Updated Bowl Projections - through Week 9

The ninth week of the college football proved to be quite significant in terms of shaping the national title race. Well, actually, Week 9 probably complicated the national title picture more than anything else when Southern California was upset on the road by the Beavers of Oregon State University. It would seem that there could be a melee amongst the one loss teams to vie for a spot opposite of the Ohio State-Michigan winner in the BCS Title Game. Of course, the winner of the Big East Conference just might have something to say about that! There were also several other key games in conferences across the country that brought some teams closer to bowl eligibility, which could help some conferences fill all of their bowl slots.

So, here are the Total System Failure updated bowl projections...and again, these are projections based on how I see the rest of the year playing out. Also, I went ahead and assumed that Rutgers would win its Sunday night showdown with Connecticut in order to expedite the process for making these projections.

Note: Teams labeled with a '*' indicate teams being selected for a bowl game due to a conference not having enough bowl eligible teams.

Poinsetta Bowl (MWC #2/3 vs. At-Large): Utah vs. Northern Illinois
Las Vegas Bowl (Pac-10 #4 vs. MWC #1): Arizona State vs. Brigham Young
New Orleans Bowl (Sun Belt #1 vs. C-USA): Middle Tennessee State vs. East Carolina
New Mexico Bowl (MWC #4 vs. WAC): New Mexico vs. Nevada
Birmingham Bowl (MAC/Big East vs. C-USA): Cincinnati vs. Southern Miss
Armed Forces Bowl (MWC #2/3 vs. C-USA #4): Texas Christian vs. UTEP
Hawaii Bowl (Pac-10 #6 vs WAC): South Florida* vs. Hawaii
Motor City Bowl (MAC vs. Big 10 #7): Ohio vs. South Carolina*
Emerald Bowl (ACC #4/5 vs. Pac-10 #4/5): Wake Forest vs. Oregon State
Independence Bowl (Big 12 #7/8 vs. SEC #8): Kansas State vs. Kentucky
Texas Bowl (Big 12 vs. Big East/C-USA): Oklahoma State vs. Rutgers
Holiday Bowl (Pac-10 #2 vs. Big 12 #3): Oregon vs. Texas A&M
Champs Sports Bowl (Big 10 #4/5 vs. ACC #4): Purdue vs. Virginia Tech
Music City Bowl (SEC #6 vs. ACC #5/6): Georgia vs. Miami(FL)
Sun Bowl (Big 12/Big East vs. Pac-10 #3): Louisville vs. Washington State
Insight Bowl (Big 12 #4/5 vs. Big 10 #6): Texas Tech vs. Indiana
Alamo Bowl (Big 12 #4/5 vs. Big 10 #4/5): Missouri vs. Iowa
Liberty Bowl (C-USA #1 vs. SEC): Tulsa vs. Alabama
Meineke Car Care Bowl (Big East/Navy vs. ACC #5/6): Navy vs. Florida State
Chik-Fil-A Bowl (ACC #2 vs. SEC #5): Clemson vs. Auburn
MPC Computers Bowl (WAC vs. ACC #8): San Jose State vs. Maryland
Gator Bowl (ACC #3 vs. Big 12/Big East): Georgia Tech vs. Nebraska
Cotton Bowl (SEC vs. Big 12 #2): Arkansas vs. Oklahoma
Outback Bowl (SEC vs. Big 10 #3): LSU vs. Penn State
Capital One Bowl (SEC vs. Big 10 #2): Tennessee vs. Wisconsin
International Bowl (MAC #3 vs. Big East #4/5): Western Michigan vs. Pittsburgh
GMAC Bowl (C-USA #2 vs. MAC): Houston vs. Central Michigan

Rose Bowl: California vs. Michigan
Fiesta Bowl: Texas vs. Boise State
Orange Bowl: Boston College vs. Southern California
Sugar Bowl: Notre Dame vs. Florida
BCS Title Game: West Virginia vs. Ohio State