Bowl Projections: Clemson Will Recover To Earn Orange Bowl Berth

There can't be a team whose star has fallen harder than Clemson. Actually, there may not be a team in the history of the BCS whose star has fallen harder than the 2011 Clemson Tigers.

They started off 8-0 against a tough schedule, but have dropped two of their last three games to teams that they should not have this kind of trouble against. Still, regardless of what happens in their showdown against South Carolina, the Tigers have their ticket punched for the ACC title game, where they will face off against the winner of Saturday's Virginia Tech versus Virginia game.

The smart money would be on the Hokies in that game—the same Hokies team that lost to Clemson 23-3 at home earlier in the year.

More than being confident in Clemson, I am just not very confident in Virginia Tech—or Virginia, if they pull the upset off.

Neither of these teams are very good. Virginia Tech is a default No. 5 in the country. Take a look at how they've managed the ACC this season.

vs. Clemson	L-23-3
vs. Miami	W-38-35
at Wake Forest	W-38-17
vs. Boston College	W-30-14
at Duke	W-14-10
at Georgia Tech	W-37-26
vs. North Carolina	W-24-21

The ACC is not exactly a football super-conference. That's hardly a dominant run of games. Now, I will grant that the same thing could be said about Clemson, but they already beat Virginia Tech, on the road.

The Hokies have given me no reason to believe that they can overcome that loss that started the ACC season. 

What's strange is that ESPN's Mark Schlabach and Brad Edwards have the ACC winner taking on the Big East winner. They are both projecting Virginia Tech, but Clemson would go into the same slot. 

So, not only would this team get to play in the Orange Bowl, but they would be on the right end of that game. That would be the perfect capper to what's been an incredible, up-and-down season for the Tigers.