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It’s still very early, but we have a much better picture of how the 2012-2013 bowl season will shape up after week one. Here are my latest bowl projections.
Gildan New Mexico Bowl — Arizona State vs. San Diego State
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl — Utah State vs. Western Michigan
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl — BYU vs. NevadaBeef O’ Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl — East Carolina vs. Miami (OH)
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl — Arkansas State vs. Louisiana Tech
Maaco Bowl Las Vegas — Boise State vs. Cal
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl — Tulsa vs. Wyoming
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl — Ohio vs. Purdue
Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman — Army vs. Marshall
Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl — Kansas State vs. Stanford
Belk Bowl — Rutgers vs. Virginia
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl — Fresno State vs. Vanderbilt
Russell Athletics Bowl — South Florida vs. Georgia Tech
Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl — Texas Tech vs. Illinois
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl — Air Force vs. Houston
New Era Pinstripe Bowl — Pittsburgh vs. Notre Dame
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl — UCLA vs. Navy
Valero Alamo Bowl — Washington vs. Texas
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl — TCU vs. IowaFranklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl — Miami (FL) vs. Auburn
Hyundai Sun Bowl — Utah vs. NC State
AutoZone Liberty Bowl — Central Florida vs. Texas A&M
Chick-fil-A Bowl — Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech
TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl — Florida vs. Michigan
TicketCity Bowl — Northwestern vs. UTEP
Outback Bowl — South Carolina vs. Nebraska
Capitol One Bowl — Georgia vs. Wisconsin
AT&T Cotton Bowl — Arkansas vs. Oklahoma State
BBVA Compass Bowl — Cincinnati vs. Missouri
GoDaddy.com Bowl — Florida International vs. Ohio
BCS Bowls
Discover BCS National Championship Game — LSU vs. Florida State. A lot of people are putting Alabama here instead of LSU, but it’s always very easy and never very smart to take a lot of stock in game one performances. The results of that game was a combination of Michigan being a little overrated and the SEC being just that much better than the Big Ten. I still think LSU beats Alabama on Nov. 3 in Baton Rouge.
Meanwhile, Florida State gets to the national title game based on a very weak schedule and a very good defense.
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl — West Virginia vs. USC. I thought about putting the Mountaineers here in my preseason projections, but the way Oklahoma played in week one pushed me over the top. West Virginia gets here as the champion of the Big 12 and the Fiesta Bowl gets the first at-large pick this year and will go with USC which will lose to Oregon in the Pac-12 title game.
Allstate Sugar Bowl — Alabama vs. Oklahoma. The Crimson Tide played well against Michigan last week but they are still young. Alabama will lose in Baton Rouge, the most difficult place to play in the nation. With conference champion LSU going to the national title game, the Sugar Bowl will pick up the Crimson Tide. The Sugar Bowl gets the second at-large bid and will take Oklahoma as a team that travels very well.
Discover Orange Bowl — Louisville vs. Clemson. Louisville will go to Miami as the Big East champions. Charlie Strong's team is the best in the Big East by a ways this year and the Cardinals should end up here with ten wins. The final at-large pick goes to the Orange Bowl and they will select Clemson out of the ACC. The Tigers have all their major playmakers back and they will bring entertainment value to the normally somewhat bland Orange Bowl; last year’s game was an exception.
Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio — Oregon vs. Michigan State. It will be tough for USC to beat Oregon twice in one season. I think the Ducks lose in Los Angeles in the first go around but come back and get a win in their second try. Even if it went the other way, the two teams will both be one-loss teams, which means the conference champs will end up needing the SEC champs to have two losses. That’s not going to happen so the Pac-12 will end up with two BCS bowl appearances but neither will be in the national title game.
Meanwhile, the Spartans have the best defense in the Big Ten. Their pass game needs some work but they should be able to get by the rest of the conference. It’ll be old school versus new school in this season’s Rose Bowl.
For more information on why the Utes and the Cougars were selected for the bowls projected and for complete conference standings projections, visit BYUtahInsiders.com.
Trevor Amicone is the founder of byutahinsiders.com, which covers BYU, Utah and national college football with weekly polls, bowl projections, opinions and analysis. Follow its brand new Twitter page at @BYUtahInsiders and Trevor's at @TrevorAmicone
