With the college football season drawing ever so near, there’s no better time to take a very early look at the 2012-13 bowl season.
I will revisit these projections at the end of fall camp right before the season begins. But for now, let’s have some fun and look at some possible matchups next December and January.
Projections subject to change
Key
* Replacement team for a conference that does not have enough bowl-eligible teams.
Notes
The champions of specific conferences are contractually committed to certain bowls — unless they are No. 1 or No. 2 in the final BCS standings…
ACC = Orange; Big Ten = Rose; Big 12 = Fiesta; Pac-12 = Rose; SEC = Sugar
If a bowl loses a host team to the title game, then the bowl gets first choice at a replacement team. The rest of the selection order for 2012-13 is: Fiesta, Sugar and Orange.
If BYU is bowl-eligible, it will play in the Poinsettia Bowl.
If Army is bowl-eligible it will play in the Military Bowl.
If Navy is bowl-eligible, it will play in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.
Non-BCS bowls
Dec. 15 New Mexico: Air Force (MWC No. 4/5) vs. Arizona State (Pac-12 No. 7/WAC)
Dec. 15 Famous Idaho Potato: Louisiana Tech (WAC) vs. Northern Illinois (MAC No. 3)
ICONBronco Mendenhall and BYU will enter their second season as an Independent.
Dec. 20 Poinsettia: Wyoming (MWC No. 2) vs. BYU (BYU)
Dec. 21 Beef ‘O’Brady’s: Central Florida (C-USA) vs. Cincinnati (Big East No. 6)
Dec. 22 New Orleans: Troy (Sun Belt No. 1) vs. Houston (C-USA)
Dec. 22 Maaco: Boise State (MWC No. 1) vs. Cal (Pac-12 No. 5)
Dec. 24 Hawaii: Hawaii (MWC/WAC) vs. East Carolina (C-USA)
Dec. 26 Little Caesars: Miami, OH (MAC) vs. Northwestern (Big Ten No. 8)
Dec. 27 Military: Wake Forest (ACC No. 8) vs. Notre Dame* (Army)
Dec. 27 Belk: Rutgers (Big East No. 3) vs. Georgia Tech (ACC No. 5)
Dec. 27 Holiday: Utah (Pac-12 No. 3) vs. Baylor (Big 12 No. 5)
Dec. 28 Independence: Nevada (MWC No. 3) vs. Miami, FL (ACC No. 7) [Are Hurricanes looking at a bowl ban?
Dec. 28 Russell Athletic: South Florida (Big East No. 2) vs. Florida State (ACC No. 3)
Dec. 28 Meineke Car Care of Texas: Illinois (Big Ten No. 6) vs. Texas Tech (Big 12 No. 6)
Dec. 29 Armed Forces: Tulsa (C-USA) vs. San Diego State (MWC)
Dec. 29 Kraft Fight Hunger: Arizona (Pac-12 No. 6) vs. Navy (Navy)
Dec. 29 Pinstripe: Pittsburgh (Big East No. 4) vs. Iowa State (Big 12 No. 7)
Dec. 29 Alamo: Stanford (Pac-12 No. 2) vs. Kansas State (Big 12 No. 3)
Dec. 29 Insight: Texas (Big 12 No. 4) vs. Penn State (Big Ten No. 4/5)
CONTINUE TO PAGE 2 FOR MORE BOWL PROJECTIONS, INCLUDING THE BCS MATCHUPS
Dec. 31 Music City: N.C. State (ACC No. 6) vs. Missouri (SEC No. 7)
ICONMike London has Virginia trending in the right direction.
Dec. 31 Sun: Virginia (ACC No. 4) vs. Washington (Pac-12 No. 4)
Dec. 31 Liberty: Southern Miss (C-USA No. 1) vs. Texas A&M (SEC No. 8/9 or Big East)
Dec. 31 Chick-fil-A: Virginia Tech (ACC No. 2) vs. Florida (SEC No. 5)
Jan. 1 TicketCity: Purdue (Big Ten No. 7) vs. SMU (C-USA)
Jan. 1 Outback: Wisconsin (Big Ten No. 3) vs. Arkansas (SEC)
Jan. 1 Capital One: Georgia (SEC No. 2) vs. Nebraska (Big Ten No. 2)
Jan. 1 Gator: Iowa (Big Ten No. 4/5) vs. Auburn (SEC No. 6)
Jan. 4 Cotton: Oklahoma State (Big 12 No. 2) vs. South Carolina (SEC)
Jan. 5 BBVA Compass: Syracuse (Big East No. 5/C-USA) vs. Mississippi State (SEC No. 8/9)
Jan. 6 GoDaddy.com: Toledo (MAC) vs. Arkansas State (Sun Belt No. 2)
BCS bowls
Jan. 1 Rose: Michigan (Big Ten champ) vs. USC (Pac-12 champ)
Jan. 1 Orange: Clemson (ACC champ) vs. Louisville (BCS at-large)
Jan. 2 Sugar: Alabama (SEC champ) vs. Michigan State (BCS at-large)
Jan. 3 Fiesta: West Virginia (Big 12 champ) vs. Oregon (BCS at-large)
Jan. 7 BCS national championship (Miami): LSU (BCS No. 1) vs. Oklahoma (BCS No. 2)
So what matchups are you projecting as of now? Let me know.
Email dave.miller@nationalfootballpost.com or follow me on Twitter at Miller_Dave
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