Notre Dame has a contract with one of the NY6 bowls and all of the other ACC affiliated bowls, mostly against P5 opponents. They can REPLACE any ACC team as long as their final record is within one game (or better) of the ACC team they are replacing.

I thought they could not replace an ACC team for a contract/access game. ND has their own deal for the Orange and ACC has a deal with the Orange for all 8 years they are not a semi-final game and ND can not fill the ACC side of the Orange or be considered part of the ACC if they are in the final 4.

The nuances of this guarantee that the ACC champ is always included even if ND also is included...

But all non NY6 games is where ND can take up an ACC slot.