Bowl Schedule 2012-13: High-Profile Games That Will End in Blowouts

Bowl executives and television heads hope that every game turns out to be an instant classic. Unfortunately, that does not always happen.

This year's bowl season features a number of matchups that will be promoted as elite. The problem is that two good teams do not always create a great game. 

These top bowl games look good on paper, but they will end up being blowouts by the time the clock hits zero.

Chick-fil-A Bowl: LSU vs. Clemson

Ordinarily, a matchup between two Top 15 teams in the BCS standings would be one to watch. Unfortunately, this will not be as good as advertised.

Clemson had one of the best offenses in the nation this year. Quarterback Tajh Boyd torched opponents with the help of playmakers Andre Ellington, Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins.

The problem is that the Tigers were exposed when they faced an elite defense. South Carolina forced the normally accurate Boyd into two interceptions, and he completed only 11 of his 24 passes.

LSU has as good or better defense as South Carolina. In addition, the Bayou Bengals have more balance comparatively on offense since Marcus Lattimore went down with a knee injury.

Although Clemson has played well all year, the team is overmatched in this one.

Orange Bowl: Florida State vs. Northern Illinois

Northern Illinois should be proud of reaching this point, but the Huskies could be in for a long day against Florida State.

Although the team has won 12 straight games and has a top-10 scoring offense, it has not faced anyone close to as talented as its Orange Bowl opponent.

The Huskies only played two teams from BCS conferences this year. They beat one-win Kansas by seven points and lost to Iowa, who only finished with a 4-8 record.

Facing Florida State will be a rude awakening. The Seminoles have the No. 7 defense and No. 14 offense in the country, and they simply have superior athletes compared to most of the MAC.

In addition, Northern Illinois will not have head coach Dave Doeren to make adjustments after he left to coach at North Carolina State.

Even with the talented Jordan Lynch running the show, the Huskies will lose big. 

Fiesta Bowl: Oregon vs. Kansas State

Everyone knows about Oregon's incredible offense. The team averaged over 50 points per game and scored at least 40 in all but one contest.

However, the defense has been a huge improvement compared to past years.

In fact, the Ducks only allowed 22 points per game this year, which is only 0.9 points more than Kansas State.

Additionally, Oregon is much better against the run, which is Kansas State's strength. The Wildcats' one-dimensional attack will not have too much success in the game.

On the other side of the football, Kansas State should be yet another team that cannot keep up with Oregon's speed. The Wildcats shut down a number of top passing offenses, but struggled mightily against Baylor's offense because it had balance.

This is what the Ducks provide. Running backs Kenjon Barner and De'Anthony Thomas, plus quarterback Marcus Mariota create a dominant rushing attack, while Mariota has the skill to beat teams with his arm as well.

Kansas State is still one of the best teams in the nation, but it does not match up well in this game.

Bowl Schedule

Note: All times are ET and p.m. unless noted otherwise. All games (except for the Sun Bowl and Cotton Bowl) can be streamed live at WatchESPN. 

Bowl	Team 1	Team 2	Stadium: Location	Date: Time	TV
New Mexico	Nevada	Arizona	University Stadium: Albuquerque, NM	12/15: 1:00	ESPN
Famous Idaho Potato	Toledo	Utah State	Bronco Stadium: Boise, ID	12/15: 4:30	ESPN
Poinsettia	BYU	San Diego State	Qualcomm Stadium: San Diego, CA	12/20: 8:00	ESPN
Beef 'O' Brady's	Ball State	UCF	Tropicana Field: St. Petersburg, FL	12/21: 7:30	ESPN
New Orleans	East Carolina	Louisiana-Lafayette	Superdome: New Orleans, LA	12/22: Noon	ESPN
Las Vegas	Boise State	Washington	Sam Boyd Stadium: Las Vegas, NV	12/22: 3:30	ESPN
Hawaii	SMU	Fresno State	Aloha Stadium: Honolulu, HI	12/24: 8:00	ESPN
Little Caesars	Central Michigan	Western Kentucky	Ford Field: Detroit, MI	12/26: 7:30	ESPN
Military	Bowling Green	San Jose State	RFK Stadium: Washington, DC	12/27: 3:00	ESPN
Belk	Duke	Cincinnati	Bank of America Stadium: Charlotte, NC	12/27: 6:30	ESPN
Holiday	Baylor	UCLA	Qualcomm Stadium: San Diego, CA	12/27: 9:45	ESPN
Independence	Lousiana-Monroe	Ohio	Independence Stadium: Shreveport, LA	12/28: 2:00	ESPN
Russell Athletic	Virginia Tech	Rutgers	Florida Citrus Bowl: Orlando, FL	12/28: 5:30	ESPN
Meineke Car Care	Minnesota	Texas Tech	Reliant Stadium: Houston, TX	12/28: 9:00	ESPN
Armed Forces	Rice	Air Force	Amon G. Carter Stadium: Fort Worth, TX	12/29: 11:45 a.m.	ESPN
Pinstripe	Syracuse	West Virginia	Yankee Stadium: Bronx, NY	12/29: 3:15	ESPN
Kraft	Navy	Arizona State	AT&T Park: San Francisco, CA	12/29: 4:00	ESPN2
Alamo	Texas	Oregon State	Alamodome: San Antonio, TX	12/29: 6:45	ESPN
Buffalo Wild Wings	TCU	Michigan State	Sun Devil Stadium: Tempe, AZ	12/29: 10:15	ESPN
Music City	NC State	Vanderbilt	LP Field: Nashville, TN	12/31: Noon	ESPN
Sun	Georgia Tech	USC	Sun Bowl: El Paso, TX	12/31: 2:00	CBS
Liberty	Tulsa	Iowa State	Liberty Bowl: Memphis, TN	12/31: 3:30	ESPN
Chick-fil-A	Clemson	LSU	Georgia Dome: Atlanta, GA	12/31: 7:30	ESPN
Gator	Northwestern	Mississippi State	Everbank Field: Jacksonville, FL	1/1: Noon	ESPN2
Heart of Dallas	Oklahoma State	Purdue	Cotton Bowl: Dallas, TX	1/1: Noon	ESPNU
Outback	Michigan	South Carolina	Raymond James Stadium: Tampa, FL	1/1: 1:00	ESPN
Capital One	Nebraska	Georgia	Florida Citrus Bowl: Orlando, FL	1/1: 1:00	ABC
Rose	Stanford	Wisconsin	Rose Bowl: Pasadena, CA	1/1: 5:00	ESPN
Orange	Northern Illinois	Florida State	Sun Life Stadium: Miami, FL	1/1: 8:30	ESPN
Sugar	Florida	Louisville	Superdome: New Orleans, LA	1/2: 8:30	ESPN
Fiesta	Oregon	Kansas State	U. of Phoenix Stadium: Glendale, AZ	1/3: 8:30	ESPN
Cotton	Oklahoma	Texas A&M	Cowboys Stadium: Arlington, TX	1/4: 8:00	FOX
Compass	Pittsburgh	Ole Miss	Legion Field: Birmingham, AL	1/5: 1:00	ESPN
GoDaddy.com	Kent State	Arkansas State	Ladd-Peebles Stadium: Mobile, AL	1/6: 9:00	ESPN
BCS National Championship	Notre Dame	Alabama	Sun Life Stadium: Miami, FL	1/7: 8:30	ESPN

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