Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich
The Humanitarian Bowl is considering choosing undefeated Ball State over an ACC team, a decision that would be difficult to move forward with unless most parties involved agree to it.
If that happens, the teams most likely to get farmed out to an at-large spot would be Wake Forest and Maryland, both of which have given reasons not to play in the Eagle Bank Bowl.
The Eagle Bank Bowl might take Wake Forest, even though they made an agreement with Navy not to schedule rematches. The Eagle Bank Bowl is also willing to work around Maryland's exam schedule.
"We would work our bowl schedule to accommodate Maryland," said Sean Metcalf, a co-CEO of the bowl. "Not our game date, but what we need them to do as a team here in town."
Metcalf said it would be OK for the Terps to use their own practice facility if they wanted to be closer to campus. The bowl would be flexible in terms of times and dates for other activities, like the visit to the children's hospital or U.S. Capitol.
So far, NC State is the only ACC team that will have to search for an at-large bid.
Heather Dinich covered ACC and Big Ten football for five seasons before joining ESPN.com in November 2007. She's an Indiana grad but somehow her favorite day of the week is Saturday.
