College Football's Post-Week 7 Bowl Projections

With seven weeks in the books, college football’s bowl picture is starting to clear. Stanford’s loss to Utah was a huge setback to the Cardinal’s national title hopes, while Oregon took a step forward with its win against Washington.

Alabama still looks like the team to beat in the SEC, while Ohio State should be a heavy favorite to win the Big Ten. Baylor takes over as the No. 1 team in the Big 12 with Oklahoma’s loss to Texas.

The bowl season doesn’t start until December, but it's never too early to take a look at what the matchups might look like. Even at the midpoint of the 2013 season, it's still hard to make long-term projections about teams, especially with nearly two months of conference games still remaining.

The post-Week 7 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 West Virginia, Washington State, Duke and NC State from BCS conferences. And Texas State, Buffalo, Tulsa, North Texas and Arkansas State 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 7 Bowl Projections for 2013

Bowl	Tie-In	Date	Projection
New Mexico	Dec. 21	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Utah vs. SJSU
Famous Idaho Potato	Dec. 21	MAC vs. MWC	Ball State vs. Wyoming
Las Vegas	Dec. 21	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Oreg. State vs. Boise State
New Orleans	Dec. 21	Sun Belt vs. CUSA	UL Lafayette vs. Tulane
Beef 'O' Brady's	Dec. 23	American vs. CUSA	Ohio* vs. MTSU
Hawaii	Dec. 24	MWC vs. CUSA	Nevada vs. Arizona*
Little Caesars Pizza	Dec. 26	MAC vs. Big Ten	No. Illinois vs. Indiana
Poinsettia	Dec. 26	Army vs. MWC	Notre Dame* vs. SDSU
Military	Dec. 27	CUSA vs. ACC	ECU vs. B. College
Texas	Dec. 27	Big 12 vs. Big Ten	TCU vs. N'Western
Kraft Fight Hunger	Dec. 27	BYU vs. Pac-12	BYU vs. USC
Pinstripe	Dec. 28	American vs. Big 12	Cincinnati vs. K-State
Belk	Dec. 28	American vs. ACC	Rutgers vs. Pittsburgh
Russell Athletic	Dec. 28	American vs. ACC	UCF vs. Virginia Tech
Buffalo Wild Wings	Dec. 28	Big 12 vs. Big Ten	Texas vs. Nebraska
Armed Forces	Dec. 30	MWC vs. Navy	Utah State vs. Navy
Music City	Dec. 30	ACC vs. SEC	Ga. Tech vs. Missouri
Alamo	Dec. 30	Big 12 vs. Pac-12	Texas Tech vs. UCLA
Holiday	Dec. 30	Pac-12 vs. Big 12	Washington vs. Okla. State
AdvoCare V100	Dec. 31	ACC vs. SEC	UNC vs. Tennessee
Sun	Dec. 31	Pac-12 vs. ACC	Ariz. State vs. Maryland
Liberty	Dec. 31	SEC vs. CUSA	Ole Miss vs. Marshall
Chick-fil-A	Dec. 31	SEC vs. ACC	Miami vs. Georgia
Gator	Jan. 1	SEC vs. Big Ten	Auburn vs. Michigan
Heart of Dallas	Jan. 1	Big Ten vs. CUSA	Rice vs. Iowa
Outback	Jan. 1	SEC vs. Big Ten	Mich. State vs. Florida
Capital One	Jan. 1	SEC vs. Big Ten	Wisconsin vs. Texas A&M
Rose	Jan. 1	BCS vs. BCS	Ohio State vs. Stanford
Fiesta	Jan. 1	BCS vs. BCS	Fresno State vs. Baylor
Sugar	Jan. 2	BCS vs. BCS	So. Carolina vs. FSU
Cotton	Jan. 3	SEC vs. Big 12	LSU vs. Oklahoma
Orange	Jan. 3	BCS vs. BCS	Clemson vs. Louisville
BBVA Compass	Jan. 4	SEC vs. American	Vanderbilt vs. Houston
GoDaddy	Jan. 5	MAC vs. Sun Belt	BGSU vs. WKU
National Title	Jan. 6	BCS vs. BCS	Alabama vs. Oregon

* Indicates conference is not expected to fill its alloted bowl slots, leaving an at-large spot available.

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Big 12 Post-Week 7 Power Rankings
Big Ten Post-Week 7 Power Rankings
Pac-12 Post-Week 7 Power Rankings
SEC Post-Week 7 Power Rankings