Holiday Bowl looking at an Arizona-SMU matchup for Jan. 2 game at Snapdragon Stadium

The matchup for the 46th annual Holiday Bowl will not officially be announced until Sunday morning, although signs are pointing to a particular matchup.

A current or former Pac-12 member will meet a team from the ACC in the game. They will share a $5.9 million payout.

“As we approach Selection Sunday, we’re in a really good spot on both sides,” said Mark Neville, CEO of Sports San Diego, which stages the Holiday Bowl. “From the former Pac-12 teams, we’re going to get a solid team from that conference. On the ACC side, we’re likely getting an eight-, nine- or 10-win opponent for the Pac-12 team. San Diego’s going to get a great matchup.”

It’s shaping up for No. 18 Arizona (9-3) to meet SMU (8-4) in the game that will be played Jan. 2 at Snapdragon Stadium.

Pecking order

After the 12 CFP slots are filled, the Holiday Bowl gets the third pick after the Alamo Bowl and Las Vegas Bowl among current and former members of the Pac-12. In the ACC, the Holiday Bowl, Gator Bowl and Pop-Tarts Bowl all submit their top three choices. If all three bowls select different schools as their top pick, then they get that team. If there is overlap, then the conference and bowls work things out.

ACC outlook

The CFP rankings include four ACC teams: No. 10 Notre Dame (10-2), which is aligned with the conference for bowl purposes, No. 12 Miami (10-2), No. 17 Virginia (10-2) and No. 22 Georgia Tech (9-3).

Notre Dame is positioned to make the expanded 12-team playoff. Virginia will, too, as a champion from a top-five-ranked conference, if it beats Duke (7-5) in the ACC title game.

At No. 12, Miami is just outside the playoff because the Hurricanes will be leapfrogged by the American Conference champion — No. 20 Tulane (10-2) and No. 24 North Texas (11-1) are matched up for the title — unless the Hurricanes somehow move up in the final CFP rankings. A wild card is the possibility of the CFP committee moving Miami ahead of Notre Dame. The Hurricanes won the head-to-head matchup 24-21 in the season opener.

Assuming things go to form and Notre Dame and Virginia go to the playoff, then the Gator Bowl takes Miami and the Pop-Tarts Bowl takes Georgia Tech.

That leaves the Holiday Bowl to take SMU, which ranks 30th in the nation in scoring offense (32.9 ppg) and 32nd in scoring defense (20.7 ppg).

If Duke upsets Virginia, then the Cavaliers could fall to the Holiday Bowl.

But what if the Pop-Tarts Bowl wants them, too? In that case, Georgia Tech would be a candidate to come to San Diego.

Pac-12 outlook

Arizona is squarely in the Holiday Bowl’s sights because other former Pac-12 schools will be more sought after by the bowls picking ahead of the Holiday.

No. 5 Oregon (11-1) is headed to the playoff. After that, No. 16 USC (9-3) is expected to be taken by the Alamo Bowl and No. 15 Utah (10-2) by the Las Vegas Bowl.

That allows the Holiday Bowl to take the Wildcats, who are 33rd in the nation in scoring offense (32.6 ppg) and 19th in scoring defense (18.9 ppg).

Arizona has made two previous trips to the Holiday Bowl, beating Nebraska 23-20 in the 1998 game and losing 33-0 to the Cornhuskers in the 2009 contest. This would be the first Holiday Bowl visit for SMU since its 46-45 loss to BYU in the 1980 game that is regarded among the best bowl games in college football history.