Bowl Games 2013-14: Matchups Sure to Produce Upsets

The jam-packed bowl season is more dramatic when the underdogs pull off upsets, and 2013-14 will not disappoint in that regard.

On paper, most of the bowls are evenly matched, though some teams appear to be overmatched. Not all of those instances are hopeless, though.

The records aren't favorable, but other circumstances are. Whether they're close to home, playing an advantageous style for a given opponent or peaking at the right time, these teams are tailor-made to shock the favorites.

Bowl Game	Teams	Date/Time	TV	Predicted Winner
Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg	East Carolina vs. Ohio	Dec. 23 @ 2 p.m.	ESPN	East Carolina
Sheraton Hawaii	Boise St. vs. Oregon St.	Dec. 24 @ 8 p.m.	ESPN	Boise St.
Little Caesars Pizza	Pittsburgh vs. Bowling Green	Dec. 26 @ 6 p.m.	ESPN	Pittsburgh
S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia	Utah St. Vs. Northern Illinois	Dec. 26 @ 9:30 p.m.	ESPN	Northern Illinois
Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman	Marshall vs. Maryland	Dec. 27 @ 2:30 p.m.	ESPN	Maryland
Texas	Syracuse vs. Minnesota	Dec. 27 @ 6 p.m.	ESPN	Minnesota
Fight Hunger	BYU vs. Washington	Dec. 27 @ 9:30 p.m.	ESPN	Washington
New Era Pinstripe	Rutgers vs. Notre Dame	Dec. 28 @ Noon	ESPN	Rutgers
Belk	Cincinnati vs. North Carolina	Dec. 28 @ 3:20 p.m.	ESPN	Cincinnati
Russell Athletic	Louisville vs. Miami	Dec. 28 @ 6:45 p.m.	ESPN	Louisville
Buffalo Wild Wings	Kansas St. vs. Michigan	Dec. 28 @ 10:15 p.m.	ESPN	Michigan
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces	Middle Tennessee vs. Navy	Dec. 30 @ 11:45 a.m.	ESPN	Navy
Franklin American Mortgage Music City	Ole Miss vs. Georgia Tech	Dec. 30 @ 3:15 p.m.	ESPN	Ole Miss
Valero Alamo	Texas vs. Oregon	Dec. 30 @ 6:45 p.m.	ESPN	Texas
National University Holiday	Texas Tech vs. Arizona St.	Dec. 30 @ 10:15 p.m.	ESPN	Arizona
AdvoCare V100	Boston College vs. Arizona	Dec. 31 @ 12:30 p.m.	ESPN	Boston College
Hyundai Sun	Virginia Tech vs. UCLA	Dec. 31 @ 2 p.m.	CBS	UCLA
AutoZone Liberty	Rice vs. Mississippi St.	Dec. 31 @ 4 p.m.	ESPN	Rice
Chick-fil-A	Duke vs. Texas A&M	Dec. 31 @ 8 p.m.	ESPN	Texas A&M
TaxSlayer.com Gator	Georgia vs. Nebraska	Jan. 1 @ Noon	ESPN2	Nebraska
Heart of Dallas	North Texas vs. UNLV	Jan. 1 @ Noon	ESPNU	UNLV
Capital One	Wisconsin vs. South Carolina	Jan. 1 @ 1 p.m.	ABC	South Carolina
Outback	LSU vs. Iowa	Jan. 1 @ 1 p.m.	ESPN	LSU
Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO	Michigan St. vs. Stanford	Jan. 1 @ 5 p.m.	ESPN	Michigan St.
Tostitos Fiesta	Baylor vs. UCF	Jan. 1 @ 8:30 p.m.	ESPN	Baylor
Allstate Sugar	Alabama vs. Oklahoma	Jan. 2 @ 8:30 p.m.	ESPN	Alabama
Discover Orange	Clemson vs. Ohio St.	Jan. 3 @ TBD	ESPN	Clemson
AT&T Cotton	Missouri vs. Oklahoma St.	Jan. 3 @ 7:30 p.m.	FOX	Missouri
BBA Compass	Houston vs. Vanderbilt	Jan. 4 @ 1 p.m.	ESPN	Houston
GoDaddy	Arkansas St. vs. Ball St.	Jan. 5 @ 9 p.m.	ESPN	Ball St.
VIZIO BCS National Championship	Florida St. vs. Auburn	Jan. 6 @ 8:30 p.m.	ESPN	Florida St.

