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QUESTION: What the 3 most interesting ACC bowl games?
When Cam Akers of Florida State announced that he would not play in the Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl, the Seminoles’ game against Arizona State lost some of its luster and value. That made the decision easier for me to select the third most interesting ACC bowl games, behind an obvious top two. Here we go, starting with that third game:
3 – MILITARY BOWL: North Carolina vs. Temple
North Carolina surpassed all expectations in Year 1 under Part 2 of the Mack Brown story in Chapel Hill. Brown returned to a program he elevated in the 1990s and catapulted to the top tier of college football, competing with Bobby Bowden’s Florida State teams when Bowden was at the height of his powers. Brown’s second go-round at UNC was not met with huge expectations. This 2019 season was supposed to be ugly… and it really didn’t turn out that way. Making a bowl game is a huge success, relative to what Brown inherited. Imagine if that 2-point play against Clemson had been a good play call.
If Carolina thumps Temple, the Tar Heels will have a freight train of momentum heading into 2020, when quarterback Sam Howell could realistically make UNC the favorite to win the Coastal. A bad performance would leave everyone wondering what the heck happened. This is a more interesting ACC bowl game than most in 2019.
2 – ORANGE BOWL: Virginia vs. Florida
I contribute to a site called FloridaFootballInsiders.com. I write about the Florida Gators there. From Florida’s point of view, the Orange Bowl is a dud matchup, a bowl game in which winning doesn’t create a national splash and losing is a humiliation. For the Virginia Cavaliers, however, this is a tremendous bowl game: First, it’s a New Year’s Six bowl, a great achievement for the Hoos. Second, they get to play not just an SEC team, but a brand-name program. Third, they get to play in a fertile recruiting area, South Florida. A win would accomplish a lot for the program. A loss? So what? Most people are expecting it.
Virginia was playing with house money against Clemson, but Clemson is an elite team. UVA will again play with house money against Florida, but the Gators aren’t in Clemson’s league. This is actually a winnable game for Virginia, and if the Hoos claim it, their program can rise to an even higher plateau. That’s exciting for Bronco Mendenhall.
1 – FIESTA BOWL: Clemson vs. Ohio State
If this seems familiar, it’s because it is. Three years ago, when the College Football Playoff had the Peach and Fiesta Bowls as the semifinals, Clemson met Ohio State in Arizona. I would not expect a Clemson blowout this time. Ohio State is so much better in 2019 than it was in 2016. Yet, if you have followed Clemson in the era of the Dabo Dynasty, you know that playoff semifinals involving Clemson aren’t close games. Not one of Clemson’s semis has been dramatic in the fourth quarter. All the games were decided well before the final gun. Are we finally going to get a classic semifinal game involving Clemson, or will the Tigers find a way to crush Ohio State yet again? I don’t know what to expect, but there’s a part of me which thinks this game won’t become the epic many people think it will be. (It CAN be, sure, but I’m not sold.) This is, in its own weird way, the reason I am fascinated by this contest in Glendale.
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