College Football's Post-Week 8 Bowl Projections
Derek Carr
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.
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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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