BCS Bowl Predictions: Our Dream Scenario for This Year's Matchups

Only three weeks into the season, BCS bowls should really be the last thing on your mind. Sure, you like to know if your favorite teams are still contenders to reach a prestigious bowl. But with so much season left to play, the current standings and rankings don't mean much right now anyway.

But what if you could pick how the BCS bowls would shape up this season?

Yeah, you have the choice to make sure conference teams don't end up playing each other again in a bowl game. You can say no to teams that ended up choking in the regular season that would make a BCS bowl just because they are popular and have a large fan base. And you can rule out the subpar teams that should be considered for the GoDaddy.com Bowl instead.

With that said, here are the five BCS bowls that most college football fans are dreaming to see.

Rose Bowl: Michigan State vs. USC

All offseason you have heard that USC is almost an NFL offense playing at the collegiate level. You have heard things such as, "Matt Barkley is the best quarterback in the country," "wide receivers Robert Woods and Marqise Lee are future first-round draft picks" and "running back Silas Redd is one of the tougher backs in the country."

Well, Michigan State has NFL-caliber talent on the defensive side of the ball and it fields a unit that contests every inch of the field. If you want to pick up a first down on 3rd-and-short, a quarterback sneak is not going to fly against this front seven. Michigan State is simply one of the better defensive teams that you will find outside of the SEC.

Everybody wants to see how Barkley and company will do against an actual defense and not the soft teams they play every week in the Pac-12. This would be Barkley's chance to show everyone that he is truly that good.

Orange Bowl: Clemson vs. Louisville

What do you say we try this again?

Despite the showing the Clemson Tigers put on in the Orange Bowl last season, they remain one of the more exciting teams to watch. With explosive players such as Tajh Boyd, Andre Ellington and Sammy Watkins, this is still the best offense that the ACC has to offer.

Louisville may not be the most attractive option, but the Cardinals carry the same rugged, hard-nosed traits of their head coach, Charlie Strong. This team gives its all on every play, forces turnovers and runs the ball effectively. The Cardinals deserve some national attention as possible Big East champions.

This won't be one of the sexier matchups as far as BCS bowls are concerned, but it is usually the games we pay the least attention to that end up providing the most entertainment. 

Sugar Bowl: LSU vs. Oklahoma

These two teams met back in 2003 for the national championship, which was then considered the largest crowd ever to witness a game at the Superdome. However, the Sooners really failed to show up in that game, only producing 154 total yards of offense, and the defense could not slow down running back Justin Vincent.

We all know that Bob Stoops isn't exactly the best coach in the world when it comes to BCS bowls and this year’s Sooners team has its issues, but this is still Oklahoma. Two loaded football programs on both sides of the ball, two bright head coaches and two of the more successful programs in all of college football would be going at it.

Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones will have his chance to prove he is capable of producing against a top-notch defense, while LSU will try to play its game against one of the more physical defenses in the country.

This would be one of the more underrated BCS matchups.

Fiesta Bowl: West Virginia vs. Oregon

Are scoreboards capable of holding triple digits?

Take two of the most high-powered offenses in the country, put them on your field and you are going to end up with a lot of points. This game would be similar to last year’s BCS Orange Bowl except the other team will actually be able match the opposition. 

Mountaineers quarterback Geno Smith and his plethora of wide receivers are averaging over 600 yards of offense in the first two games. Oregon running back De'Anthony Thomas and company are producing an average of 54 points per contest.

Both of these offenses are capable of doing what they want, when they want. College football fans complained that last year’s national championship was boring because of the lack of scoring. This game—which could last 16 hours—would certainly keep you entertained.

National Championship Game: Alabama vs. Florida State

Two historic programs that have only played once since 1974. That has to change.

I think Alabama has shown that it is the best team in college football through the first three weeks of the season. The running game is as effective as it has been over the years, quarterback AJ McCarron is playing well and the defense has yet to show it has lost a step.

Then you have Florida State. The Seminoles still have to show us a few things, but that defense is about as real as it gets. We have seen many offensive juggernauts try to compete with the defenses of the SEC, but they have all fell flat on their faces. The only way a team is going to snap the SEC BCS Championship winning streak is by playing terrific defensive and capitalizing off every mistake.

Right now, it doesn't get much better than the Seminoles defense, which would give all those SEC haters a chance to see another conference walk away with the ultimate hardware.