2013-14 college football bowl projections: Alabama vs. Oregon and all 34 other games

College football bowl game season, 2013-14 edition, begins a mere 25 weeks away.

By Jason Kirk Jun 17, 2013, 10:00am EDT

First, I'm picking Alabama vs. Oregon for the last-ever non-playoff title game. Last year I picked LSU vs. Oregon, and the year before that, Alabama vs. Oregon. Can just keep picking it until it's right.

Each has significant losses, but everyone has losses. Each has arguably the easiest schedule in its conference, stability and stars at critical positions, and years of championship experience. We can admit this is the game we would've rather gotten last year, but second chances are beautiful.

The full slate of bowl projections as we near fall camp -- let's talk about it in the comments:

More: 2013's biggest Saturdays Teams without hope 248 game lines from Vegas


	Bowl	Selection (not always official order)	Team	Team
1/6/2014	BCS National Championship (Pasadena)	BCS 1 vs. BCS 2	Alabama	Oregon
1/3/2014	Orange (Miami)	ACC 1 vs. BCS at-large 1	Clemson	Louisville*
1/2/2014	Sugar (New Orleans)	SEC 1 vs. BCS at-large 2	Georgia*	Oklahoma State*
1/1/2014	Rose (Pasadena)	Pac-12 1 vs. Big Ten 1	Ohio State	Stanford*
1/1/2014	Fiesta (Glendale, AZ)	Big 12 1 vs. Last BCS at-large	Texas	Boise State*
1/5/2014	GoDaddy (Mobile, AL)	MAC 2 vs. Sun Belt 2	Bowling Green	Western Kentucky
1/4/2014	BBVA Compass (B'ham)	SEC 9 vs. AAC 5	Vanderbilt	UConn
1/3/2014	Cotton (Arlington)	Big 12 2 vs. SEC 3	TCU	Texas A&M
1/1/2014	Capital One (Orlando)	Big Ten 2 vs. SEC 2	Wisconsin	LSU
1/1/2014	Gator (Jacksonville)	Big Ten 5 vs. SEC 6	Michigan State	Ole Miss
1/1/2014	Heart of Dallas	Big Ten 7 vs. Big 12 8	Indiana	Toledo**
1/1/2014	Outback (Tampa)	Big Ten 3 vs. SEC 4	Michigan	Florida
12/31/2013	Chick-fil-A (Atlanta)	ACC 2 vs. SEC 5	Miami	South Carolina
12/31/2013	Independence (Shreveport)	SEC 10 vs. ACC 7	Louisiana-Lafayette**	N.C. State
12/31/2013	Liberty (Memphis)	C-USA 1 vs. SEC 8	Tulsa	Auburn
12/31/2013	Sun (El Paso)	ACC 4 vs. Pac-12 4	North Carolina	UCLA
12/30/2013	Alamo (San Antonio)	Big 12 3 vs. Pac-12 2	Oklahoma	USC
12/30/2013	Armed Forces (Ft. Worth)	MWC 3 vs. C-USA 3/Navy	Utah State	Marshall
12/30/2013	Holiday (San Diego)	Pac-12 3 vs. Big 12 5	Arizona	Kansas State
12/30/2013	Music City (Nashville)	ACC 6 vs. SEC 7	Virginia Tech	Missouri
12/28/2013	Belk (Charlotte)	AAC 3 vs. ACC 5	UCF	Georgia Tech
12/28/2013	Buffalo Wild Wings (PHX)	Big 12 4 vs. Big Ten 4	Baylor	Nebraska
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	Cincinnati	Florida State
12/27/2013	Kraft (San Francisco)	Pac-12 6 vs. BYU/ACC 9	Arizona State	BYU
12/27/2013	Military (Annapolis)	ACC 8 vs. C-USA 5	Pitt	Rice
12/27/2013	Texas (Houston)	Big 12 6 vs. Big Ten 6	Texas Tech	Northwestern
12/26/2013	Little Caesars (Detroit)	MAC 1 vs. Big Ten 8	Northern Illinois	Arkansas State**
12/26/2013	Poinsettia (San Diego)	MWC 2 vs. Army	San Diego State	Ball State**
12/24/2013	Hawaii	MWC 5 vs. C-USA 2	Air Force	East Carolina
12/23/2013	Beef O'Brady's (St. Pete.)	AAC 6 vs. C-USA 4	Houston	Louisiana Tech
12/21/2013	Idaho Potato (Boise)	MAC 3 vs. MWC 6	Ohio	Wyoming
12/21/2013	Las Vegas	MWC 1 vs. Pac-12 5	Fresno State	Oregon State
12/21/2013	New Mexico (Albuquerque)	MWC 4 vs. Pac-12 7	San Jose State	Washington
12/21/2013	New Orleans	Sun Belt 1 vs. C-USA 6	ULM	Middle Tennessee

