Boston College Football: 2013 Bowl Possibilities and Probabilities
By Joe Micik
Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
About a week from now, it should be clear where Andre Williams and the Boston College Eagles will play their final game of the 2013 season. For that matter, we will also know where every other bowl-eligible team is due to land in late December or early January.
Yesterday, we evaluated a few theoretical destinations with regards to the potential of the game and of the cities themselves. Today, we try to determine just how likely each one appears to be.
First, let’s settle something: the Eagles will bowl. They’re 7-5 in a power conference with the nation’s leading rusher and a potential Heisman finalist on the team. It might not be a great bowl, but someone is going to take a chance on this bunch. The odds of Boston College being left behind, as it were, are about the same as you winning more than $10 on a $1 scratch-off lottery ticket.
Once again, the list of ACC bowl tie-ins:
• Orange Bowl (Not gonna happen)
• Chick-fil-A Bowl
• Russell Athletic Bowl
• Sun Bowl
• Belk Bowl
• Music City Bowl
• AdvoCare V100 Bowl
• Military Bowl
• Fight Hunger Bowl (only if BYU not bowl-eligible, which they are)
At-large/replacement bowl possibilities include, but are not limited to:
• Pinstripe Bowl
• Texas Bowl
• Heart of Dallas Bowl
Strike a big line through the Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Bowl, probably the Russell Athletic Bowl, and the Fight Hunger Bowl. Then look at the current bowl projections from other media sources:
• CBS Sports (Jerry Palm): Music City Bowl vs. Georgia
• SI.com (Stewart Mandel): AdvoCare V100 Bowl vs. Arizona
• National Football Post (Dave Miller): Belk Bowl vs. Cincinnati
• ESPN (Mark Schlabach): Texas Bowl vs. Minnesota
• ESPN (Brad Edwards): AdvoCare V100 Bowl vs. Arkansas State*
• FanSided mothership (Josh Sanchez): Music City Bowl vs. Georgia
*-Arkansas State accepted a bid to the GoDaddy Bowl on Monday
That’s two votes for Nashville, two for Shreveport, one for Charlotte, and one for Houston. It’s a bit surprising to see the Belk Bowl making the list, as one would think a southern school would get that for travel purposes, but not mind-blowing by any stretch. Nashville, Shreveport, and Houston are all destinations this website has already discussed.
As such, we can at least try to weigh the likelihood of the bowls which we have not already eliminated due to a variety of factors:
Fairly Likely
• AdvoCare V100 Bowl
• Music City Bowl
Outside Chance
• Belk Bowl
• Texas Bowl
Probably Not
• Sun Bowl
• Military Bowl
• Pinstripe Bowl
• Heart of Dallas Bowl
Don’t book your hotels in Nashville and/or Shreveport just yet. There’s still a chance that the Eagles could end up in, say, Houston. Boston College might lobby against the Sun Bowl on the grounds that they’ve already done that trip (approximately) this season and who knows if they’d want to do it again — if they have much say in the matter, that is. The Pinstripe Bowl would almost be too good to be true as compared to the others it’s a local bowl game, but Notre Dame might swipe that one. Heart of Dallas is an intriguing possibility, but a far outside shot. The Military Bowl has rarely gotten any consideration with regard to the Eagles.
Where do you think Boston College will bowl?