win, Virginia Tech clinched an automatic bid to the 2008 Orange Bowl. This caused ripple effects in the bowl destinations for virtually every bowl-eligible ACC team. In the 2007 season, the ACC had guaranteed tie-ins with eight bowl games. The ACC's representatives to these bowls were picked in a hierarchical system that allowed the Chick-fil-A Bowl to have the first selection after the Orange Bowl's automatic pick of the winner of the ACC Championship Game. Following the Chick-fil-A Bowl were the Gator Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, Music City Bowl, Meineke Car Care Bowl, Emerald Bowl, and Humanitarian Bowl, in that order. The ACC's agreement with the bowls dictated that the bowls would select the highest-ranking ACC team left after the bowls with higher selections made their pick. Bowls would be allowed to skip the highest remaining team only if the next team was within one conference win of the highest remaining team. Therefore, a bowl could select a 5–3 team over a 6–2 team, but could not select a 4–4 team over a 6–2 team. With Virginia Tech earning an automatic bid to the Orange Bowl, the Chick-fil-A Bowl had the first pick of the remaining ACC teams. Boston College, by virtue of its loss in the ACC Championship Game, was the highest remaining team, but Chick-fil-A Bowl representatives instead chose to invite Clemson, which had finished behind Boston College in the Atlantic Division standings. In making their decision, Chick-fil-A Bowl representatives cited Boston College's poor attendance at the ACC Championship Game in Jacksonville. The Gator Bowl, which is also held in Jacksonville, was reluctant to choose a team that had participated in the ACC Championship Game out of fear that the team's fans would be unwilling to return to Jacksonville so quickly. The Gator Bowl Association requested and received a waiver from the league's strict bowl selection rules and selected Virginia over Boston College. The Champs Sports Bowl was thus forced to select Boston College. Boston College players and fans, owing to the decreased status of the Champs Sports Bowl when compared with the Orange, Chick-fil-A, and Gator Bowls, were disappointed with the selection and match against Michigan State. Had Boston College won the ACC Championship Game, it would have earned the automatic bid to the Orange Bowl, and Virginia Tech would have been selected by the Chick-fil-A Bowl, which had earlier expressed an interest in inviting the Hokies