It is an anxious time of year for Wahoo fans right now. The winter sports are about to start with many questions and hopes. Also, fall sports are winding down, which means one thing: the postseason.
And of course, there is the Virginia-Virginia Tech football game as well. What are its implications, other than bragging rights?
A win would kill any Bowl Championship Series hopes that Tech holds, which would make many a Wahoo happy, including yours truly. But what does this do for Virginia's postseason hopes? Here are some possible scenarios and likely bowl destinations for the Cavs based on certain outcomes.
First, let's examine the worst-case scenario. This involves, obviously, Virginia losing out, as well as several other factors. In this scenario, North Carolina would win out, boosting its ACC record to 5-3 and making the team bowl eligible. Oh yeah, this would also mean a win over Virginia Tech, which kills the ACC's bid for two BCS games. Maryland would beat Boston College and become bowl eligible. N.C. State would win out, giving it a 3-5 ACC record and making it bowl eligible.
If all of this happened, the ACC would have a total of 10 bowl-eligible teams, excluding only Wake Forest and Duke. Of these 10 teams, Virginia would be tied with N.C. State for the worst record in the ACC (3-5) and overall record (6-5), although North Carolina, Maryland and potentially Georgia Tech and Clemson would also share a 6-5 overall record.
The problem Virginia would run into is the lack of bowl games. There are only six bowl games designed specifically for ACC schools and only two that have "to be announced" spots, meaning they are not tied down by conference affiliations.
In this scenario, Miami would most likely get the BCS while Virginia Tech would get the second-place bowl game, the Gator Bowl, and Florida State would get the third-place game, the Peach Bowl. The other three ACC bowl games are familiar to Virginia fans: the site of last year's bowl debacle (the MPC Computers Bowl), the site of past Cavalier bowl success (the former Continental Tire Bowl or Meineke Bowl), and what would have been the destination of last year's bowl had it not been for final exams (the Champs Sports Bowl).
These three bowl games would have their choice of Virginia, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina and N.C. State. Of these teams, Boston College is pretty assured of a spot somewhere, and Boston College, Clemson and others have stronger resumes than Virginia. Therefore, given the worst-case scenario, the Cavs would most likely have to accept the leftovers of bowl games and pray they get into the barren wasteland bowl again or face getting completely snubbed.
Now, let's look at the best-case scenario. Unfortunately, this looks a little less realistic and does not offer better bowl games. It would include Virginia wins against Virginia Tech and Miami, Virginia Tech beating North Carolina and Miami beating Georgia Tech. As a result, Virginia would be in a third-place tie with Florida State and either Maryland or Boston College. The top three bowls would most likely stay the same, although the Wahoos would have a shot at the Peach Bowl. However, Virginia would most likely get first choice of the remaining bowl games. This means no to Boise, Idaho and yes to either Charlotte, N.C. or Orlando, Fla.
Neither scenario is likely to happen, as they both have unlikely occurrences (North Carolina beating Virginia Tech and Virginia beating two top-10 teams). However, it does make the bowl situation much clearer. Virginia most likely will end up in one of the bottom three bowl games, and I would assume the Meineke Bowl in Charlotte. The committee of these bowl games gets to make its own selection of the bowl eligible teams, and I do not think it will forget who won the first two bowl games ever played in this particular Charlotte bowl.
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