As if Picking the Teams Isn’t Hard Enough
By Paul Myerberg // Nov 2, 2011
I’ve never tried my hand at projecting the entire F.B.S. bowl slate; I have enough trouble with the five B.C.S. games, in my mind. But it’s worth a shot for one week, even if I mess up the various tie-ins, conference affiliations and so forth. Not to mention choose teams that end up staying home during bowl play. Well, here goes. Remember: those numbers signifying which team slots where in its conference are very arbitrary — to a point. The No. 7 team isn’t vaulting the No. 3 team, but No. 6 could be No. 4, No. 5 could be No. 7 and so on. And not every conference can meet its allotted bowl tie-ins; in that case, a substitute team is selected.
New Mexico Bowl, Dec. 17 (Mountain West No. 5 vs. Pac-12 No. 7) Wyoming vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Dec. 17 (WAC No. 1 vs. MAC No. 3) Fresno State vs. Toledo
New Orleans Bowl, Dec. 17 (Conference USA No. 4 vs. Sun Belt No. 1) East Carolina vs. Arkansas State
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, Dec. 20 (Big East No. 6 vs. Conference USA No. 5) South Florida vs. U.C.F.
Poinsettia Bowl, Dec. 21 (Mountain West No. 2 vs. WAC No. 1) Air Force vs. Nevada
Maaco Bowl, Dec. 22 (Mountain West No. 1 vs. Pac-12 No. 5) T.C.U. vs. U.C.L.A.
Hawaii Bowl, Dec. 24 (Conference USA No. 2 vs. WAC No. 3 or Hawaii) S.M.U. vs. Hawaii
Independence Bowl, Dec. 26 (A.C.C. No. 7 vs. Mountain West No. 3) Virginia vs. San Diego State
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Dec. 27 (Big Ten No. 8 vs. MAC No. 1) Illinois vs. Northern Illinois
Belk Bowl, Dec. 27 (A.C.C. No. 5 vs. Big East No. 3) Miami (Fla.) vs. Pittsburgh
Military Bowl, Dec. 28 (A.C.C. No. 8 vs. MAC No. 4 or Navy) Wake Forest vs. Ohio
Holiday Bowl, Dec. 28 (Big 12 No. 5 vs. Pac-12 No. 4) Texas Tech vs. Utah
Champs Sports Bowl, Dec. 29 (A.C.C. No. 3 vs. Big East No. 2 or Notre Dame) Florida State vs. Notre Dame
Alamo Bowl, Dec. 29 (Big 12 No. 3 vs. Pac-12 No. 2) Texas A&M vs. Arizona State
Armed Forces Bowl, Dec. 30 (Conference USA No. 3 vs. Mountain West No. 4 or B.Y.U.) Tulsa vs. B.Y.U. (Automatic Bid)
New Era Pinstripe Bowl, Dec. 30 (Big East No. 4 vs. Big 12 No. 7) Syracuse vs. Baylor
Music City Bowl, Dec. 30 (A.C.C. No. 6 vs. SEC No. 7 or No. 8) North Carolina vs. Tennessee
Insight Bowl, Dec. 30 (Big 12 No. 4 vs. Big Ten No. 5) Kansas State vs. Ohio State
Meineke Car Care Bowl, Dec. 31 (Big 12 No. 6 vs. Big Ten No. 6) Missouri vs. Michigan State
Sun Bowl, Dec. 31 (Pac-12 No. 3 vs. A.C.C. No. 4) Washington vs. Georgia Tech
Liberty Bowl, Dec. 31 (Conference USA No. 1 vs. SEC No. 7 or No. 8 or Big East No. 5) Houston vs. Mississippi State
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Dec. 31 (Pac-12 No. 6 vs. A.C.C. No. 9) California vs. Rutgers
Chick-fil-A Bowl, Dec. 31 (A.C.C. No. 2 vs. SEC No. 5) Clemson vs. Auburn
TicketCity Bowl, Jan. 2 (Big Ten No. 7 vs. Conference USA No. 2) Iowa vs. Southern Mississippi
Capital One Bowl, Jan. 2 (Big Ten No. 2 vs. SEC No. 2) Wisconsin vs. Arkansas
Outback Bowl, Jan. 2 (Big Ten No. 3 vs. SEC No. 4 or No. 5) Penn State vs. Georgia
Gator Bowl, Jan. 2 (SEC No. 6 vs. Big Ten No. 4) Florida vs. Michigan
Rose Bowl, Jan. 2 (Big Ten No. 1 vs. Pac-12 No. 1 or B.C.S. At-Large) Nebraska vs. Oregon
Fiesta Bowl, Jan. 2 (Big 12 No. 1 vs. First B.C.S. At-Large Selection) Oklahoma vs. West Virginia
Sugar Bowl, Jan. 3 (SEC No. 1 or B.C.S. At-Large vs. Second B.C.S. At-Large Selection) L.S.U. vs. Oklahoma State
Orange Bowl, Jan. 4 (A.C.C. No. 1 vs. Third B.C.S. At-Large Selection) Virginia Tech vs. Boise State
Cotton Bowl, Jan. 6 (Big 12 No. 2 vs. SEC No. 3 or No. 4) Texas vs. South Carolina
BBVA Compass Bowl, Jan. 7 (Big East No. 3 or No. 5 vs. SEC No. 9) Cincinnati vs. Western Michigan
GoDaddy.com Bowl, Jan. 8 (Sun Belt No. 2 vs. MAC No. 2) Florida International vs. Temple
B.C.S. National Championship Game, Jan. 9 (B.C.S. No. 1 vs. B.C.S. No. 2) Alabama vs. Stanford
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Tags: Air Force, Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Auburn, B.Y.U., Baylor, Boise State, California, Cincinnati, Clemson, East Carolina, Florida, Florida International, Florida State, Fresno State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Hawaii, Houston, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas State, L.S.U., Louisiana-Lafayette, Miami (Fla.), Michigan State, Mississippi State, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Ohio, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rutgers, S.M.U., San Diego State, South Carolina, South Florida, Southern Mississippi, Stanford, Syracuse, T.C.U., Temple, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Toledo, Tulsa, U.C.F., U.C.L.A., Utah, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Washington, West Virginia, Western Michigan, Wisconsin, Wyoming
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Oregon would be a dream matchup for Nebraska. Aside from the obvious Scott-Frost-faces-his-alma-mater storyline, the Huskers would get to break out their spread “Peso” D that they’ll be playing this week against Northwestern and that worked so well in the Big 12.
