Bowl plot thickens

The NCAA says the ACC can't send N.C. State to the EagleBank Bowl in Washington.

Maryland says it won't play in the EagleBank Bowl because of an academic conflict.

Now, Navy says it won't play Wake Forest in the EagleBank Bowl because it has a no rematch clause, Patrick Stevens of the Washington Times reports.

That leaves? Miami.

The EagleBank Bowl selects ninth in the ACC order. So, for the sake of mental calisthenics let's look at the bottom of the ACC bowl order:

6) Charlotte: Clemson
7) San Francisco: Wake
8) Boise: Maryland
9) DC: Miami

What if Boise decides it wants Miami? What's the NCAA going to do? Force a bowl, it has no jurisdiction over, to take a team that doesn't want to go?

By the way, to complete N.C. State's best-case scenario from yesterday, the Motor City Bowl would the No. 1 choice at this point.

An unbeaten Ball State will likely be there (with a win over Buffalo in the MAC title game) and State wouldn't have to worry about competing against an at-large MAC team for the spot.

For a spot to come open in the Motor City, which is played in Detroit on Dec. 26, Ohio State must be taken as a BCS at-large. That would set off the dominoes in the Big Ten bowl order. There are seven bowl-eligible teams in the Big Ten for seven spots. If OSU goes, and likely to the Fiesta Bowl to face Utah, then Motor City (Big Ten No. 7) opens up for the Pack.