Week 9:The Official Football From Mass Two Miami Bowl Predictions

Last night on the podcast FFM2M released our first ever ACC football bowl predictions. Going forward that will be a weekly fixture, both here on the website and in the FFM2M podcast.
To listen to the previous podcasts, including this weeks just use the "Talk Shoe" tool bar to the right or click here.

Before we lay down The Official Football From Mass Two Miami Bowl Predictions lets take some time to outline the bowl games rank in order of selection.

Orange (Miami, FL)
Chic-Fil-A (Atlanta, GA)
Gator (Jacksonville, FL)
Champs (Orlando, FL)
Meineke Car Care (Charlotte, NC)
Music City (Nashville, NC)
Emerald (San Francisco, CA)
Humanitarian (Boise, ID)
Eagle Bank (Washington DC)

Spots number 1-4 as well as 8 and 9 are pretty much set in stone by the ACC overall standings.

Bowl games 5-7 have a little flux within their selection process. The Meineke Car Care, Music City and the Emerald Bowl have their pick of 5-7 between themselves. This means that depending on the teams available each bowl game is going to offer a bid to the team most attractive to them. Issues including date of the game, fanbases' reputation for traveling and opponent match ups all will factor into the Bowl Committees' and the Athletic Departments' decision on which bids to offer and accept.

Now with that cleared up here are Football From Mass To Miami's Week 9 ACC Bowl Predictions:

Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech
The Hokies finally dropped a game in the league, relinquishing their iron fisted grip over the conference and again showing vulnerability on special teams. Frank Beamer's team is still among the conferences elite and the Hokies should end up in Tampa to compete for a chance to redeem themselves in the Orange Bowl.

Chic-Fil-A Bowl: Maryland
Early season the Terps looked to be an unlikely choice for the ACC title game but they're coming on strong with the maturation of Chris Turner and the explosion of Da'Rel Scott and stand out wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey.

Gator Bowl: Florida State
The 'Noles will be served well finishing ahead of the carnage in the middle of the ACC but missing out to a tough Maryland squad. Playing right in their backyard of Jacksonville will definitely serve the fighting Bobby Bowden's justice. Getting Ponder and the rest of the young squad a good bowl game possibly against Notre Dame, renewing an old rivalry.

Champs Sports Bowl: Georgia Tech
Paul Johnson's squad is probably the most overachieving of the bunch in the ACC and they will definitely show Orlando what option football is all about. Set against a Big 10 team this could be a pretty exciting inter-sectional match up.

Meineke Car Care Bowl: North Carolina
A true match made in heaven, Charlotte is essentially Chapel Hill south and the Heels would bring plenty of fans just as they did in 2004. This may be a disappointing finish for the Heels who have started out 5-2 but with the logjam in the middle of the ACC going to this bowl wouldn't be a serious let down. It'd be a nice end to Butch's season and give the young Heels a base to build off of.

Music City Bowl: Wake Forest
Wake will be another team stuck in the middle tier of the ACC and although the Deacons had a decent showing in Charlotte the Tar Heels are a more appealing partner. The Deacs don't have a massive fan base to command the courting of bowls but they do a play an exciting brand of football and would be a good fit for the Nashville area.

Emerald Bowl: Boston College
A team with almost know real following outside of alums and family members will get the short end of the stick when it comes to the bowl bids. This bowl lacks a lot of the luster associated withe the Gator Bowl the Eagles went to last season but Coach Jags has still got a winner in Chestnut Hill.

Humanitarian Bowl: Miami
The Canes fans only travel to BCS games. The Blue Turf Bowl isn't a BCS game. Ergo the Canes fans won't travel. Randy Shannon getting the Canes to any bowl is a major step after a couple poor seasons in Coral Gables. This will be a good building block for the Canes and barring a drastic turn around it'll be the first time most of the those Miami boys see snow.

Eagle Bank Bowl: Virginia
The Hoos are surging but with their emergence on the ACC scene comes the toughest stretch of their schedule (GT, Miami, Wake & VT). Hopefully Al Groh's troops can battle through this stretch to claim the final bowl spot in the ACC. Going to DC would be a perfect fit for the Cavaliers as they've got a strong fanbase in the DC and northern Virginia area.

On The Outside Looking In:
Clemson, Duke, NC State

Week Nine: Football From Mass To Miami Podcast

To listen to the live show: Click Here

Last week's show we got heavy into busting Clemson's chops about Dabo Swinney and the dismissal of Coach Tommy Bowden. We talked about the possible options including Will Muschamp, Bobby Johnson and my personal favorite prospect the "off the radar" Gene Chizik.

This week's ACC issues will be less about coaching in the conference and more about exposing the ACC's best kept secret:

The team sharing 1st place in the Atlantic, the 5-1 Eagles of Boston College

We'll delve into what makes Coach Jagodzinski's Eagles work so well and take a look at some of their key players. Bring your pencils kiddies because there will be a pop quiz on the BC Eagles by the end of the night.

We'll also say what everyone else is slowly starting to think about: BOWL GAMES. With 9 Bowl Tie-Ins the ACC will have to stop cannibalizing itself to fill the quota but with everyone projecting their butt off the ACC could have some banner bowl match ups. FFM2M will look at where everyone should go and take a shot at figuring out where the most coveted fan bases will end up.

*Spoiler alert, a major fan base will be grossly disappointed at where they'll end up come December-January.

As with every episode of Football, From Mass to Miami you'll find:
A recap of all the Week 8 action in the ACC
Complete breakdowns of the ACC Standings
Detailed rankings of offense, defense as well as overall units
The ACC Issues of the Week
A look ahead to Week 9's games including predictions

Be sure to tune in as your host lays off the Clemson Tigers but gets deep into the ACC. Click here to listen live.

Can't listen live? Be sure to come back to Football From Mass To Miami to check out the show right here on our website.

ACC's Week 9 Broadcasting Schedule

Folks, sadly the ACC has all but fallen off the radar for this week in the television world. We've got major game in the VaTech and FSU match up that will be seen across the nation but we've been relegated to the U and Raycom ACC Game of the Week for the most part. The Ron Franklin team calling the game in Tallahassee is one of my favorites, especially with Jack Arute giving those excitable sideline updates.

Heels fans, look for Doc Walker to talk about how much of a beast Quan Sturdivant is, he'll definitely create a word for the young linebacker.

Lastly UVA and GT have a good team. Charles Arbuckle is one of the most underrated analysts working college football. He's got detailed analysis and he's a lot less likely to stick his foot in his mouth.

Saturday Afternoon:

Wake Forest @ Miami (ESPNU, Noon)- Dave Armstrong, Larry Coker

Boston College @ North Carolina (Raycom, Noon)- Steve Martin, Rick Walker, Mike Hogewood

Virginia Tech @ 25 Florida State (ABC/ESPN2, 3:30pm)- Ron Franklin, Ed Cunningham, Jack Arute

Virginia @ 18 Georgia Tech (ESPNU, 3:30pm)- Doug Bell, Charles Arbuckle


The NC State game up in College Park, MD didn't make the television schedule and neither did the Smart School's of the South Battle between Vanderbilt and Duke.