By Dave Miller, National Football Post
As we prepare to enter the third weekend of November, let’s take a look at some possible postseason matchups for the 2012-13 bowl season.
I will revisit these projections each week until the end of the regular season as I try to determine where your team may or may not be headed for the holidays. But for now, let’s have some fun and look at some potential matchups in 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.
- Teams in bold have already accepted bowl bids
Dec. 15 New Mexico: Nevada (MWC No. 4/5) vs. Arizona (Pac-12 No. 7/WAC)
Dec. 15 Famous Idaho Potato: Utah State (WAC) vs. Northern Illinois (MAC No. 3)
Dec. 20 Poinsettia: San Diego State (MWC No. 2) vs. BYU (BYU)
Dec. 21 Beef ‘O’Brady’s: UCF (C-USA) vs. *Bowling Green (Big East No. 6)
Dec. 22 New Orleans: Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt No. 1) vs. SMU (C-USA)
Dec. 22 Las Vegas: Boise State (MWC No. 1) vs. Stanford (Pac-12 No. 5)
Dec. 24 Hawaii: Fresno State (MWC/WAC) vs. Houston (C-USA)
Dec. 26 Little Caesars: Toledo (MAC) vs. *Western Kentucky (Big Ten No. 8)
Dec. 27 Military: *Kent State (ACC No. 8) vs. *Middle Tennessee (Army)
Dec. 27 Belk: Cincinnati (Big East No. 3) vs. Duke (ACC No. 5)
Dec. 27 Holiday: Oregon State (Pac-12 No. 3) vs. Texas Tech (Big 12 No. 5)
Dec. 28 Independence: *Arizona State (SEC No. 10) vs. *Louisiana Tech (ACC No. 7)
Dec. 28 Russell Athletic: Rutgers (Big East No. 2) vs. Georgia Tech (ACC No. 3)
Dec. 28 Meineke Car Care of Texas: Minnesota (Big Ten No. 6) vs. Baylor (Big 12 No. 6)
Dec. 29 Armed Forces: East Carolina (C-USA) vs. Air Force (MWC)
Dec. 29 Kraft Fight Hunger: Washington (Pac-12 No. 6) vs. Navy (Navy)
Dec. 29 Pinstripe: Syracuse (Big East No. 4) vs. TCU (Big 12 No. 7)
Dec. 29 Alamo: USC (Pac-12 No. 2) vs. Oklahoma State (Big 12 No. 3)
Dec. 29 Buffalo Wild Wings: West Virginia (Big 12 No. 4) vs. Northwestern (Big Ten No. 4/5)
Dec. 31 Music City: Virginia Tech (ACC No. 6) vs. Vanderbilt (SEC No. 7)
Dec. 31 Sun: Miami, FL (ACC No. 4) vs. UCLA (Pac-12 No. 4)
Dec. 31 Liberty: Tulsa (C-USA No. 1) vs. Missouri (SEC No. 8/9 or Big East)
Dec. 31 Chick-fil-A: N.C. State (ACC No. 2) vs. Florida (SEC No. 5)
Jan. 1 Heart of Dallas: *San Jose State (Big Ten No. 7) vs. *Iowa State (C-USA)
Jan. 1 Outback: Michigan (Big Ten No. 3) vs. South Carolina (SEC)
Jan. 1 Capital One: Georgia (SEC No. 2) vs. Wisconsin (Big Ten No. 2)
Jan. 1 Gator: Michigan State (Big Ten No. 4/5) vs. Mississippi State (SEC No. 6)
Jan. 4 Cotton: Texas (Big 12 No. 2) vs. Texas A&M (SEC)
Jan. 5 BBVA Compass: *Arkansas State (Big East No. 5/C-USA) vs. *Ball State (SEC No. 8/9)
Jan. 6 GoDaddy.com: Ohio (MAC) vs. Louisiana-Monroe (Sun Belt No. 2)
Jan. 1 Rose: Nebraska (Big Ten) vs. **Notre Dame (Pac-12)
Jan. 1 Orange: Florida State (ACC) vs. Louisville (at-large)
Jan. 2 Sugar: Alabama (SEC) vs. Clemson (at-large)
Jan. 3 Fiesta: Oklahoma (Big 12) vs. LSU (at-large)
Jan. 7 BCS national championship (Miami): Oregon (BCS No. 1) vs. Kansas State (BCS No. 2)
**With no Pac-12 team being eligible to replace Oregon, the Rose Bowl selects Notre Dame in place of the Ducks.
Email dave.miller@nationalfootballpost.com or follow me on Twitter at Miller_Dave