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl: Pittsburgh (6-6) over Bowling Green (10-3)

Pittsburgh stumbled through ACC play and just barely qualified for a bowl appearance, but the Panthers lucked out by drawing a vulnerable Bowling Green squad.

The Falcons rank eighth in the NCAA in total defense, but that stat requires some context. Northern Illinois was the only ranked team Bowling Green even faced this season, and though the Falcons won that game to take the MAC championship, they also fell to Indiana and Mississippi State earlier in the season.

They deserved to win 10 games, but judging them solely on their record overrates them.

Pitt will still have some difficulties scoring on Bowling Green, but it has enough weapons to get by. Senior Tom Savage is a veteran presence under center, Isaac Bennett and James Conner provide a two-pronged rushing attack and Tyler Boyd is a game-breaking receiver as a true freshman.

After facing Florida State in the opener, Pitt won't be intimidated by the Falcons now. The Panthers have enough talent to win, regardless of its opponent's record.

New Era Pinstripe Bowl: Rutgers (6-6) over Notre Dame (8-4)

The Fighting Irish aren't built to win a bowl game in the Northeast.

New York City isn't exactly the frozen tundra, but an extended forecast calls for temperatures in the low 40s, at best, on December 28. That won't make matters easy for Tommy Rees at quarterback, especially because Notre Dame doesn't have an established runner to support him.

Notre Dame's top rusher, Cam McDaniel, had just 625 yards and three touchdowns this season; he became better known for being good-looking than for being good at football.

Three other backs have run for over 200 yards, but the Irish have just 10 rushing touchdowns as a team. If the cold impacts the Notre Dame passing game at all, the running game can't reliably take over.

Gary Nova is by no means Rees' equal, but Paul James gives the Scarlet Knights a steady option in the backfield. As the underdog, Rutgers is going to want an ugly game, one in which it is better suited to win.

Liberty Bowl: Rice (10-3) over Mississippi State (6-6)

A .500 record in the SEC is greater than a .500 record in any other conference, which is enough to make Mississippi State the favorite over a Rice team with four more wins.

That said, the Bulldogs are still worse than their record indicates.

They needed consecutive overtime wins over Arkansas and Ole Miss to even finish 6-6. In regulation, Mississippi State's victories have come in blowouts over Alcorn State and Troy, along with tight wins over Bowling Green and Kentucky by a combined seven points.

Rice's Conference USA schedule isn't very impressive, either, but that's less of an issue by comparison.

The Owls know how they want to play, and they will execute their triple-option attack regardless of opponent. They run for 240.2 yards per game, and if Charles Ross and company get rolling, the Bulldogs won't be able to stop them.

Alamo Bowl: Texas (8-4) over Oregon (10-2)

In Mack Brown's Texas finale, the Longhorns will not be denied—especially not against an Oregon team that has not looked itself of late.

Prior to the Ducks' matchup with Stanford, they had won each of their first eight games, scoring at least 42 points in each game and winning by at least 21. In their last four games, Oregon is 2-2, topping that 42-point mark just once. One-time Heisman candidate Marcus Mariota also threw all four of his interceptions this season in the past two games.

The vaunted Oregon offense is at its shakiest, and Brown's players will be ready to shut it down.

For all the miscues Texas had in its 1-2 start, the Longhorns have found their footing with the ground attack, preferring to pound the ball with Johnathan Gray and Malcolm Brown rather than overexert Case McCoy, rushing for 24 touchdowns this season against just 11 McCoy passing scores.

If the Longhorns can protect the ball and further limit Oregon's offense, they'll dictate the outcome of their beloved coach's last game.