What's Next For Georgia Tech

(Jonathan Dwyer is going to Miami. Who will meet him there?)

The questions have, at times, been almost too much for Georgia Tech to answer.

Will your gimmick offense work? Can it stand up to BCS defenses? Do you really expect to win a conference championship?

Nobody's asking anymore. Instead, those questions have been replaced with inquiries of a much more tolerable sort: Who will Georgia Tech face in the program's first BCS-level bowl since the 1960s?

See, isn't that better?

It's a fair question, now that the Yellow Jackets have booked a trip to Miami for the Orange Bowl early next month. The winner of the ACC is guaranteed one spot in the contest, the other usually going to an at-large participant, as it might this year.

Several possible match-ups have been bandied about for this game, but three opponents stand out as Tech's likely foils:

1) TCU —The Horned Frogs ought to lobby hard for a BCS title berth, especially considering how ridiculously underwhelming Texas has been most of this season. Still, it's unlikely to happen, but an at-large bid is all but assured. The Orange Bowl would make sense, so would the Fiesta Bowl.

Statistically speaking, this would probably be the least-appealing opponent for Georgia Tech. Gary Patterson's crew are a wicked second in the nation defensive, third against the run and third against the pass. Additionally, TCU's got the kind of strong, physical defensive line that can wreck Tech's offense in a bad way.

2) Cincinnati —The Big East champions are probably the odds-on favorites for that other Orange Bowl slot, and boy would this be a ridiculous points-fest. Cincinnati is 47th in the country in total defense and got tooled against Pitt on Saturday, but Brian Kelly's team is fourth in total offense and loves to try and outscore people.

The bigger question for the Bearcats is whether head coach Kelly will be with the team by 2010. He's rumored to be one of the top candidates for the Notre Dame job, and it would be a big surprise to see him turn that kind of opportunity down.

3) Iowa —Tough to judge these Hawkeyes, who are likely on track for an at-large bid after losing the Big Ten to Ohio State. They're 10-2 and Kirk Ferentz is a great coach, but they're 96th nationally on offense and even some of their wins (*cough* Indiana) look dubious.

Defensively, Iowa's strong as ever, 10th in the nation. But Tech proved tonight that statistical rankings are often deceiving against this offense.

On paper, this is probably the most appealing match-up for Georgia Tech, but Ferentz is not a coach to be trifled with, and Iowa has had a lot of luck run its way this season.

Boise State could get thrown into that mix too, but I also wouldn't be too surprised to see the Broncos snubbed, despite their perfect regular-season record. Just the nature of the beast.

What do you think, bee fans? What Orange Bowl match-up gives Tech the best chance to take home a BCS trophy?