Bowl Projections: Who'd Go to the BCS Bowls If There Were No Auto-Bids?

In the world of college football, we have the BCS bowl organization system. Within four different stadiums we have five bowls that pit the top teams in the nation against each other every year. 

The National Championship rotates between the four bowl stadiums of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, and the Orange Bowl in Miami. The BCS is a somewhat simple system of placing teams in specific bowls based on their conference and rank.

The National Championship is the simplest, taking No. 1 and pitting them against No. 2. The Orange Bowl always has the ACC Champion against an at-large bid. The Rose Bowl is the Pac-12 victor versus the Big Ten winner. The Sugar Bowl takes the SEC Champion and places them against an at-large bid. Finally, the Fiesta Bowl matches up the Big 12 Champion versus an at-large bid. Furthermore, one of the at-large bids must be the Big East Champion.  

There are exceptions for when the any one of those champions is in the National Title Game, taking a secondary university instead. For example, the Rose Bowl last year was Wisconsin (Big Ten Champ) against TCU (at-large) because undefeated Oregon was attending the National Championship.

Additionally, the BCS prevents more than two universities from each conference from coming to BCS bowls, forcing conferences like the SEC to restrain teams that might deserve to be in one but can't because of the two team limit.

If the whole system was changed though so that the Top Ten teams in the nation played in each bowl instead of having the two team rule or the auto-bids for where teams play, where would everyone end up?

We take a look at what the BCS Bowls would like if the system was a little more fair.  

The Orange Bowl

The Orange Bowl would feature the No. 8 Clemson Tigers and the No. 10 Houston Cougars. Based on the fact that there are many repeat conferences in the top 10 right now, Clemson will get to take the ACC's usual spot in Miami.

This would be a great matchup to watch, especially between Tajh Boyd and and Case Keenum. These two strong QB's would lead their teams flawlessly, and the contest would ultimately be determined by a couple defensive plays.

Houston versus Clemson would represent an AQ against a non-AQ matchup, replacing the normal TCU or Boise State that we've seen the past few years. 

The Rose Bowl

After losing to Oregon yesterday, the No. 9 Stanford Cardinal would get its chance to prove itself against No. 7 Virginia Tech. The Rose Bowl would be the perfect matchup for these two, bringing both one loss teams to the warm shores of California.

Virginia Tech's only loss has been to Clemson while Stanford just lost to Oregon, making them both the second best team in their conferences. The Hokies' strong win over Georgia Tech really gives them a boost in ACC play. 

Stanford has the top Heisman candidate in the nation in QB Andrew Luck, who still has yet to prove that he can win a big game. The Oregon loss really hurts his chances despite the big numbers he put up on the Ducks.

The Fiesta Bowl

If there were not auto-bids for teams, the SEC would get three bids into the BCS Bowls. No. 6 Arkansas would take a visit to Arizona to face the No. 5 Oklahoma Sooners in what would be one of the best matchups of the season.

Oklahoma and Arkansas both are just shy of title hopes due to their singular losses, both losing to teams that they certainly had the means to triumph over. The Sooners and the Razorbacks powerful offenses along with their stagnant defenses would make the game unpredictable.

Overall, however, Stoops and company losing WR Ryan Broyles would be a huge disparity for their offensive production. Missing a threat like him would make it much more difficult to not only throw deep, but run because the Razorbacks will be stacking the box.

The Sugar Bowl

The Sugar Bowl would happily take No. 3 Alabama and No. 4 Oregon. One of the most explosive offenses in the nation facing off against one of the most potent defenses would certainly provide some big time headlines and coverage.

New Orleans would be swarmed with Tide and Duck fans, making way for a great matchup. As one of the top defenses out there, the Tide would focus their attention on containing QB Darron Thomas and RB LaMichael James while Oregon's offense would push to find holes in seemingly impenetrable wall of the Tide defense.

Seeing if the Duck offense could find a way around such a strong defense would be extremely fun to watch, especially since Chip Kelly and Nick Saban are so in-tune with their teams as of late.  

The National Championship

The No. 1 LSU Tigers would take on the No. 2 Oklahoma State Cowboys in their home state of Louisiana. Again, this matchup would feature one of the strongest offenses in the country against a defense that has refused to give all year. 

QB Brandon Weeden and the Cowboy offense have been strong all year, coming back from down against multiple teams to defeat tough opponents. The LSU defense hasn't budged though, coming up with stop after stop against some of the best SEC opponents in the country.

This would not only be OSU's first National Championship visit, but also their first BCS Bowl overall. Mike Gundy's defense has come up with stops when they needed them while the offense has performed consistently all year. Les Miles and the LSU Tigers would be the toughest team they faced all year, making this the best game on the list.