With one game remaining in the regular season, Georgia Tech’s bowl picture is unclear. But it’s much better than it was a few weeks ago. And there’s one bowl that has indicated that it’s interested in inviting the Yellow Jackets.
“They’re definitely in the picture,” Steve Beck, executive director of the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Md., told the AJC. “They’re – what – 7-4 right now with a chance of being 8-4. Paul Johnson obviously coached at Navy and would be an interesting story and nice to have him back for a homecoming.”
Johnson coached at the Naval Academy 2002-2007 and led a remarkable turnaround, as he inherited a team that was 0-10 the previous season and then took the Midshipmen to five consecutive bowl games before leaving for Tech after the 2007 season.
Johnson said Monday that he hadn’t given thought to playing in Annapolis again.
“I think a lot of that is unsettled and until everybody’s played out their last game, nobody’s going to really have an idea what’s going to happen,” said Johnson, who said he spoke with a couple bowl representatives Monday.
Tech has never been to the Military Bowl or its previous iterations. It will be played Dec. 27 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Beck acknowledged, though, that the Jackets may not even be available to be selected. By the ACC’s bowl selection order, the Military Bowl will have the seventh or eighth pick of conference teams, not counting the possibility of Clemson’s inclusion in the College Football Playoff.
Five ACC teams have better records than Tech’s 7-4, and the two other teams at 7-4 have both beaten the Jackets, Miami and Pittsburgh. One scenario might go like this – Clemson is selected for the playoff and Louisville represents the ACC in the Orange Bowl. The next bowl in the selection order is the Citrus Bowl, which picks an ACC team if the Orange Bowl pairs a Big Ten team with its ACC representative.
Conceivably, the Citrus could select Florida State. The Russell Athletic Bowl, like the Citrus based in Orlando, might follow with Virginia Tech. The best remaining teams at this point would be North Carolina, Miami, Pitt, Tech and Wake Forest, particularly if the Demon Deacons can beat Boston College to get to 7-5.
Those four or five teams would be divided up among the Belk (Charlotte, N.C.), Sun (El Paso, Texas), Pinstripe (New York) and either the Music City (Nashville, Tenn.) or TaxSlayer (Jacksonville, Fla.) bowls, most likely TaxSlayer. Those five bowls (Music City and TaxSlayer take either an ACC or Big Ten team) have equal selection status and make their picks in conjunction with the ACC and member schools.
Tech’s most likely landing spots among those four would probably be the Pinstripe or Belk Bowls, neither of which it has played in previously. Tech played in the Sun Bowl in 2011 and 2012, and the TaxSlayer Bowl last week announced in a tweet that it was considering Florida State, Miami, North Carolina and Virginia Tech.
However, the Pinstripe has a history of taking teams from the Northeast and could be inclined toward Pittsburgh. The Belk might lean toward a more national brand in Miami. Tech’s candidacy would be helped by a win over Georgia, which would raise its profile and perhaps give the fan base more reason to travel to a bowl game.
However, the Belk Bowl (and its previous versions) has had a local flavor. One team has either been from inside the state or from a contiguous state 13 out of 14 years, including Georgia in 2014.
Tech interim athletic director Paul Griffin said he wouldn’t venture to guess what Tech’s most likely option is but made one observation.
“I think the biggest issue, the biggest item that will affect (destination) is geography,” he said.
Griffin said that North Carolina’s “HB2” law, perceived by opponents as discriminatory against LGBT people and which prompted the NCAA and ACC to remove championship events from the state in September, would not prevent Tech from accepting an invitation to the game.
But if the Belk and Pinstripe (and TaxSlayer and Sun) were to pass on Tech, that would likely make the Jackets an appealing choice for the Military Bowl, if not possibly its only choice. They would be matched up with an American Athletic Conference opponent. Among teams projected to represent the AAC – Temple and Houston.
All that said, losses by teams above Tech and a win by the Jackets could change the calculus. Another possibility that could affect Tech is if Florida State makes a New Year’s Six bowl game.
“A lot depends on how this last week goes,” Beck said.
