Bowl Projections: The 5 Most Important Games Left Before the Bowl Season

Rivalry week may be over and all of our stomachs may be crammed with as much food as possible, but there's still a lot of college football left to be played before bowl season rolls around.

Many of those games will determine where teams end up in a bowl picture that is just beginning to take shape, finalizing a year that has been crazier than most. All of the Conference Champions have yet to be determined and the five BCS Bowls are waiting on who will finish out on top.

The five strongest football conferences all are yet to know who will win their title, smoothing out that complication early this December. We take a look at what five games next weekend will finalize this year's bowl outlook.  

Conference USA Championship

The Houston Cougars, one of the two remaining undefeated squads in the nation, take on a strong Southern Miss team in the Conference USA Championship. 

QB Case Keenum, one of the top Heisman candidates, has led the Cougars on a magical trip through this season, defeating every opponent by a huge margin (except Louisiana Tech). Houston has jumped into the Top Ten in the BCS, stunning the country as they prepare for one of the two at-large bids. 

They take on Southern Miss in the C-USA Championship before they can secure one of those spots. They can't get ahead of themselves if they want to make it into a BCS Bowl. The Golden Eagles are no joke and will provide ample competition for a squad that has slid through the year virtually untouched. 

Watch out for Houston to get in trouble against an explosive Southern Miss offense early if they overlook their C-USA foes. One of the few teams in the opposite division that UH didn't take on this season, the Golden Eagles have nothing to lose and everything to gain in this matchup. 

ACC Championship

The Hokies have only one loss on this season, falling mid-year to Clemson. Now, the two rematch in the ACC Championship this weekend.

Clemson is a different team this time around, however, having lost three times since that game early this season. Georgia Tech, NC State, and South Carolina all put up big numbers on the formerly top ranked Tigers, knocking them down to No. 17 in the nation. 

For the ACC Championship, this rematch certainly looks like it will have a much different outcome than the first time around. QB Logan Thomas has outperformed every offense since meeting Tajh Boyd and is looking to continue into the bowl season as the winner of this game will move onto Miami.

Big Ten Championship

Most of us know how the first time these two played went. For those of you that don't, here's how it went down.

Wisconsin was looking extremely solid and rolled into East Lansing looking to beat down the one-loss Spartans and move on. QB Kirk Cousins had different plans as his green and white held down the Badgers to a tie into the final seconds of the game.

On a hail mary down field as time expired in the fourth quarter, the Badgers and the Spartans both tipped the ball till it fell into an MSU players hands who promptly forced his way into the end zone. MSU knocked off the top ranked Badgers in a stunning upset.

Since then, Cousins and company have only fallen once to Nebraska. Meanwhile, the Badgers have only dropped one to Ohio State. WIth both two-loss squads heading into the inaugural Big Ten Championship in a rematch for the ages, fireworks should erupt from Lucas Oil Stadium this next weekend.  

SEC Championship

Here's the basics: LSU and Alabama have pretty much secured their spots at the BCS table, most likely looking to rematch against each other in the National Championship. With LSU's commanding win over Arkansas on Friday and Bama's big win in the Iron Bowl yesterday, both squads are locks in the BCS.

However, LSU still has to deal with Georgia in the SEC Championship to make sure they hold onto the SEC Title. If they are able to do so, all is well and the Tide and the Tigers will be the only two teams in the BCS from the SEC.

However, let's say the Bulldogs upset the thriving Tigers in the Championship matchup. LSU still has enough clout to remain in the BCS Championship with Alabama, but they wouldn't be the SEC Champion, Georgia would. BCS regulations require that the conference champion from each of the six major conferences attend a BCS Bowl. 

With that exception, Alabama and LSU would face off in the Title game while Georgia would handle the Sugar Bowl, placing not two, but three SEC teams in the BCS. Most people are overlooking this game as unimportant being that either way LSU ends up in a BCS Bowl, but it is in fact one of the most important championships this year.

With a Georgia victory, we could see three squads from the same conference make the BCS for the first time in history and that has to mean something.  

The Bedlam Brawl

The game was hallowed as the second apocalypse after "the game of the century" just a few weeks ago, but now is being slightly overlooked by fans and analysts alike. A few weeks ago, however, OSU was still undefeated and OU still only had one loss to Texas Tech.

Now, things are different. The Cowboys fell to Iowa State in what may be the upset of the year while the Sooners let another lowly team beat them, allowing Baylor to take down Stoops and company.

The Bedlam Brawl, though, is still extremely important. The winner will be the Big 12 Conference Champion, winning not only the state but also the right to attend the Fiesta Bowl. Last season, Stoops and Gundy fought it out in Norman in a supercharged offensive battle for the ages. The Sooners prevailed at home, taking the right to hit up the Big 12 Championship and then finally head to Arizona.

This year the Cowboys look for revenge at home. With a victory, they will not only win the conference for the first time ever, but they will also head to a BCS Bowl for the very first time as well. OSU has stood in OU's shadow for a while now and is gladly looking to step into the spotlight in one of the most influential Bedlam Brawls ever.