Hot! College Football Bowl Projections

I'm sneaking in one more Bowl Projections update before this weekend's championship games, based on conversations and reports over the past few days.

First of all, the intriguing Texas-Texas A&M Cotton Bowl I've been projecting over the past couple of weeks almost certainly will NOT happen (to the relief of the teams). That's because the Capital One Bowl, with first choice of SEC teams after the BCS, has apparently caught Johnny Football Fever and will take the Aggies off the board.

The question then becomes: What happens to the Alabama-Georgia loser? The Cotton Bowl would likely snap up the Tide, but it's possible the Dawgs could slip all the way to the Chick-fil-A Bowl if the Cotton takes LSU and the Outback, which hosted Georgia last year, takes South Carolina. The SEC is hoping to avoid that scenario, so I'm going on the assumption that it convinces the Cotton to take the title game loser either way.

Louisville, meanwhile, unofficially clinched a BCS berth with Kent State could still move into the top 16, in which case Louisville would replace the second Big 12 team in the Sugar and the Orange would get the Flashes.

Finally, I altered the Conference USA pecking order based on my belief that that the NCAA granted Georgia Tech a waiver to participate at 6-7.

As always, remember:

After the No. 1 and 2 teams are slotted and replaced, the BCS at-large selection order this year is 1) Fiesta, 2) Sugar and 3) Orange. The highest-ranked champion from a non-automatic qualifier is guaranteed a BCS berth if it finishes in the top 12 or in the top 16 and ahead of an AQ-conference champion.

Most bowls are not obligated I repeat, NOT OBLIGATED to choose in exact order of conference standings. For instance, "Big 12 No. 3" means "third selection of Big 12 teams," not "the Big 12's third-place team." Bowls often pick a team with an inferior record due to geography, anticipated fan travel, the need to avoid a regular-season rematch, or just plain politics.

Teams inboldhave accepted a bid. * replacement team for a conference without an eligible team.