I think the Wake/Pitt option

Is based on the idea of Cincinnati missing the CFP but making the NY6 and the Pitt/Wake winner being placed in the opposite bowl. Imho, more likely for Wake than for Pitt.

Cincinnati was placed in the Peach Bowl last year so the Committee will do everything in their power to send them to the Fiesta Bowl this year. Geography is a factor in NY6 bowl selection, so if Wake is the ACC rep they almost certainly will be placed in the Peach Bowl (Winston-Salem is only about 320 miles from Atlanta). Pitt is also closer to Atlanta than Arizona, obviously, but perhaps not close enough to Atlanta that that difference would be dispositive. Further, Pitt and Cincinnati are old Big East rivals, so perhaps the Committee will take that into consideration. I think that becomes more likely if the other at-large team in the NY6 is a traditional rival of ND that ND has not played recently (either Michigan or Michigan State).