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With so many shocks and surprises during the third week of college football, there have been some big shifts in most bowl projections. Mine have stayed relatively the same, though there are some changes.
BCS Bowls
Discover BCS National Championship Game – LSU vs. Florida State.
So many projections have fallen apart with USC’s loss to Stanford this weekend, but not mine. I never bought into the Trojans, but I do buy into Florida State. The Seminoles are a solid football team — maybe not one of the top two teams in the country but they won’t be kept out of the national title game with an undefeated record against a weak schedule.
Meanwhile, the Tigers are going to have to stave off Alabama at home on November 3. That is no small task and, frankly, I don’t believe that they will, but I’m sticking to LSU because that’s who I picked in my first projections and I’m sticking with them. Who says loyalty is dead?
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl – West Virginia vs. USC.
This projection hasn’t changed from last week either. Contrary to most projections, I have believed all along that the Trojans would trip up once, twice or maybe three times this season.
West Virginia goes here as the Big 12 champions and they will face USC. The Fiesta Bowl gets the first at-large selection and the Trojans are a no-brainer. USC has a national fan base that will travel well to Glendale, Ariz.
Allstate Sugar Bowl – Alabama vs. Notre Dame.Just imagine the hype around this game. After SEC champion LSU goes to the national title game, the Sugar Bowl will pick up Alabama. All Notre Dame has to do is win nine games at it is a sure thing for the BCS. With the second at-large pick, the Sugar Bowl goes with the Fighting Irish.
Discover Orange Bowl – Oklahoma vs. Louisville.
With the ACC champions going to the national title game, the Orange Bowl will be free to pick any at-large team available. They’ll pick up Oklahoma and then go with the only remaining BCS conference champion, Louisville.
GoDaddy.com Bowl – Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Toledo
BBVA Compass Bowl – UCONN vs. Arkansas
AT&T Cotton Bowl – Florida vs. Texas
Capitol One Bowl – Georgia vs. Michigan
Outback Bowl – Nebraska vs. South Carolina
TicketCity Bwol – UTEP vs. Iowa
TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl – Tennessee vs. PurdueChick-fil-A Bowl – Mississippi State vs. Clemson
AutoZone Liberty Bowl – Central Florida vs. Texas A&M
Hyundai Sun Bowl – Virginia Tech vs. Cal
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl – Missouri vs. Virginia
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl – Baylor vs. Wisconsin
Valero Alamo Bowl – Stanford vs. Kansas State
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl – Arizona vs. Navy
New Era Pinstripe Bowl – Cincinnati vs. Texas Tech
Bell Helicopter Bowl – Southern Mississippi vs. Air ForceMeineke Car Care of Texas Bowl – TCU vs. Northwestern
Russell Athletics Bowl – Rutgers vs. Georgia Tech
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl – Vanderbilt vs. Wake Forest
Belk Bowl – NC State vs. South Florida
Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl – Oklahoma State vs. UCLA
Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman – Washington vs. Miami (FL)
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl – Ohio vs. Illinois
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl – Wyoming vs. Houston
Maaco Bowl Las Vegas – Utah vs. Boise State. The Broncos will win the Mountain West Conference easily and meet the fifth-picked team out of the Pac-12, which should be the Utes. If Utah can get healthy at least a little bit again, it should be able to make it to Vegas for a rematch of the 2010 Vegas Bowl, although this game may be a little bit better of a matchup.R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – Louisiana-Monroe vs. Louisiana Tech
Beef O’ Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl – Syracuse vs. East Carolina
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl – BYU vs. San Diego State. Now that the Cougars lost a game, they could go undefeated the rest of the season or win only four more games for the rest of the year and it wouldn’t matter. They would still go to the Poinsettia Bowl. That would be the downside of independence. It looks like they’ll get San Diego State out of the Mountain West Conference. It makes sense for everyone with the game played in San Diego. The Cougars can’t complain about heading to San Diego and playing an entertaining football team like the Aztecs.
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – Utah State vs. Northern Illinois. The Aggies may have been the best bet for a BCS-busting team in 2012, but after losing to Wisconsin in yet another heartbreaker, Utah State should still win the WAC and head here again.Gildan New Mexico Bowl – Arizona State vs. Nevada
For more bowl projections, power rankings, picks and Ute and Cougar opinions, including a video angle of the final field goal of the rivalry game that best captures the atmosphere at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night, 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.
