The last time N.C. State played in a bowl game in Birmingham, Ala., the Wolfpack beat Southern Mississippi in Brett Favre’s final college game in 1990.
The Wolfpack is in line for a second bowl trip to Birmingham — but it needs help from Troy. If the Trojans, an 11-point favorite at home, beat Arkansas State, an at-large spot opens up for the Papajohns.com Bowl on Dec. 29. N.C. State is expected to be invited to that bowl if Troy wins.
“We’ve talked to N.C. State and they are high on our list,” Mark Meadows, the executive director of the Papajohns.com Bowl, said Friday. “We’re very excited about the possibility of them being in Birmingham.”
N.C. State’s opponent would be from the Big East, either West Virginia, Rutgers, Pittsburgh or Connecticut. The Papajohns.com selects after the Sun and Meineke Car Care Bowls in the Big East order.
If Troy loses, meaning the Papajohns.com spot doesn’t come open, N.C. State still has options, namely in Detroit (Motor City Bowl) or possibly Hawaii.
Arkansas State plays at Troy — which is in southeast Alabama — Saturday at 7 p.m. The Trojans are 5-1 in the Sun Belt Conference and 4-0 at home. They led LSU, in Baton Rouge, 31-3 in the second half before losing 40-31 on Nov. 15.
N.C. State athletic director Lee Fowler was still working Friday, and expected to continue to work until all 34 bowl pairings are made official on Sunday, on finding an at-large home for the 6-6 Wolfpack, which was ruled ineligible for the nine ACC bowl tie-ins earlier in the week by the NCAA.
N.C. State and Notre Dame are the only 6-6 BCS teams currently in the at-large pool. The other 6-6 teams are from outside the six BCS conferences — San Jose State, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Louisiana-Lafayette and Florida Atlantic. Arkansas State (6-5) joins the group with a loss at Troy.
“Everything we’ve heard is that the two at-large teams everyone wants are us and Notre Dame,” Fowler said. “But we won’t know for sure where we are going until Sunday. There’s still too many contingencies.”
With two teams each from the SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten expected to be selected for the BCS bowls, that leaves four at-large spots for bowl games in Birmingham, Detroit, Shreveport, La., (Independence Bowl) and Houston (Texas Bowl).
Arizona State (5-6) is the only other BCS team that could get to 6-6. The Sun Devils play at Arizona tonight but would fill a Pac-10 bowl tie-in with a win. If Arizona State loses, the Hawaii Bowl would have an at-large opening.
Louisville’s 63-14 loss to Rutgers on Thursday eliminated a potential attractive team from the at-large pool. The Cardinals finished 5-7. Notre Dame is expected to end up in Houston.
Fowler said he has talked with all of the at-large possibilities. He didn’t rule out Hawaii, but said he would prefer to find a bowl within reasonable driving distance for the majority of State fans. Birmingham, about 550 miles from Raleigh, would be the closest of the possible games.
If Troy loses and Ohio State is selected for a BCS bowl as expected, N.C. State would likely land in Detroit for the Motor City Bowl on Dec. 26.
If Troy wins, Birmingham and Detroit could be fighting over the Wolfpack.
“There are lots of discussions of what the pecking order will be,” Meadows said. “It has not been completely decided.”
By NCAA rule, teams with a record of 7-5 or better are guaranteed bowl spots before the 6-6 teams. Other than the potential Sun Belt team, there’s one Mid-American Conference team, likely Western Michigan at 9-3, that would be left out of the MAC bowl mix.
If there are two 7-5 at-large teams (Troy and the leftover MAC team), N.C. State could possibly negotiate with the Hawaii Bowl and another bowl to switch spots.
The Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas, might be inclined to send its expected Conference-USA representative, Houston, to Hawaii because Houston and Air Force, the expected Mountain West pick, already met during the regular season.
Either way, Louisville’s loss on Thursday put N.C. State one step closer to its 24th bowl game.
