College Football's Post-Week 13 Bowl Projections
Tajh Boyd
With 13 weeks in the books, college football’s bowl and national title picture is starting to come into focus.
The post-Week 13 BCS standings featured some movement at the top, but the biggest surprise was Northern Illinois jumping Fresno State. The Huskies are in position to return to the BCS, but the Bulldogs could pass Northern Illinois in next week’s standings. Fresno State plays San Jose State, while the Huskies host Western Michigan. The small boost in strength of schedule could help the Bulldogs just enough to pass the Huskies. For now, Fresno State gets the nod over Northern Illinois in our BCS projections. But this is one battle that could change hands a couple of times over the next two weeks.
With Oregon’s loss to Arizona, Stanford is back in the driver’s seat to win the Pac-12 and play in the Rose Bowl. The Cardinal finished their Pac-12 slate with a blowout win over California last Saturday and host Notre Dame this week. The Ducks are still alive for an at-large BCS bowl spot. However, Mark Helfrich’s team needs a lot to go their way in order to play in a BCS bowl.
Outside of Stanford, the other change in our BCS projections is Oklahoma State. After beating Baylor, the Cowboys are projected to win the Big 12 and should play in the Fiesta Bowl against Fresno State or Northern Illinois.
The bowl season doesn’t start until December, but with just two weeks to go in the regular season, it's never too early to take a look at what the matchups might look like.
The post-Week 13 bowl projections are a mixture between projections for the next few weeks, how things would look if the season ended today, and the results from the first 13 weeks of action. Expect more changes over the next few weeks. With several teams projected to be right around the six-win mark, more at-large spots in bowls should open after Saturday's games.
A few teams barely missed the projections this week, including Syracuse, Central Michigan, Texas State, FAU and Ohio.
College Football's Post-Week 13 Bowl Projections for 2013
Bowl | Tie-In | Date | Projection |
New Mexico | Dec. 21 | Pac-12 vs. MWC | Colo. State vs. Arizona |
Famous Idaho Potato | Dec. 21 | MAC vs. MWC | Ball State vs. Washington State* |
Las Vegas | Dec. 21 | Pac-12 vs. MWC | Boise State vs. USC |
New Orleans | Dec. 21 | Sun Belt vs. CUSA | UL Lafayette vs. Tulane |
Beef 'O' Brady's | Dec. 23 | American vs. CUSA | Toledo* vs. MTSU |
Hawaii | Dec. 24 | MWC vs. CUSA | UNLV vs. Rice |
Little Caesars Pizza | Dec. 26 | MAC vs. Big Ten | No. Illinois vs. Arkansas State* |
Poinsettia | Dec. 26 | Army vs. MWC | Utah State vs. Buffalo* |
Military | Dec. 27 | CUSA vs. ACC | E. Carolina vs. Boston College |
Texas | Dec. 27 | Big 12 vs. Big Ten | Texas Tech vs. Michigan |
Fight Hunger | Dec. 27 | BYU vs. Pac-12 | BYU vs. Washington |
Pinstripe | Dec. 28 | American vs. Big 12 | Cincinnati vs. Notre Dame |
Belk | Dec. 28 | American vs. ACC | Houston vs. North Carolina |
Russell Athletic | Dec. 28 | American vs. ACC | Louisville vs. Miami |
Buffalo Wild Wings | Dec. 28 | Big 12 vs. Big Ten | Texas vs. Iowa |
Armed Forces | Dec. 30 | MWC vs. Navy | Navy vs. SDSU |
Music City | Dec. 30 | ACC vs. SEC | Georgia vs. Pittsburgh |
Alamo | Dec. 30 | Big 12 vs. Pac-12 | Oklahoma vs. Oregon |
Holiday | Dec. 30 | Pac-12 vs. Big 12 | Arizona State vs. Kansas State |
AdvoCare V100 | Dec. 31 | ACC vs. SEC | Georgia Tech vs. Oregon State* |
Sun | Dec. 31 | Pac-12 vs. ACC | UCLA vs. Virginia Tech |
Liberty | Dec. 31 | SEC vs. CUSA | Vanderbilt vs. Marshall |
Chick-fil-A | Dec. 31 | SEC vs. ACC | South Carolina vs. Duke |
Gator | Jan. 1 | SEC vs. Big Ten | Ole Miss vs. Minnesota |
Heart of Dallas | Jan. 1 | Big Ten vs. CUSA | North Texas vs. Maryland* |
Outback | Jan. 1 | SEC vs. Big Ten | Missouri vs. Nebraska |
Capital One | Jan. 1 | SEC vs. Big Ten | Michigan State vs. Texas A&M |
Rose | Jan. 1 | BCS vs. BCS | Stanford vs. Ohio State |
Fiesta | Jan. 1 | BCS vs. BCS | Fresno State vs. Oklahoma State |
Sugar | Jan. 2 | BCS vs. BCS | Auburn vs. UCF |
Cotton | Jan. 3 | SEC vs. Big 12 | LSU vs. Baylor |
Orange | Jan. 3 | BCS vs. BCS | Clemson vs. Wisconsin |
BBVA Compass | Jan. 4 | SEC vs. American | Troy* vs. Rutgers |
GoDaddy | Jan. 5 | MAC vs. Sun Belt | Bowling Green vs. Western Kentucky |
National Title | Jan. 6 | BCS vs. BCS | Alabama vs. Florida State |
* Indicates conference is not expected to fill its alloted bowl slots, leaving an at-large spot available.
Bold indicates team has accepted bid to bowl.
Related College Football Content
ACC Week 13 Awards and Power Rankings
Big 12 Week 13 Awards and Power Rankings
Big Ten Week 13 Awards and Power Rankings
Pac-12 Week 13 Awards and Power Rankings
SEC Week 13 Awards and Power Rankings
Stats to Know from Week 13
