2014: Post Non-Con Bowl Projections

The return of the wildly inaccurate bowl projections! Now with more inaccuracy and homerism!

By Mike Jones Sep 23, 2014, 7:00am CDT

There was a time when bowl projections were done every week around here. There was also a time that Drew Brees and Kyle Orton played for Purdue and the Boilermakers were making BCS games. Those days are over. Also: so is the BCS. And yeah I know the non-con isn't officially over with four games coming up this weekend and a few stragglers later in the season but just because those counter-culture teams won't get in line doesn't mean the rest of us should suffer.

Earlier in the year we covered the changes in the Big Ten this season, including the new bowl games. Here's a simple explanation of the College Football Playoff/Bowls:

Four teams are chosen for the College Football Playoff.
Six bowls rotate for the semifinals: Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach.
The bowls hosting the semifinals this year are the Rose and Sugar.
If the Big Ten Champion is eligible for a non-playoff bowl when the Rose and Sugar Bowls are hosting the semifinals, as they are this year, the Big Ten Champion will appear in the Fiesta, Peach or Cotton Bowl, but NOT the Orange Bowl.
The highest ranked champion from the Group of Five mid-majors (AAC, C-USA, MAC, MWC, Sun Belt) is guaranteed a spot in the non-playoff bowls if they fail to make the playoff.

More rules/information appear below. Here's a look at the bowls themselves:

College Football Playoffs:

Bowl	Location	Date	Opponents
Championship	Arlington, TX	1/12/15	Semi Winner v. Semi Winner
Rose	Pasadena, CA	1/1/15	No. 2 v. No. 3
Sugar	New Orleans, LA	1/1/15	No. 1 v. No. 4

New Year's Bowls (Non-Playoff Bowls):

Bowl	Location	Date	Opponents
Cotton	Arlington, TX	1/1/15	At-Large
Fiesta	Glendale, AZ	12/31/14	At-Large
Orange	Miami, FL	12/31/14	ACC vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame
Peach	Atlanta, GA	12/31/14	At-Large

Big Ten Bowls:

Bowl	Location	Date	Opponent
Rose Bowl or Playoff	Pasadena, CA or Playoff Site	Various	Pac-12 or Playoff Team
Capital One Bowl or Orange Bowl*	Orlando, FL or Miami, FL	Various	SEC or ACC
Outback Bowl	Tampa, FL	1/1/15	SEC
Holiday Bowl	San Diego, CA	12/27/14	Pac-12
Music City or TaxSlayer Bowl**	Nashville, TN or Jacksonville, FL	Various	SEC
San Francisco Bowl	San Francisco, CA	12/30/14	Pac-12
Pinstripe Bowl	New York City, NY	12/27/14	ACC
Quick Lane Bowl	Detroit, MI	12/26/14	ACC
Heart of Dallas or Armed Forces Bowl****	Fort Worth, TX or Dallas, TX	12/26/14	C-USA

* - In the three years that the Rose Bowl doesn't host the College Football Playoff semifinals (out of 12) the Big Ten will share a spot in the Orange Bowl with the SEC and Notre Dame (Notre Dame can only appear twice LOL).

** - The Big Ten and ACC will switch between the Music City and Gator Bowl (now simply known as the TaxSlayer Bowl) on alternate years. In 2014 the Big Ten has the TaxSlayer Bowl.

*** - The San Francisco Bowl was the Fight Hunger Bowl and the Quick Lane Bowl is the new Detroit bowl game.

**** - The Big Ten and Big 12 will rotate these bowls in alternating years. In 2014 the Big Ten has the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

Now for the projections.

Bowl Projections:

Bowl	Matchup	Why
Rose Bowl	Alabama v. Oregon	SEC Champ v. Pac-12 Champ
Sugar Bowl	Florida State v. Oklahoma	Undefeated FSU/ACC Champ v. Big 12 Champ
Cotton Bowl	Baylor v. Texas A&M	Committee salivates over putting an old BXII matchup in Texas
Fiesta Bowl	Michigan State v. UCLA	Committee essentially wants a pseudo-Rose Bowl out west
Orange Bowl	Clemson v. Auburn	ACC runner-up v. SEC team
Peach Bowl	BYU v. Georgia	Committee wants a home team vs. the best of the Group of 5
Capital One Bowl	Wisconsin v. South Carolina	Big 10 runner up vs. Spurrier who can never get USC over the hump
Outback Bowl	Nebraska v. Mississippi State	Nebraska, with the next best record, takes on a solid MSU team
Holiday Bowl	Ohio State v. USC	A good old fashioned Rose Bowl matchup
TaxSlayer Bowl	Iowa v. Florida	In-state Florida team plus old Outback Bowl rivalry
San Francisco Bowl	Penn State v. Arizona	Don't know how excited bowls are about Penn State
Pinstripe Bowl	Rutgers v. Pittsburgh	EAST COAST TEAMS DOING EAST COAST STUFF
Quick Lane Bowl	Minnesota v. Boston College	Minnesota or Maryland? Minnesota.
Heart of Dallas Bowl	Maryland v. UTSA	#MEEPMEEP

Queso Bowl Participants:

via content.dollargeneral.com

No. 1 Seed in the Ro-Tel Queso Bowl: Purdue
No. 2 Seed in the Ro-Tel Queso Bowl: Illinois
No. 3 Seed in the Ro-Tel Queso Bowl: Indiana
No. 4 Seed in the Ro-Tel Queso Bowl: Michigan
No. 5 Seed in the Ro-Tel Queso Bowl: Northwestern

It's a battle to see who is going to be the worst in the Big Ten?! Who is going to make it!?

Disagree? Hit the comments.