Bowl Projections 2012: Potential Matchups Most Likely to Disappoint

College football enthusiasts collectively sighed Friday night when the Kent State Golden Flashes lost to Northern Illinois in overtime. A win could have meant a Top 16 finish in the BCS standings and an automatic BCS bowl berth for the MAC school.

Still, with one crisis averted, there are bound to be some bowl matchups this season which fail to deliver a good show.

Here are a few projections for eyesore bowl games.

Orange Bowl: Florida State vs. Louisville

Defensive matchups are exciting, to an extent. But this matchup promises to be a high-scoring affair, if season results are to be believed. These teams are also playing out of conferences with questionable competition. The Big East and ACC have really fallen off in terms of fielding competitive teams in recent years. 

But, can results be believed? Louisville hardly played anyone during the season and struggled mightily to score points at times down the stretch. If quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is still banged up, the Cardinals' recent struggles will continue. 

There will be little to no scoring, unless it's the Seminoles.

Still, this game is better than the alternative right? A Florida State or Georgia Tech matchup against Kent State might have been unbearable to watch. Luckily Northern Illinois ended that possibility by winning the MAC championship on Nov. 30.

Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl: Baylor vs. Minnesota

Does anything even need to be said about this one? The Bears putting up an inordinate amount of points might be entertaining in a way, but this one isn’t even going to be close.

The Golden Gophers and Bears present one of the most uninteresting matchups of bowl season.

Minnesota’s lone playmaker, wide receiver A.J. Barker, left the school recently due to reported mistreatment from head coach Jerry Kill. He won’t be there for the Golden Gophers in this bowl game.

Baylor’s bowl game will be the upset of Kansas State in Waco the week before Thanksgiving. This game will be over quickly. Watching the Bears walk all over Minnesota has to get old eventually, right?

Heart of Dallas Bowl: Purdue vs. Iowa State

Not so fast. The Meineke Car Care matchup depicted previously suddenly loses its disappointment potential when compared to the January 1 Heart of Dallas Bowl.

A New Year’s Day matchup between Iowa State and...Purdue?

The only winning team Purdue beat was the Eastern Kentucky Colonels of the Ohio Valley Conference. As a result, even after becoming bowl eligible, Purdue fired head coach Danny Hope.

Don’t worry, Iowa State isn’t much better. Like Purdue, the Cyclones don’t do very much well on offense. Neither team ranks in the Top 50 in either passing or rushing offense.

Iowa State has a close edge on this one because its defense has been tested by some higher powered Big 12 offenses. They didn’t give up more than 35 points in a single game this year.

So, there’s that.

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