ACC Agrees To New 12-Year Tie-In With Discover Orange Bowl

The ACC and the Orange Bowl Committee today announced a new 12-year tie-in, effective after the '14 season, that places the ACC football champion in the Discover Orange Bowl on Jan. 1 at 1:00pm ET. If the ACC winner makes it into the new four-team playoff, a replacement ACC team will play in the Orange Bowl. The conference in a release said that the Orange Bowl will host "at least four semifinal games" in the new playoff format (ACC).

CBSSPORTS.com's Dennis Dodd notes the "at least four" wording "seems to confirm that the Rose and Champions bowl may not participate in a regular semifinal rotation." The Rose Bowl "wants to protect its traditional Pac 12-Big Ten matchup as much as possible." The Champions Bowl, "site still undecided, matches the Big 12 and SEC Champions" (CBSSPORTS.com, 7/3).