And I’m just a *little* obsessed with Oregon’s slate uniforms with the fluorescent yellow accents.
Hi Paul
Back in the old days, these bowl projections were interesting. Used to be, bowls didn’t have automatic ties to various conferences aside from the conference champs (SWC to Cotton, Big 8 to Orange, etc.)
Back then, the bowls competed against one another to attract the best match ups. Bowl officials would be travel around the country to watch various teams. As a fan, you might hear that say the Liberty Bowl was in town last week to watch your game.
This was the backdrop against which bowl projections were born. They attempted to parcel together the various bowl eligible teams with the bowls rumored to be expressing interest in them.
Now, it’s like who cares. The New Era Pinstripe Bowl pits Big East #4 vs. Big 12 #7, and if the pundit predicts Syracuse vs. Baylor, all it means is that the pundit projects that Syracuse is 4th on the Big East pecking order, and Baylor is 7th on the Big 12 pecking order.
In other words, it’s just one man’s projection. And while I think the world of you, your bowl projections and $4 gets you a latte at Starbucks.
PS One of the great Lou Holtz stories came during the bygone bowl era. Arkansas beat SMU in November 1977 at home. Everyone knew that if the Hogs won that game, the Orange Bowl was going to invite them. So at the end of the game, the Razorback fans started throwing a bunch of oranges on the field.
After the game, the press asked Holtz about it, and he deadpanned, “I’m just glad we’re not going to the Gator Bowl.”
Paul: Great story about Holtz.
So you don’t believe that Michigan is making a bowl game?
Paul: See? I knew this would happen. Such a mess. I’ll retool. Sigh.
So here’s how it’s changed: Michigan slots in against as Florida in the Gator Bowl as Big Ten No. 4; Ohio State to the Insight Bowl; Iowa to the TicketCity Bowl; Illinois to the Little Caesars Bowl; and Purdue drops out entirely.
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Dec. 17 (WAC No. 1 vs. MAC No. 3) Fresno State vs. Northern Illinois
a rematch?
Paul: Another error. I wrote this yesterday prior to last night’s game and didn’t update. So now it’s Toledo as MAC No. 3 and Northern Illinois as MAC No. 1.
grumble grumble give us playoffs already NCAA grumble grumble
Auburn-Clemson in the Chick-fil-A nee Peach Bowl is another rematch
Only a couple compliants:
1 – Didnt UNC and Tennessee meet in the music city bowl last year? Not saying it can’t happen again, but I imagine the bowl would want different teams this year…
2 – I can’t see the Peach (Chickfila) Bowl taking Clemson and Auburn, when the two already played this year. I mean, rematches aren’t unheard of, but it wouldn’t shock me if maybe FSU or some other team got matched up with Auburn.
Not only is that chick-fil-a bowl a rematch from this year, but Clemson and Auburn kick off the 2012 season in Atlanta.
For the Big East’s bowl spots after the BCS bowl and the Champs the Big East doesn’t pick in rank order. The conference and bowl officials select who would travel better to each location and what would be an interesting matchup. Also, the Pinstripe Bowl took Syracuse last year; they’ll definitely get Rutgers this time unless some sort of crazy scenario results in my scarlet knights winning the big east.
Paul,
I can’t believe I got so excited when reading your prediction for the Little Caesars Bowl. I would love to watch an U of I/NIU Bowl game. Of course, the Huskies defense would probably get steamrolled by U of I. Man their defense was atrocious against Toledo.
Now that I think about it. I don’t think I want to watch a U of I/NIU Bowl game. I can’t stand U of I already. If they beat NIU, then listening to Illini fans would be a even more excruciating for me.