Duke clinched bowl eligibility—but now what?
With its 31-23 win against Wake Forest Saturday, the Blue Devils reached the six-win plateau for the fifth time in six years. But with Championship Weekend yet to come, their destination still remains to be seen.
The bowl system is complicated, to say the least, and leaves three likely destinations for Duke.
The process will start by sending the winner of Clemson-Miami in the ACC title game to the College Football Playoff and the loser to the Orange Bowl. The top tier ACC bowls will get their pick and pass over Duke, especially with Notre Dame's loss dropping it into the ACC pool, leaving the Blue Devils with two potential ACC tie-in bowl options.
1. Quick Lane Bowl, Dec. 26 at Ford Field in Detroit
After the top tier, the Military Bowl picks first, and would probably pick Virginia given their strong season and Charlottesville being a short distance from Annapolis. Up next would be the Independence Bowl—which would likely pick Florida State over Duke given the program's following and storied history—assuming the Seminoles beat Lousiana Monroe on Saturday.
The Quick Lane Bowl would have the next choice, and be left with no one else to pick but Duke. There, they would conceivably face a Big Ten team given the bowl's tie-ins with the conference, but the slot could also be given to an at-large team.
2. Walk-On's Independence Bowl, Dec. 27 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, La.
If Florida State somehow loses to Louisiana Monroe and fails to reach the six-win mark, the Independence Bowl would likely have to take Duke. The game has SEC tie-ins, but could also get an at-large team a spot.
3. Birmingham Bowl, Dec. 23 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala.
This could happen if Alabama fails to make the College Football Playoff—a fairly likely possibility. This would obligate the Orange Bowl to take an SEC team, which would by long and complicated turn of events close a spot in the Camping World Bowl for the ACC. This would slide every ACC team down one slot, and could force Duke out of the bowls with official tie-ins to the conference.
From there it would be anyone's guess where the Blue Devils would go. Sports Illustrated projected Duke to go to Birmingham as an at-large team.
Depending on how other conferences fall in the scenario where Alabama does not make the playoff, Duke could also get a bid to the St. Petersburg Bowl (Also known as the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl) which pits an AAC team against a team from the ACC or Conference USA.
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Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor
A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks.