Which three ACC bowl games are you most excited about, and why? | answered by @MattZemek

Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his additional musings on college football at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. 

ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : Which three ACC bowl games are you most excited about, and why?

I don’t think there is much of a question that in a year when the ACC has so profoundly struggled — Syracuse was the second-best team in the conference, and it got crushed by Notre Dame — the high-end ACC bowl games lack the same heft they did in 2016, when the league kicked butt and took names.

The top three ACC bowl games exist in an adjusted and — more precisely — downscaled landscape.

Let’s start with the biggest ACC bowl on the board, in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 29.

If there is any uncertainty about the Clemson-Notre Dame Cotton Bowl playoff semifinal, it comes more from the fact that no non-Clemson ACC team lost fewer than three games this season. Notre Dame did not dominate the athletes USC presented against the Fighting Irish on Nov. 24. That should be a good indication that Clemson — if playing at its best — is several notches better than Notre Dame.

However: If the level of competition Clemson faced in the ACC is as bad as the Notre Dame blowout of Syracuse (the ACC No. 2 team) indicates, Clemson could get a tough fight from the Irish if the Tigers aren’t sharp. I’m not sure Notre Dame can win this game, but Clemson can lose it, and that’s where the ACC’s 2018 identity is on trial in the Cotton Bowl.

The second ACC bowl I am particularly excited about is the Camping World Bowl between Syracuse and West Virginia. This is a Big East reunion, but more than that, it is a clash between top-three teams from two different Power Five conferences. Syracuse was the second-best team in the ACC, while West Virginia (though fourth in the standings, as Iowa State fans made sure to correct me about this past weekend) was the third-best team in the Big 12. WVU played for a spot in the Big 12 title game; Iowa State did not.

This offers the possibility of a track meet, which would be massively entertaining. This is a time and occasion for the Orange to put their best foot forward in a non-conference game, something they didn’t do at all against Notre Dame. This is also a time for Syracuse to max out on offense and show the nation that it can engage an elite offensive opponent in a shootout and prevail. If Dino Babers’ team can outscore Dana Holgorsen’s side in a calculator game, the Orange could brand themselves as “Oklahoma East.” That would be an attractive recruiting mantra for the future.

The third ACC bowl on my radar screen is North Carolina State-Texas A&M in a good Gator Bowl.

Northern Illinois faced Florida State in the 2013 Orange Bowl. Jimbo Fisher coached the Seminoles, but NIU was coached in the bowl game by Rod Carey. Why? Dave Doeren, the head coach of the 2012 NIU team, bolted to North Carolina State.

Doeren and Fisher now get to match wits in a bowl game in the state of Florida, six years later. It’s a compelling clash.

N.C. State needs this game so much more than A&M does. A&M beat LSU to salvage its season. The Aggies already know they have laid the groundwork for 2019 and know they have to close the gap with Alabama. They won’t get there immediately, but the win over LSU was important because it gave the Aggies the realistic idea that they can finish second in the 2019 SEC West.

North Carolina State occupies a different position. The Wolfpack missed an opportunity to play a New Year’s Six bowl. They would have played one (or at least had a very good chance of making one) if they had merely beaten Wake Forest at home. They didn’t. While 9-3 is pretty good for N.C. State, the program has had big wins slip away in the Doeren era, as has been the case throughout the history of a program which has NEVER played in a single New Year’s Six (formerly BCS, formerly Bowl Alliance or Bowl Coalition) bowl.

If you’re Texas A&M, you aspire to more than Gator Bowls. If you’re N.C. State, you NEED to win this game so that you can more realistically aspire to top-tier goals in the future. The Wolfpack have to make loud statements that they aren’t “same ol’ State.” Winning here would be a very good start, akin to Philip Rivers beating Notre Dame in the 2003 Gator Bowl. That’s about as high as the NCSU program has ever climbed.

It is time for another big-boy performance against an SEC team and its $75 million national championship head coach.

Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page