College Football Post-Week 12 Bowl Projections

College football's bowl season is inching closer, and it's never too early to take a look at what the matchups might look like. With 12 weeks of results in the books, it's beginning to get easier to make projections about which teams will be eligible for the postseason.

The post-Week 12 bowl projections are a mixture between how things would look if the season ended today, future schedules, and a dose of the results so far this year. Expect more changes over the next two weeks. 

2012-2013 Post-Week 12 College Football Bowl Projections

Bowl	Date	Tie-In	Projected Matchup
New Mexico	Dec. 15	MWC vs. Pac-12	Arizona vs. Nevada
Famous Idaho Potato	Dec. 15	MAC vs. WAC	Utah State vs. N. Illinois
Poinsettia	Dec. 20	BYU vs. MWC	BYU vs. San Diego State
Beef 'O'Brady's	Dec. 21	Big East vs. C-USA	UCF** vs. UL Lafayette*
New Orleans	Dec. 22	Sun Belt vs. C-USA	UL Monroe vs. East Carolina
Las Vegas	Dec. 22	MWC vs. Pac-12	USC vs. Boise State
Hawaii	Dec. 24	C-USA vs. MWC	Fresno State vs. SJSU*
Little Caesars	Dec. 26	Big Ten vs. MAC	W. Kentucky* vs. Toledo
Military	Dec. 27	ACC vs. Army	Ball State* vs. Arizona State*
Belk	Dec. 27	ACC vs. Big East	Duke vs. Cincinnati
Holiday	Dec. 27	Big 12 vs. Pac-12	West Virginia vs. UCLA
Independence	Dec. 28	ACC vs. SEC	Ohio* vs. La. Tech*
Russell Athletic	Dec. 28	ACC vs. Big East	Virginia Tech vs. Rutgers
Meineke Car Care	Dec. 28	Big Ten vs. Big 12	Iowa State vs. Minnesota
Armed Forces	Dec. 29	C-USA vs. MWC	Rice vs. Air Force
Kraft Fight Hunger	Dec. 29	Pac-12 vs. Navy	Navy vs. Washington
Pinstripe	Dec. 29	Big East vs. Big 12	Syracuse vs. TCU
Alamo	Dec. 29	Big 12 vs. Pac-12	Stanford vs. Okla. State
Buffalo Wild Wings	Dec. 29	Big Ten vs. Big 12	Mich. State vs. Texas Tech
Music City	Dec. 31	SEC vs. ACC	Vanderbilt vs. Arkansas State*
Sun	Dec. 31	ACC vs. Pac-12	Oregon State vs. NC State
Liberty	Dec. 31	SEC vs. C-USA	Tulsa vs. Ole Miss
Chick-fil-A	Dec. 31	ACC vs. SEC	South Carolina vs. Ga. Tech
Heart of Dallas	Jan. 1	Big Ten vs. Big 12	Baylor vs. Purdue
TaxSlayer.com Gator	Jan. 1	SEC vs. Big Ten	Northwestern vs. Miss. State
Capital One	Jan. 1	SEC vs. Big Ten	Michigan vs. Georgia
Outback	Jan. 1	SEC vs. Big Ten	Florida vs. Wisconsin
Cotton	Jan. 4	Big 12 vs. SEC	Texas vs. Texas A&M
BBVA Compass	Jan. 5	SEC vs. Big East	Troy* vs. Bowling Green*
GoDaddy.com	Jan. 6	MAC vs. Sun Belt	MTSU vs. Kent State
BCS Bowls
Rose	Jan. 1	BCS vs. BCS	Nebraska vs. Oregon
Orange	Jan. 1	BCS vs. BCS	Florida State vs. Louisville
Sugar	Jan. 2	BCS vs. BCS	LSU vs. Oklahoma
Fiesta	Jan. 3	BCS vs. BCS	Kansas State vs. Clemson
National Title	Jan. 7	BCS vs. BCS	Notre Dame vs. Alabama

* Indicates an at-large team due to a conference unable to fill bowl slots according to Athlon's projections.

** UCF is appealing a postseason ban and for now, is eligible to compete in the 2012 postseason.

Bold indicates a team has accepted bowl bid.

by Steven Lassan

Follow @athlonsteven

(published Nov. 18, 2012)