October 21, 2009

Rivals.com Staff
Rivals.com College Football

Here are Rivals.com's first bowl projections of the season. We will update these weekly, as situations obviously change.

A few notes:

A bowl's tie-in with a league doesn't necessarily mean it will get the third-, fourth-, fifth-, etc., place team from the league; rather, it means it gets the third, fourth, fifth, etc., selection from that league.
Notre Dame technically is part of the Big East's bowl lineup.
An asterisk denotes a team that will be in the bowl because a league will not be able to fulfill its obligation. This week, we're saying the ACC, Big 12 and Mountain West fall short of filling their bowl slots. In some situations, other conferences have deals to provide teams if the "original" conference can't fill its spots; in those instances, the fill-in conference first fills its own bowl slots. If the fill-in conference doesn't have enough bowl-eligible teams, the bowl then is allowed to pick an at-large team that is bowl eligible.

THE PROJECTIONS

NEW MEXICO BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 19/4:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Albuquerque, N.M.
MATCHUP: Western Athletic vs. Mountain West No. 4
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Fresno State vs. Air Force

ST. PETERSBURG BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 19/8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: St. Petersburg, Fla.
MATCHUP: Big East No. 6 vs. Conference USA
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: USF vs. East Carolina

NEW ORLEANS BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 20/8:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: New Orleans
MATCHUP: Conference USA vs. Sun Belt No. 1
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Marshall vs. Troy

LAS VEGAS BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 22/8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Las Vegas
MATCHUP: Mountain West No. 1 vs. Pac-10 No. 4/5
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: BYU vs. Arizona State

POINSETTIA BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 23/8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: San Diego
MATCHUP: Mountain West No. 2 vs. Pac-10 No. 6
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Utah vs. Arizona

HAWAII BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 24/8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Honolulu
MATCHUP: Conference USA vs. Western Athletic
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Tulsa vs. Nevada

LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 26/1 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Detroit
MATCHUP: Big Ten No. 7 vs. Mid-American
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Minnesota vs. Central Michigan

MEINEKE CAR CARE

DATE/TIME: Dec. 26/4:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Charlotte
MATCHUP: ACC No. 6 vs. Big East No. 3
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Wake Forest vs. Pittsburgh

EMERALD BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 26/8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: San Francisco
MATCHUP: ACC No. 7 vs. Pac-10 No. 4/5
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Boston College vs. Oregon State

MUSIC CITY BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 27/8:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Nashville, Tenn.
MATCHUP: ACC No. 5 vs. SEC No. 6/7
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: North Carolina vs. Arkansas

INDEPENDENCE BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 28/5 p.m.
TV: ESPN2
SITE: Shreveport, La.
MATCHUP: Big 12 No. 7 vs. SEC No. 8
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Kansas vs. Kentucky

EAGLEBANK BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 29/4:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Washington, D.C.
MATCHUP: Army/C-USA vs. ACC No. 8
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Southern Miss vs. Connecticut *

CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 29/8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Orlando, Fla.
MATCHUP: ACC No. 4 vs. Big Ten No. 5
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Clemson vs. Michigan

HUMANITARIAN BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 30/4:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Boise, Idaho
MATCHUP: Western Athletic vs. Mountain West No. 5
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Idaho vs. Northern Illinois*

HOLIDAY BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 30/8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: San Diego
MATCHUP: Big 12 No. 3 vs. Pac-10 No. 2
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Nebraska vs. Oregon

ARMED FORCES BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 31/noon
TV: ESPN
SITE: Fort Worth, Texas
MATCHUP: Conference USA vs. Mountain West No. 3
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: SMU vs. Colorado State

SUN BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 31/2 p.m.
TV: CBS
SITE: El Paso, Texas
MATCHUP: Big 12 No. 5 vs. Pac-10 No. 3
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Texas Tech vs. California

TEXAS BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 31/3:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Houston
MATCHUP: Navy vs. Big 12 No. 8
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Navy vs. Stanford *

INSIGHT BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 31/6 p.m.
TV: NFL Network
SITE: Tempe, Ariz.
MATCHUP: Big Ten No. 6 vs. Big 12 No. 6
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Northwestern vs. Missouri

CHICK-FIL-A BOWL

DATE/TIME: Dec. 31/7:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Atlanta
MATCHUP: ACC No. 2 vs. SEC No. 5
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Virginia Tech vs. Georgia

OUTBACK BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 1/11 a.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Tampa, Fla.
MATCHUP: Big Ten No. 3 vs. SEC No. 3/4
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Wisconsin vs. Ole Miss

CAPITAL ONE BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 1/1 p.m.
TV: ABC
SITE: Orlando
MATCHUP: Big Ten No. 2 vs. SEC No. 2
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Ohio State vs. South Carolina

GATOR BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 1/1 p.m.
TV: CBS
SITE: Jacksonville, Fla.
MATCHUP: ACC No. 3 vs. Big East No. 2
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Georgia Tech vs. Notre Dame

INTERNATIONAL BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 2/noon
TV: ESPN2
SITE: Toronto
MATCHUP: Big East No. 4 vs. Mid-American
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Rutgers vs. Ohio

PAPAJOHNS.COM BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 2/2 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Birmingham, Ala.
MATCHUP: Big East No. 5 vs. SEC No. 9
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: West Virginia vs. Tennessee

COTTON BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 2/2 p.m.
TV: Fox
SITE: Dallas
MATCHUP: Big 12 No. 2 vs. SEC No. 3/4
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Oklahoma State vs. LSU

LIBERTY BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 2/5:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Memphis, Tenn.
MATCHUP: Conference USA No. 1 vs. SEC No. 6/7
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Houston vs. Auburn

ALAMO BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 2/9 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: San Antonio
MATCHUP: Big Ten No. 4 vs. Big 12 No. 4
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Michigan State vs. Oklahoma

GMAC BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 6/7 p.m.
TV: ESPN
SITE: Mobile, Ala.
MATCHUP: ACC No. 9 vs. MAC
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Middle Tennessee * vs. Temple

BCS MATCHUPS

ROSE BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 1, 4:30 p.m.
TV: ABC
SITE: Pasadena, Calif.
MATCHUP: BCS vs. BCS
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Iowa vs. USC

SUGAR BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 1/8:30 p.m.
TV: Fox
SITE: New Orleans
MATCHUP: BCS vs. BCS
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Boise State vs. Florida

FIESTA BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 4/8 p.m.
TV: Fox
SITE: Glendale, Ariz.
MATCHUP: BCS vs. BCS
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Penn State vs. TCU

ORANGE BOWL

DATE/TIME: Jan. 5/8 p.m.
TV: Fox
SITE: Miami
MATCHUP: BCS vs. BCS
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Cincinnati vs. Miami

BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

DATE/TIME: Jan. 7/8 p.m.
TV: ABC
SITE: Pasadena, Calif.
MATCHUP: BCS No. 1 vs. BCS No. 2
THIS WEEK'S PROJECTION: Alabama vs. Texas