Mired in ACC mess, Miami must wait for bowl fate

Difficult as it seems, all 10 ACC bowl-eligible teams finished within one game in the league standings: Boston College, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech were 5-3, while Miami, North Carolina State, Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina and Wake Forest were 4-4.

"It's not an easy year," said Steve Hogan, executive director of the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando.

After the BCS spot is filled by the ACC champion, the Chick-fil-A Bowl gets the next choice of bowl representative from the conference, followed by the Gator Bowl and then Champs Sports.

Scenarios are running wild.

There's a sense that Chick-fil-A might keep hometown favorite Georgia Tech in Atlanta for its Dec. 31 game there, which means the Boston College-Virginia Tech loser could wind up in Orlando for the Champs Sports Bowl - since the Gator Bowl braintrust might not pass on the chance to invite Florida State, with Tallahassee being a mere 2 1/2 hours across Interstate 10.

North Carolina could fit the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, although some expect the Tar Heels to be picked for the Music City Bowl in Nashville instead. Maryland might be Boise-bound. Clemson could wind up in any of five games. Wake Forest finished 7-5, and now the EagleBank Bowl in Washington, D.C., against Navy may be the Deacons' next stop.

"Just to get in any bowl game, we're appreciative," said North Carolina running back Shaun Draughn, whose Tar Heels went 4-8 last year and will be in the postseason for the first time since 2004. "Look at where we came from. Any bowl game would be good."

North Carolina State has won four straight games, but still is just 6-6 overall, meaning it's not a definite for the postseason. And Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen also sounds a bit wary, saying he'd be thankful just to get an invite anywhere.

"There are 10 teams that will qualify in our conference and only nine spots," Friedgen said. "You do the math."

True, the ACC is only aligned with nine bowl games, but that hardly means any of the 10 eligibles from the conference will miss out on bowl season.

"A lot of leagues actually face some of the same issues," ACC spokesman Mike Finn said Sunday. "Because several leagues could send two to the BCS, those selections are on hold as well. I think we will place all 10, but don't know where the 10th will be at this time. One of our teams would need to be an at-large team in a bowl game which has an opening. Fortunately this year, there may be a few of those."

Which means, for at least a few more days, the angst and guessing will likely continue for most ACC teams - not to mention for the bowl committees, who in this hurting economy would like to have as much time as possible to market their respective matchups.

"We're all going to make the best of it," Hogan said.

---

AP Sports Writers Jimmy Golen in Boston, Joedy McCreary in Durham, N.C., and Aaron Beard in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this story.