With spring practices underway across the nation, there's no better time to take a way-too-early look at the 2012-13 bowl season.

Since some teams haven't officially opened spring drills yet, I will revisit these projections at the end of April/early May when all of the spring games/scrimmages are in the books. But for now, let's have some fun and look at some possible matchups next December and January.

Key

* Replacement team for a conference that does not have enough bowl-eligible teams.

Notes

The champions of specific conferences are contractually committed to certain bowls — unless they are No. 1 or No. 2 in the final BCS standings…

ACC = Orange; Big Ten = Rose; Big 12 = Fiesta; Pac-12 = Rose; SEC = Sugar

If a bowl loses a host team to the title game, then the bowl gets first choice at a replacement team. The rest of the selection order for 2012-13 is: Fiesta, Sugar and Orange.

If BYU is bowl-eligible, it will play in the Poinsettia Bowl.
If Army is bowl-eligible it will play in the Military Bowl.
If Navy is bowl-eligible, it will play in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

Non-BCS bowls

New Mexico: Air Force (MWC No. 4/5) vs. Arizona State (Pac-12 No. 7/WAC)

Famous Idaho Potato: Louisiana Tech (WAC) vs. Northern Illinois (MAC No. 3)

New Orleans: Troy (Sun Belt No. 1) vs. Houston (C-USA)

Beef 'O'Brady's: Central Florida (C-USA) vs. Cincinnati (Big East No. 6)

Poinsettia: Wyoming (MWC No. 2) vs. BYU (BYU)

Maaco: Boise State (MWC No. 1) vs. Cal (Pac-12 No. 5)

Hawaii: Hawaii (MWC/WAC) vs. East Carolina (C-USA)

Independence: Nevada (MWC No. 3) vs. Miami, FL (ACC No. 7) [Are Hurricanes looking at a bowl ban?]

Little Caesars: Miami, OH (MAC) vs. Northwestern (Big Ten No. 8)

Belk: South Florida (Big East No. 3) vs. Georgia Tech (ACC No. 5)

Military: Wake Forest (ACC No. 8) vs. Notre Dame* (Army)

Holiday: Utah (Pac-12 No. 3) vs. Baylor (Big 12 No. 5)

Champs Sports: Louisville (Big East No. 2) vs. Florida State (ACC No. 3)

Alamo: Stanford (Pac-12 No. 2) vs. Kansas State (Big 12 No. 3)

Armed Forces: Tulsa (C-USA) vs. San Diego State (MWC)

Pinstripe: Pittsburgh (Big East No. 4) vs. Iowa State (Big 12 No. 7)

Music City: N.C. State (ACC No. 6) vs. Missouri (SEC No. 7)

Insight: Texas (Big 12 No. 4) vs. Penn State (Big Ten No. 4/5)

Meineke Car Care of Texas: Illinois (Big Ten No. 6) vs. Texas Tech (Big 12 No. 6)

CONTINUE TO PAGE 2 FOR MORE BOWL PROJECTIONS, INCLUDING THE BCS MATCHUPS

Kraft Fight Hunger: Arizona (Pac-12 No. 6) vs. Navy (Navy)

Sun: Virginia (ACC No. 4) vs. