The current SFN poll in the panel to the right on the blog asks our readers to project NC State’s football record in the coming 2014 season. There is a tight distribution forming around the center of the selections, with more people than not projecting NC State to barely squeak into a bowl slot this season with six wins.
Well, CBS Sports agrees almost exactly with WolfpackNation as their 2014 football bowl selections (linked here) project Dave Doeren’s second installment of NC State football to participate in the Detroit Bowl vs Troy on December 30th. The Detroit Bowl is actually designed to match an ACC team against a Big Ten opponent, but CBS does not project the Big Ten to produce enough eligible teams to fill their spots.
That selection is particularly interesting as the Wolfpack and Troy have agreed to future regular season meetings as out of conference opponents. Another item worth noting is that if the Big Ten does produce an adequate number of eligible teams for their bowl arrangements then it is not a stretch to think that the Maryland Terrapins could be tapped for this slot as the ACC’s opponent.
Elsewhere in the predictions:
* Unlike Phil Steele, CBS does not expect UNC to win the Super Bowl AGAIN this year. Instead, the Tar Heels are predicted to play Tulsa in the Military Bowl on December 27th.
* The most interesting match up for the ACC in the predictions is clearly a Clemson-Auburn showdown in the Orange Bowl (as FSU is obviously slighted for the College Football Playoff).
* Remember, this is the first year that the Belk Bowl gets to draw from the SEC to match up against the ACC. So, CBS is predicting Mississippi State to battle Duke on December 30th. That would be three straight years that Duke would make some kind of appearance in Charlotte and I highly doubt that the folks in Charlotte are dying to tie the attendance of their first SEC game to the Duke (not so big)fanbase.
* Elsewhere, East Carolina is predicted in the Miami Beach Bowl on December 22nd against BYU.
