Week 12 Football Bowl Projection Breakdown
Everybody has been talking about the winner of the American Athletic Conference representing the small conferences in the big bowls, but do not count out Toledo. Should the winner of the Houston and Navy showdown next week lose in the AAC title game to Temple (or South Florida), a one loss Toledo team will start to look real appealing. And a loss by either Houston or Navy would seem even worse if it comes from South Florida. The Bulls hold the tie-breaker over Temple and the Owls play a Connecticut team that just beat Houston. Meanwhile, the Rockets are coming off of a big win over Bowling Green and host Western Michigan on Friday. Unfortunately for Toledo, they still need help reaching the MAC Championship game and need Ohio to beat Northern Illinois on Tuesday night. A 10-1 Toledo team that doesn’t reach the MAC title game, where they would face off with Bowling Green again, would not likely be able to surpass a two-loss AAC champion.
The AAC also saw two new teams come into the bowls this week with UConn and East Carolina. The Pirates still need to win a game to reach six wins, but they are one of 18 teams that still could become bowl eligible. And those 18 teams are battling for nine bowl spots. If all goes amazingly well, the bowls could be filled without a 6-6 team missing out and without a 5-7 team getting an undeserving bid.
See The Projected Bowl Matchups
American: Cincinnati, Connecticut, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, Navy, South Florida, Temple, Tulsa
ACC: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech
Big 12: Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, West Virginia
Big Ten: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Northwestern, Wisconsin
C-USA: Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Southern Miss, Western Kentucky
Independent: BYU, Notre Dame
MAC: Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan
MWC: Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, Utah State
Pac-12: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington State
SEC: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Texas A&M
Sun Belt: Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Louisiana, South Alabama
See The Projected Bowl Matchups
