College Football Bowl Selection Day: What UVA Fans Need To Know

(Updated: 3:30PM) The College Football Playoff has been set ACC has announced its bowl lineup.

For the first time in six years, Virginia Cavaliers football fans have reason to pay attention on bowl selection day. While we all have our preferred bowl destinations (hint: the Military Bowl), there’s actually a lot that will happen between now and when the ACC’s bowl lineup is announced. Here’s what you need to know:

The ACC’s Bowl Selection Order

Playoff and New Year’s Six Bowls

1) College Football Playoff - Clemson vs. Alabama

2) Orange Bowl - Miami vs. Wisconsin

3) Other New Year’s Six Bowls - No other ACC teams made a NY6 Bowl Game

Top Florida Bowls

4) Citrus Bowl - Notre Dame vs. LSU

5) Camping World Bowl - Virginia Tech vs. Oklahoma State

Tier One Bowls - These bowls make their selections at the same time

6) Tax Slayer Bowl - Louisville vs. Mississippi State

7) Belk Bowl - Wake Forest vs. Texas A&M

8) Sun Bowl - NC State vs. Arizona State

9) Pinstripe Bowl - Boston College vs. Iowa

Tier Two Bowls - These bowls make their selections in the order listed below

10) Military Bowl - Virginia vs. Navy

11) Independence Bowl - Florida State

12) Quick Lane Bowl - Duke

Conditional Bowls - ACC teams can wind up in one of these bowls if other conferences don’t fill their slots.

13A) and 13B) Birmingham Bowl and Gasparilla Bowl

Today’s Timeline and What To Watch

12PM EST - The College Football Playoff field will be announced on ESPN. We know that Clemson will get a spot in the playoff, which will move all the other ACC teams up a spot in the bowl pecking order. We’ll be watching to see who the committee picks as the fourth team. Believe it or not, the decision between Alabama and Ohio State could affect the ACC bowl selections. We address that further...

(Update) Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Alabama were picked for the College Football Playoff. Ohio State and Wisconsin, were ranked 5th and 6th, respectively.

Between 12PM and 3PM - The New Year’s Six Bowls will be announced on ESPN. There are two important things to watch here. First, we’ll be watching whether Notre Dame sneaks into a New Year’s Six Bowl. We don’t believe that will happen, but it would move everyone up another slot in the ACC bowl order if it does. Second, we’ll be watching to learn the ACC’s opponent in the Orange Bowl. If Alabama makes the playoff, the ACC’s Orange Bowl team (likely Miami) could end up playing Wisconsin. That would open up a spot in the Citrus Bowl and move everyone else up in the bowl pecking order.

(Update) As noted above, Wisconsin will end up in the Orange Bowl against Miami, opening up a Citrus Bowl slot for the ACC. Notre Dame did not earn a New Year’s Six Bowl bid. The Irish will take the Citrus Bowl slot.

After 3PM - This is when we estimate that the ACC’s other bowl matchups will start to be revealed. These announcements will likely trickle out through other media sources, and the best place to learn about these will probably be on Twitter.

5PM - Tickets will go on sale for VAF donors and UVA students. You can learn more about the ticket process here.

Enough Already! Where’s Virginia Headed?!

(Update) Virginia has been selected to play Navy in the Military Bowl!

In any case, we’ll keep you posted throughout the day. Make sure to follow us on Twitter (@STL_UVA) for the latest info.