Week 9 Russell Athletic Bowl Projections
After a quiet week in the polls, five of the media projections for the 2015 Russell Athletic Bowl remained the same. Florida State and North Carolina are the two ACC teams projected to come to Orlando, along with Notre Dame in the ACC bowl slot. The media has four different teams on the Big 12 side projected to play in the City Beautiful.
Here are your week five projections for the 26th Russell Athletic Bowl.
Jerry Palm (CBSSports.com): Florida State vs. Oklahoma State
Jason Kirk (SBNation): Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State
Brandon Chatmon (ESPN Big 12 Blog): Oklahoma
David Hale (ESPN ACC Blog): Florida State Seminoles
Mark Schlabach (ESPN): Florida State vs. Oklahoma State
Brett McMurphy (ESPN): Florida State vs. Oklahoma
Bill Bender (Sporting News): Florida State vs. Oklahoma State
College Sports Madness: Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State
Bryan Fischer (Bleacher Report): North Carolina vs. Texas Tech
Pete Fiutak (Campus Insiders): Florida State vs. Baylor
Five media members have the Seminoles making their fourth appearance in the Russell Athletic Bowl. The Seminoles are a perfect 3-0 in Orlando and already have two dates booked in the Orlando Citrus Bowl for 2016. The ‘Noles will play their spring game in Orlando on April 9 and return to meet Ole Miss of the SEC in the inaugural Orlando Kickoff game on September 5.
The media has Oklahoma State projected five times as the most popular Big 12 pick. The Cowboys would be making their first Russell Athletic Bowl appearance.
The only other ACC team projected, North Carolina, would be making its first appearance in the game since it moved to Orlando. The Tar Heels played in the bowl in 1995 in Miami Gardens.
UNC’s projected opponent, Texas Tech, also has just one appearance in the Russell Athletic Bowl. Bryan Fischer says a UNC – Texas Tech matchup would be the best bowl game outside of the New Year’s Six.
Notre Dame was projected by two different media members this week. The Fighting Irish have one previous bowl appearance in Orlando, against Florida State in 2011.
Brett McMurphy of ESPN has 2014 participant Oklahoma back in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
Pete Fiutak of Campus Insiders has Baylor making its first Russell Athletic Bowl appearance.