Explaining the ACC Bowl Selection Process

In the past, the teams of the ACC were selected for bowl games by a list.  The bowl at the top of the list had first pick, and the bowls went down the list until they ran out of bowls or eligible teams, whichever came first.

Now, there is a system of "tiers", where groups of bowls work together with the conference, and sometimes the individual schools, to place teams in bowls.


First choice of ACC teams is the CFP/New Year's Six committee.   They are not limited to taking the ACC champion.

After the CFP committee selects the New Year's Six bowls, the Russell Athletic Bowl has the next choice.

Then come the tiers.

Tier 1 has four bowls:  Belk, Sun, Pinstripe, and either the TaxSlayer (formerly Gator) or Music City Bowl.  (TaxSlayer and Music City have an arrangement where they each get an ACC team three times over a six year period).

Tier 2 has three bowls:  Military, Independence, and Quick Lane.  The bowls are filled in that order.  If there are not enough bowl eligible teams in the conference, then the bowls from the bottom of the list start looking elsewhere.

Now, there are a few rules to keep in mind:

1.)  Notre Dame is in the mix for ACC bowl slots, except for displacing the ACC Champion out of the Orange Bowl.  (Although they are eligible to play against the ACC champ.)
2.)  A team can only jump a team that is one win ahead of them.  So, a 6-6 team can get into a bowl ahead of a 7-5 team, but only after all of the 8-4 teams have been selected.
3.)  If the Orange Bowl is not a CFP semi-final, and the ACC opponent is from the Big Ten, then the ACC gets the Big Ten's spot in the Citrus Bowl, which chooses before the Russell Athletic Bowl.
4.)  If the Orange Bowl is a semi-final, but the ACC Champion is not among the top 4 teams, then they will be placed in one of the other New Year's Six bowls.

2015 was an interesting year for ACC bowls.  There were 10 bowl eligible teams if we include Notre Dame, which I will place into 4 groups.

10+ win teams:
Clemson (13-0), Notre Dame (10-2), Florida State (10-2), UNC (11-2)

8-4 teams:
Miami, Pitt

7-5 teams:
Duke, Louisville, NC State

6-6 team:
Virginia Tech

Clemson won the conference title, and also got into the CFP, where they played in the Orange Bowl, which is where they would have been anyway.  The CFP selected Notre Dame and FSU for other New Year's Six bowls.

The Russell Athletic Bowl took North Carolina.  By rule, they had to anyway, since there was no other team within one win.

After that, Tier 1 started making their selections.  In the days leading up to Selection Sunday, the Belk Bowl had been heavily hinting that they wanted to select Virginia Tech.  However, none of the other bowls selected Pitt, instead opting for Miami, Duke, and Louisville.  Therefore, the Belk Bowl had to take either Pitt or NC State, since the 6-6 VT couldn't jump the 8-4 Pitt.  Belk chose NC State, and Pitt fell into tier 2 with VT.

Now, please don't ask me what would have happened if UNC won the ACC championship game, because that would have been total bowl chaos.