College Football's Post-Week 5 Bowl Projections

West Virginia’s upset win over Oklahoma State on Saturday shook up the Big 12 power rankings, and also gave the Mountaineers a good chance to get bowl eligible. West Virginia doesn’t have a favorable schedule the rest of the way but still has to play Kansas and Iowa State – two games it should be favored in.

As West Virginia’s win over Oklahoma State illustrates, there’s a small margin of error when it comes to reaching six victories for some programs.

Another result from Week 5 that could have significant bowl implications was Notre Dame’s loss to Oklahoma. The Fighting Irish do not have a bowl tie-in for this season and were projected by most to reach a BCS game in 2013. However, with two losses, Notre Dame is unlikely to reach a BCS bowl. The Fighting Irish will find a spot as an at-large team, but they need some help from other conferences not filling all of their tie-ins.

College football's bowl season is still a few months away, but it's never too early to take a look at what the matchups might look like. With only five weeks of results in the books, it's hard to make long-term projections about teams, especially with several teams still playing overmatched non-conference games. But with conference play right around the corner, we should be able to get a better grasp on what teams will be able to reach the six-win mark.

With little data to work with, the post-Week 5 bowl projections are a mixture between preseason projections, how things would look if the season ended today, and a small dose of the results so far this year. Expect more changes over the next few weeks, especially as we see how teams perform in conference games.

A few teams barely missed the projections this week, including Boston College, Virginia, Mississippi State, Washington State, Arkansas and Illinois from BCS conferences. And Texas State, Arkansas State and Toledo from the non-BCS ranks.
As the season progresses, it will be easier to project which teams will get to the six-win mark or finish below.

College Football's Post-Week 5 Bowl Projections for 2013

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