College Football's Post-Week 8 Bowl Projections

With eight weeks in the books, college football’s bowl picture is starting to clear.

Florida State’s dominating victory over Clemson placed the Seminoles squarely in the national championship mix. Florida State ranks No. 2 in the first release of the BCS standings, but the Seminoles will have to contend with Oregon, who has room to move in the computer polls.

For now, we project the Ducks to pass the Seminoles for the No. 2 spot and play Alabama for the national championship. However, as Week 8 showed us, nothing in college football is guaranteed and another upset or two this year wouldn’t be a surprise.

Even though Clemson was dominated by Florida State, the Tigers are still in good shape to play for a BCS bowl. Coach Dabo Swinney’s team should be favored in its next four games, with the season finale at South Carolina a tossup.

Missouri is projected as the second SEC team in a BCS bowl, but don’t count out South Carolina, LSU or Texas A&M.

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.

The post-Week 8 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 eight weeks of action. Expect more changes over the next few weeks.

A few teams barely missed the projections this week, including West Virginia, Minnesota, NC State, Utah and North Carolina from BCS conferences. And Texas State, Buffalo, Toledo 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 8 Bowl Projections for 2013

Bowl	Tie-In	Date	Projection
New Mexico	Dec. 21	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Wyoming vs. Arizona
Famous Idaho Potato	Dec. 21	MAC vs. MWC	Ball State vs. Colorado State
Las Vegas	Dec. 21	Pac-12 vs. MWC	Utah State vs. Washington
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	SJSU vs. North Texas
Little Caesars Pizza	Dec. 26	MAC vs. Big Ten	No. Illinois vs. Indiana
Poinsettia	Dec. 26	Army vs. MWC	Notre Dame* vs. Boise State
Military	Dec. 27	CUSA vs. ACC	ECU vs. B. College
Texas	Dec. 27	Big 12 vs. Big Ten	TCU vs. Iowa
Kraft Fight Hunger	Dec. 27	BYU vs. Pac-12	BYU vs. USC
Pinstripe	Dec. 28	American vs. Big 12	Rutgers vs. K-State
Belk	Dec. 28	American vs. ACC	Cincinnati vs. Ga. Tech
Russell Athletic	Dec. 28	American vs. ACC	Louisville vs. Va. Tech
Buffalo Wild Wings	Dec. 28	Big 12 vs. Big Ten	Okla. State vs. Michigan
Armed Forces	Dec. 30	MWC vs. Navy	SDSU vs. Navy
Music City	Dec. 30	ACC vs. SEC	Duke vs. Ole Miss
Alamo	Dec. 30	Big 12 vs. Pac-12	Texas Tech vs. UCLA
Holiday	Dec. 30	Pac-12 vs. Big 12	Arizona State vs. Oklahoma
AdvoCare V100	Dec. 31	ACC vs. SEC	Maryland vs. Vanderbilt
Sun	Dec. 31	Pac-12 vs. ACC	Pitt vs. Oregon State
Liberty	Dec. 31	SEC vs. CUSA	Tennessee vs. Marshall
Chick-fil-A	Dec. 31	SEC vs. ACC	Miami vs. So. Carolina
Gator	Jan. 1	SEC vs. Big Ten	Georgia vs. Michigan State
Heart of Dallas	Jan. 1	Big Ten vs. CUSA	Rice vs. N'Western
Outback	Jan. 1	SEC vs. Big Ten	Auburn vs. Nebraska
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	Missouri vs. Clemson
Cotton	Jan. 3	SEC vs. Big 12	LSU vs. Texas
Orange	Jan. 3	BCS vs. BCS	Florida State vs. UCF
BBVA Compass	Jan. 4	SEC vs. American	Florida 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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ACC Post-Week 8 Power Rankings
Big 12 Post-Week 8 Power Rankings
Big Ten Post-Week 8 Power Rankings
Pac-12 Post-Week 8 Power Rankings
SEC Post-Week 8 Power Rankings
BCS Post-Week 8 Analysis