Week Seven Bowl Projections
Mark Schlabach (ESPN) – Virginia Tech vs. UCF
Brad Edwards (ESPN) – Virginia Tech vs. UCF
Orlando Sentinel – Virginia Tech vs. UCF
Scout.com/CollegeFootballNews.com – Virginia Tech vs. Rutgers
Jerry Palm – Miami vs. UCF
ESPN ACC – Virginia Tech
SB Nation– Miami vs. UCF
Athlon Sports– Virginia Tech vs. UCF
Sporting News- Virginia Tech vs. UCF
Two teams very familiar with Orlando and the Florida Citrus Bowl seem to be on a collision course to meet in this year’s Russell Athletic Bowl. Virginia Tech is the current favorite out of the ACC and played in last year’s bowl game and UCF who played its home games at the Citrus Bowl for 28 years is an almost unanimous pick to represent The American.
Virginia Tech (6-1, 3-0 ACC) has taken over as favorites from Miami (5-0, 1-0 ACC) this week. The Hokies are coming off a 19-9 win over ACC newcomer Pittsburgh (3-2, 2-2 ACC). Quarterback Logan Thomas passed for 239 yards and a touchdown and led the Hokies with 27 yards on the ground in the victory. The Tech defense also limited Pittsburgh to a mere 23 yards rushing on 26 attempts, good for less than a yard per carry. Virginia Tech is idle this weekend before completing its three-game home stand against Duke (4-2, 0-2 ACC) next weekend.
Miami only appears in a few projections this week after many of the experts decided to place two teams from the ACC in BCS games. The Hurricanes are coming off a bye weekend after beating Georgia Tech 45-30 last weekend. Miami hits the road and travels to North Carolina (1-4, 0-2 ACC) for a Thursday night battle this weekend.
Things remain rather unchanged in The American projections this week with UCF (4-1, 1-0 AAC) still the favorites and Rutgers being the only other team to appear in the projections. UCF had the weekend off as they prepare for this Friday’s clash against Louisville (6-0, 2-0 AAC) in a game with major American implications on the line.
Rutgers remains in the polls despite falling to Louisville, 24-10, midweek. Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova threw for 202 yards and a touchdown but surrendered four interceptions in the loss. The Knights have the weekend off before returning home to start a three game home stand with Houston (5-0, 2-0 AAC) next weekend.