Mired in ACC mess, Miami must wait for bowl fate

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -Even the end of the regular season couldn't bring clarity to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

At least this is clear: Boston College and Virginia Tech have emerged from their divisions and will play Saturday for the ACC championship in Tampa, with a spot in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1 awaiting the winner.

After that, the postseason destinations for nine other bowl-qualified ACC teams remains a mystery.

Who's going where?

When will they know?

Good questions, but as of now, there are few good answers.

"They'll pick where they want you to go," Miami coach Randy Shannon said Sunday. "The only thing I know is it'll be Boston College or Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl ... and the rest of it is who wants you."

On Sunday, some games were already coming into focus.

The Gator Bowl could already be eyeing a Florida State-Nebraska matchup, which would reprise past meetings, like the one that decided the 1993 national title. Miami seems pointed to the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco, where California will likely await the Hurricanes, who have coast-to-coast appeal and are always a big TV draw.

But the ACC's bowl dominoes almost certainly won't begin officially falling until after the league title game.

"I can project who might be available to us and make some preliminary moves, but it's probable that we won't be able to make a final decision and announce our teams until Dec. 7," said Emerald Bowl executive director Gary Cavalli.

Ordinarily, teams get plucked by order of finish or ACC record.

That won't be an easy task after this year's conference logjam.