* BCS at-larges

In this scenario, only three teams would be locked into BCS spots (ACC champion Clemson, Big Ten champ Ohio State, and Big 12 champ Texas). The Sugar and Rose would get the first two at-large picks, due to having given up the SEC and Pac-12 winners, respectively, to the title game.

Sugar: If the SEC goes first (since Alabama will be No. 1, won't it, comrade?), the Sugar will likely roll with an SEC team, as it takes its Southern ties seriously. And has a College Football Playoff partner to keep happy. Good luck agreeing on one name here, but if Georgia has one or two losses, let's say it takes the spot after being passed over (fairly, perhaps) the year before.

Rose: A one-loss Stanford could be a worthy choice to replace Oregon. It would also preserve traditional league ties. Plus, Cardinal fans bought up last season's Rose Bowl ticket allotment almost a full month in advance and increased their 2013 season ticket numbers, meaning Stanford's even more appealing now.

Orange: After picking last seemingly every year ever, the Orange gets to go next. Finally, the chance to have something besides ACC-Big East! Except ACC-former Big East might be the pick (the AAC champion is promised a BCS spot, for one more year). That's especially if Teddy Bridgewater's a Heisman finalist and in line to be the No. 1 NFL Draft pick. And since the ACC will soon hold even more sway over the Orange, it could push to feature two eventual ACC teams. Guaranteed win, sort of.

Sugar: Up again, and it could keep its other future Playoff buddy happy by taking a Big 12 team, unless a can't-misser from elsewhere presents itself. I'd love to have TCU here, but Oklahoma State has a significantly friendlier schedule. Dawgs-Pokes could pair two of the country's five or so most explosive offenses. TV's satisfied.

Fiesta: If a Mountain West-champion Boise State finishes in the BCS' top 12 or in the top 16 and above any AQ champ, it's guaranteed a spot in a BCS bowl. (Look at Boise State's schedule; odds are pretty good.) In this scenario, anyone besides Boise State to the Sugar would nail down Texas vs. the Broncos. Bryan Harsin's former teams meeting at last isn't much of a storyline. Every Oklahoma fan's watching, though.

** Fill-in teams

You know, just Notre Dame and Arkansas State being associates and contemporaries, as they often do.

The Irish are in double-asterisk world because they can't use their ACC bowl ties yet and their Big East ones just ran out. That means if they don't make a BCS game, they're stuck hoping some conference can't fill all its spots or an independent with a tie (Army, BYU, or Navy) isn't eligible. The lesser bowls are also hoping this.

The Big 12's Pinstripe slot makes sense for the Irish, since the conference is sending two to the BCS here and I don't have West Virginia, Iowa State, or Kansas making six wins. Bob Costas is standing at your doorstep right now with a carol he wrote about Notre Dame playing in Yankee Stadium again. Answer him or not, he'll remain.

After that, it's less political. We'll keep MAC teams from playing MAC teams, send the Louisiana team to the available Louisiana bowl (imagine that!), try to line up the other couple according to bowl payouts and team name brands, and that's that.

Other than that

Everything else more or less lines up according to my projected standings, except for a few complications. We can talk about all that in the comments.