should be) in regardless, but who knows what a bad loss might do.
The Orange Bowl is part of the CFP (it’ll host a semifinal) and will not be a part of the bowl selection process this year. The ACC has 11 official bowl tie-ins, and 13 bowl-eligible teams—though, again, at least one of them will be in the playoffs. Cal will be slotted into a traditional Pac-12 bowl game this season and thus will not impact the ACC’s selection process.
Plenty still to shake out this weekend, so it’s tough to figure how NC State will slot in come Sunday, though we at least can say for sure that the Pack won’t be in the Pop Tarts Bowl again.
Here is some of the latest guesswork:
Brett McMurphy: NC State vs. ECU, Military Bowl (Dec. 28)
CFN: NC State vs. Arkansas, Birmingham Bowl (Dec. 27)
Brad Crawford: NC State vs. Minnesota, Mayo Bowl (Jan. 3)
Jerry Palm: NC State vs. Western Kentucky, Cure Bowl (Dec. 20)
Kyle Bonagura/Mark Schlabach: NC State vs. Oklahoma/Vanderbilt, Gasparilla Bowl (Dec. 20)
The Mayo Bowl seems unlikely given that State has already played in Charlotte this season and a return there could be met by a collective shrug from the fanbase. I don’t know where Jerry Palm is coming from with that Cure Bowl pick, either. The rest feel plausible. Would we want a shot at ECU? Should we do that to PirateWolf? I really don’t know.