ACC bowl guide: Matchups set for UNC, Wake Forest and in Belk Bowl
It has been two years since North Carolina has been to a bowl game.
In the first season of Mack Brown’s return to UNC, the Tar Heels will face Temple (8-4) in the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Md. on Dec. 27.
The Tar Heels went 6-6 under Brown after a 5-18 two-year lull, and are in a bowl game for the fifth time in seven years.
Virginia Tech (8-4) will take the ACC’s spot in the Belk Bowl in Charlotte on Dec. 31 and face Kentucky (7-5).
Wake Forest (8-4) will join the Hokies in one of the ACC’s four “Tier I” games. The Demon Deacons are headed to the Pinstripe Bowl in New York on Dec. 27 and will face Michigan State (6-6).
Clemson (13-0) will represent the ACC in the College Football Playoff for the fifth straight year. The Tigers, the No. 3 team in the CFP rankings, will face No. 2 Ohio State (13-0) in the national semifinals in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 28.
Brown went 3-2 in five bowl trips in his first stint as UNC’s coach from 1988 through the ‘97 regular season. This is UNC’s first trip to the Naval Academy for the Military Bowl, which was first played in 2008.
“Our number one goal when we returned last year was to send the seniors out the right way,” Brown said in a statement released by the school. “Everything we did, from spring practice to summer workouts to fall camp, was with an eye on winning enough games to get these seniors to a bowl game. Now, when this group looks back on their careers, they’ll be able to say they helped get the program on the right track and finished with a bowl game. I’m just so happy for everyone involved in our program, but especially, that group of young men.”
UNC has lost its past three bowl games and four of the past five.
The Owls have closed the regular season with three wins in their past four games. They went 5-3 in conference play under first-year coach Rod Carey. They have never faced the Tar Heels in a bowl game.
Wake Forest has won three straight bowls under coach Dave Clawson and is making its first trip to the Pinstripe Bowl, which is played at Yankee Stadium.
Virginia Tech extends its bowl streak to 27 straight years. The Hokies have lost their last two bowl games but won their last visit to Charlotte, 35-24 over Arkansas in 2016.
Virginia, which lost to Clemson in the ACC title game on Saturday night, will fill the ACC’s guaranteed spot in the Orange Bowl.
The Cavaliers (9-4) finished the regular season at No. 24 in the CFP rankings. When the ACC champion is in the playoff, the second-highest ranked team goes to the Orange. Florida (10-2) is Virginia’s opponent in Miami. The Cavaliers face an SEC team in the postseason for a second straight year. They beat South Carolina in the Belk Bowl last year.
Notre Dame (10-2) will take the ACC’s spot in the Camping World Bowl in Orlando on Dec. 28 and face Iowa State (7-5).
Louisville (7-5) will face Mississippi State (6-6) in the Music City Bowl in Nashville on Dec. 30 and Florida State (6-6) will face Arizona State (7-5) in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas on Dec. 31 to round out the ACC’s Tier I games.
UNC was the first choice in the Tier II games with Miami (6-6) going to Shreveport, La. for the Independence Bowl (vs. Louisiana Tech) and Pittsburgh (7-5) going to the Quick Lane Bowl (vs. Eastern Michigan) in Detroit for a pair of games on Dec. 26.
Boston College (6-6) will round out the ACC order with a matchup with Cincinnati (10-3) in the Birmingham Bowl on Jan. 2.
ACC bowl lineup
Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, Ariz.): Clemson vs. Ohio State, Dec. 28 (8 p.m., ESPN)
Orange Bowl (Miami): Virginia vs. Florida, Dec. 30 (8 p.m., ESPN)
Camping World Bowl (Orlando): Notre Dame vs. Iowa State, Dec. 28 (noon, ABC)
Belk Bowl (Charlotte): Virginia Tech vs. Kentucky, Dec. 31 (noon, ESPN)
Pinstripe Bowl (New York): Wake Forest vs. Michigan State, Dec. 27 (3:20 p.m., ESPN)
Music City Bowl (Nashville): Louisville vs. Mississippi State, Dec. 30 (4 p.m., ESPN)
Sun Bowl (El Paso, Texas): Florida State vs. Arizona State, Dec. 31 (2 p.m., CBS)
Military Bowl (Annapolis, Md.): UNC vs. Temple, Dec. 27 (noon, ESPN)
Independence Bowl (Shreveport, La.): Miami vs. Louisiana Tech, Dec. 26 (4 p.m., ESPN)
Quick Lane Bowl (Detroit): Pittsburgh vs. Eastern Michigan, Dec. 26 (8 p.m., ESPN)
Birmingham Bowl: Boston College vs. Cincinnati, Jan. 2 (3 p.m., ESPN)
This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 4:30 PM with the headline "ACC bowl guide: Matchups set for UNC, Wake Forest and in Belk Bowl."
