Major bowl? Yes. Elite opponent? Not so much.

If we miss the playoff, our NY6 options are limited to the Orange and Cotton Bowls.

If we play in the Orange Bowl, our opponent will come from the ACC. With Clemson almost certainly in the CFP, the ACC rep will be the next-highest ranked ACC team. Currently, that is Virginia. Keep in mind, however, that the Orange Bowl has a rule prohibiting regular season rematches. That means that if Virginia goes to the Orange Bowl, we can't go, even if we would qualify as the opponent otherwise. Our best bet for an Orange Bowl bid, imho, would be for Miami to beat Virginia then run the table on the rest of its ACC schedule (Miami already has a conference loss to North Carolina).

If we go to the Cotton Bowl, this year our opponent would be the Group of Five representative. At this point, Boise State has the inside track, but I suppose UCF could sneak back into consideration with a Boise State loss.