Bowl projections: Will Northern Illinois, Fresno State crash BCS?

Published: Oct 08, 2013 at 06:58 AM

Here are our fourth bowl projections of the season, which is the last with the BCS in place.

Once again, the projection this week is that Alabama and Oregon will meet in the title game. In addition, the projection is the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC will have two teams apiece in the BCS. The ACC never has had two BCS bids in the same season.

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Notre Dame will be a BCS team if it gets to 10 wins and probably would get in with nine. But getting to nine victories is going to be tough for the Irish, which already has two losses and games remaining against USC and Stanford, among others.

The first BCS standings of the season come out Oct. 20. The final standings will be released Dec. 8.

BCS rules stipulate that a team from a non-automatic qualifying conference (Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt) is guaranteed a spot if it finishes in the top 12 of the final BCS standings or finishes in the top 16 of the final BCS standings and is ranked ahead of a league champ from an automatic qualifying conference. The Mountain West's Fresno State and the MAC's Northern Illinois are unbeaten and should be favored in the rest of their games. If either of those teams finish unbeaten, pencil them in as BCS participants. Each also has a shot if it loses only once, as with Northern Illinois last season; NIU had a loss but still received an Orange Bowl bid.

Remember that a bowl's tie-in with a league doesn't necessarily mean it will get the third- or fourth-, etc., place team from the league; instead, it means it gets the third or fourth, etc., selection from that league.

BCS MATCHUPS

BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

SUGAR BOWL

ORANGE BOWL

ROSE BOWL

FIESTA BOWL

THE OTHER BOWLS

NEW MEXICO BOWL

LAS VEGAS BOWL

FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL

NEW ORLEANS BOWL

BEEF 'O' BRADY'S BOWL

HAWAII BOWL

LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA BOWL

POINSETTIA BOWL

MILITARY BOWL

TEXAS BOWL

KRAFT FIGHT HUNGER BOWL

PINSTRIPE BOWL

BELK BOWL

RUSSELL ATHLETIC BOWL

BUFFALO WILD WINGS BOWL

ARMED FORCES BOWL

MUSIC CITY BOWL

ALAMO BOWL

HOLIDAY BOWL

ADVOCARE V100 BOWL

SUN BOWL

LIBERTY BOWL

CHICK-FIL-A BOWL

HEART OF DALLAS BOWL

GATOR BOWL

CAPITAL ONE BOWL

OUTBACK BOWL

COTTON BOWL

BBVA COMPASS BOWL

GODADDY.COM BOWL

Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.

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