Final 2013 bowl projections: Florida State-Auburn and 34 other games

The state of Alabama will have a chance at its fifth straight BCS National Championship, Florida State's in line for its first title since 1999, and that's just one bowl game. We'll know all 35 matchups by Sunday night, but for now, here's our best guess.

By Jason Kirk Updated Dec 8, 2013, 8:46pm EST

Update: The full bowl schedule is official here, with expert picks and everything.

Auburn entered the season picked to finish fifth in the SEC West. Florida State had to replace seven assistant coaches in one offseason. The Tigers had a new head coach and no established quarterback and stood in the shadow of the sport's most dominant dynasty. The Seminoles were replacing three NFL Draft first-rounders, including a senior quarterback.

On January 6, the two will play for the national championship. There is no debate. There is no quarrel. Strength of schedule is not a card that anyone can play against Auburn. No margin-of-victory issue can be raised against Florida State. One will raise the crystal. Pasadena is booked.

The rest of the 35 bowl games are below. We'll keep updating these throughout the day, depending on finalized matchups. Games in bold are set.

	Bowl	Matchup (Not always tied to conference standings)	Team	Team
1/6/2014	BCS National Championship (Pasadena)	BCS 1 vs. BCS 2	Florida State	Auburn
1/3/2014	Orange (Miami)	Florida State replacement vs. At-large 1	Ohio State	Clemson
1/2/2014	Sugar (New Orleans)	Auburn replacement vs. At-large 2	Alabama	Oklahoma
1/1/2014	Rose (Pasadena)	Big Ten 1 vs. Pac-12 1	Michigan State	Stanford
1/1/2014	Fiesta (Glendale)	Big 12 1 vs. At-large 4	Baylor	UCF
1/5/2014	GoDaddy (Mobile)	MAC 2 vs. Sun Belt 2	Ball State	Arkansas State
1/4/2014	BBVA Compass (Birmingham)	SEC 9 vs. AAC 5	Vanderbilt	Houston
1/3/2014	Cotton (Arlington)	Big 12 2 vs. SEC 3	Oklahoma State	Missouri
1/1/2014	Capital One (Orlando)	Big Ten 2 vs. SEC 2	Wisconsin	South Carolina
1/1/2014	Gator (Jacksonville)	Big Ten 5 vs. SEC 6	Nebraska	Georgia
1/1/2014	Heart of Dallas	Big Ten 7 vs. C-USA	UNLV*	North Texas
1/1/2014	Outback (Tampa)	Big Ten 3 vs. SEC 4	Iowa	LSU
12/31/2013	Chick-fil-A (Atlanta)	ACC 2 vs. SEC 5	Duke	Texas A&M
12/31/2013	Independence (Shreveport)	SEC 10 vs. ACC 7	Arizona*	Boston College
12/31/2013	Liberty (Memphis)	C-USA 1 vs. SEC 8	Rice	Mississippi State
12/31/2013	Sun (El Paso)	ACC 4 vs. Pac-12 4	Virginia Tech	UCLA
12/30/2013	Alamo (San Antonio)	Big 12 3 vs. Pac-12 2	Texas	Oregon
12/30/2013	Armed Forces (Ft. Worth)	MWC 3 vs. C-USA/Navy	Middle Tennessee	Navy
12/30/2013	Holiday (San Diego)	Pac-12 3 vs. Big 12 5	Arizona State	Texas Tech
12/30/2013	Music City (Nashville)	ACC 6 vs. SEC 7	Georgia Tech	Ole Miss
12/28/2013	Belk (Charlotte)	AAC 3 vs. ACC 5	Cincinnati	North Carolina
12/28/2013	Buffalo Wild Wings (PHX)	Big 12 4 vs. Big Ten 4	Kansas State	Michigan
12/28/2013	Pinstripe (New York)	Big 12 7 vs. AAC 4	Notre Dame*	Rutgers
12/28/2013	Russell Athletic (Orlando)	AAC 2 vs. ACC 3	Louisville	Miami
12/27/2013	Fight Hunger (San Francisco)	Pac-12 6 vs. BYU/ACC 9	Washington	BYU
12/27/2013	Military (Annapolis)	ACC 8 vs. C-USA	Maryland	Marshall
12/27/2013	Texas (Houston)	Big 12 6 vs. Big Ten 6	Syracuse*	Minnesota
12/26/2013	Little Caesars (Detroit)	MAC 1 vs. Big Ten 8	Bowling Green	Pitt*
12/26/2013	Poinsettia (San Diego)	MWC 2 vs. Army	Utah State	Northern Illinois*
12/24/2013	Hawaii	MWC 5 vs. C-USA	Boise State	Oregon State*
12/23/2013	Beef O'Brady's (St. Pete.)	AAC 6 vs. C-USA	Ohio*	East Carolina
12/21/2013	Idaho Potato (Boise)	MAC 3 vs. MWC 6	Buffalo	San Diego State
12/21/2013	Las Vegas	MWC 1 vs. Pac-12 5	Fresno State	USC
12/21/2013	New Mexico (Albuquerque)	MWC 4 vs. Pac-12 7	Colorado State	Washington State
12/21/2013	New Orleans	Sun Belt 1 vs. C-USA	UL Lafayette	Tulane

* Taking another conference's unfilled spot.

Bold: Already set, either officially or according to reports.

BCS bowls

It's simple. As simple as it gets for the BCS, anyway. Florida State and Auburn will play for the national championship. That means the Orange and Sugar get the first two replacement picks.

The Orange can't take Alabama first, due to BCS rules that prevent robbing the other replacement bowl of its pick, so it will surely take the one-loss Buckeyes, who boast an immense fanbase that's relatively nearby. The Orange also has a future relationship with the Big Ten.

Bama's a lock to replace Auburn in the Sugar Bowl.

That gives the Orange Bowl the next pick, as it's first in the non-replacement rotation this year. The Orange's ties with the ACC are as deep as any bowl's with any conference, and while Oklahoma or Oregon could be a tempting choice, the Tigers are much closer and give the Orange the chance to show off the ACC (until the game starts).

The Sugar then goes again, and it looks like it will come down to Oklahoma vs. Oregon. The Sooners are closer, have a larger and more established fanbase, and haven't been to the BCS since 2010. Most critically, the Sugar Bowl is developing a partnership with the Big 12; once the Playoff starts next year, it'll be an SEC-Big 12 game every year. It has reason to start giving Big 12 teams the spotlight now.

The Rose's matchup is locked in: Michigan State vs. Stanford vs. the scoreboard. The scoreboard will lose.

That leaves the Fiesta with no choice. It will be Big 12 champion Baylor vs. UCF, who won an automatic bid by winning the American. Since nobody else will pick UCF over a team with a bigger traveling fanbase and national brand name, there's your Fiesta. It's not exciting, but it's a football game with Baylor in it.

Hey, we finally joined Facebook!

Ten teams will be left out

There are 80 bowl-eligible teams, but there are still only 70 spots to go around. There will be many justifiably disappointed fan bases around the country Sunday night, and quite a few of them will likely be in the Sun Belt, sorry to say.