Very Early Bowl Projections

Here are some very early bowl projections courtesy of Greg Wrubell via CBSsports.com

Updated May 7

BCS National Championship Game Jan. 6, 8:30 p.m. Pasadena, Calif. BCS #1 vs. BCS #2 ESPN Comment: In the final year of the BCS, No. 1 Alabama will take on No. 2 Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game. -- Jerry Palm The champions of selected conferences are contractually committed to certain bowls, unless they are No. 1 or No. 2. (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 2014 is as follows: Orange, Sugar, Fiesta.

Orange Bowl Jan. 3, 8:30 p.m. Miami, Fla. ACC vs. at-large ESPN Comment: Florida State is the projected winner of the ACC and will land in the Orange Bowl for the second consecutive season. With the first at-large pick after replacement selections, the Orange Bowl takes Notre Dame.

Sugar Bowl Jan. 2, 8:30 p.m. New Orleans, La. SEC vs. at-large ESPN Comment: By losing the SEC Champion to the title game, the Sugar Bowl takes Texas A&M as the replacement selection. With the second at-large pick, it takes a highly-ranked Clemson squad.

Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1, 8:30 p.m. Glendale, Ariz. Big 12 vs. at-large ESPN Comment: Texas is the projected Big 12 champion and lands in the Fiesta Bowl. With the last pick of at-large selections, the champion of the new American Athletic Conference (Louisville) lands here.

Rose Bowl Jan. 1, 5 p.m. Pasadena, Calif. Big Ten vs. Pac-12 ESPN Comment: With Ohio State in the title game, the Rose Bowl will take the next best Big Ten squad, which is Nebraska. Stanford is the projected Pac-12 champion, heading back to Pasadena.

Non-BCS Games
Bowl	Date	Location	Matchup	Prediction
BBVA Compass	Jan. 4	Birmingham, Ala.	American Athletic vs. SEC	South Florida vs. Vanderbilt
Cotton	Jan. 3	Arlington, Texas	Big 12 No. 2 vs. SEC	TCU vs. LSU
Heart of Dallas	Jan. 1	Dallas, Texas	Big Ten vs. C-USA	Minnesota vs. East Carolina
Outback	Jan. 1	Tampa, Fla.	Big Ten vs. SEC	Wisconsin vs. Georgia
Capital One	Jan. 1	Orlando, Fla.	Big Ten No. 2 vs. SEC	Michigan vs. Florida
Gator	Jan. 1	Jacksonville, Fla.	Big Ten vs. SEC	Michigan State vs. Ole Miss
Chick-fil-A	Dec. 31	Atlanta, Ga.	ACC No. 2 vs. SEC	Virginia Tech vs. South Carolina
Liberty	Dec. 31	Memphis, Tenn.	C-USA No. 1 vs. SEC	Tulsa vs. Miss. State
Independence	Dec. 31	Shreveport, La.	ACC No. 7 vs. SEC	Virginia vs. Missouri
Sun	Dec. 31	El Paso, Texas	ACC No. 4 vs. Pac-12	North Carolina vs. UCLA
Holiday	Dec. 30	San Diego, Calif.	Big 12 vs. Pac-12	Kansas State vs. Oregon State
Alamo	Dec. 30	San Antonio, Texas	Big 12 vs. Pac-12	Oklahoma vs. Oregon
Music City	Dec. 30	Nashville, Tenn.	ACC No. 6 vs. SEC	Georgia Tech vs. Arkansas
Armed Forces	Dec. 30	Fort Worth, Texas	MW vs. Navy*	San Diego State vs. Navy
Russell Athletic	Dec. 28	Orlando, Fla.	ACC No. 3 vs. American Athletic	Miami (Fla.) vs. UCF
Belk	Dec. 28	Charlotte, N.C.	ACC No. 5 vs. American Athletic	Pittsburgh vs. Rutgers
Pinstripe	Dec. 28	Bronx, N.Y.	Big 12 vs. American Athletic	Iowa State vs. Cincy
Kraft Fight Hunger	Dec. 27	San Francisco, Calif.	Pac-12 vs. BYU*	Arizona vs. BYU
Meineke Car Care	Dec. 27	Houston, Texas	Big 12 vs. Big Ten	Baylor vs. Purdue
Military	Dec. 27	Washington D.C.	ACC No. 7 vs. At-Large	Syracuse vs. Toledo
Poinsettia	Dec. 26	San Diego, Calif.	MW vs. Army*	Fresno State vs. Arkansas State
Little Caesars Pizza	Dec. 26	Detroit, Mich.	Big Ten vs. MAC	Illinois vs. Northern Illinois
Hawaii	Dec. 24	Honolulu, Hawaii	MW vs. C-USA	Utah State vs. Rice
New Orleans	Dec. 21	New Orleans, La.	Sun Belt No. 1 vs. C-USA	La.-Lafayette vs. La. Tech
Famous Idaho Potato	Dec. 21	Boise, Idaho	MW vs. MAC	Nevada vs. Ohio
New Mexico	Dec. 21	Albuquerque, N.M.	MW vs. Pac-12	Air Force vs. Utah
GoDaddy.com	TBA	Mobile, Ala.	MAC vs. Sun Belt	Bowling Green vs. Troy
Buffalo Wild Wings	TBA	Tempe, Ariz.	Big 12 vs. Big Ten	Oklahoma State vs. Northwestern
Maaco Las Vegas	TBA	Las Vegas, Nev.	MW vs. Pac-12	Boise State vs. Arizona State
Beef O'Brady's	TBA	St. Petersburg, Fla.	American Athletic vs. C-USA	Houston vs. Marshall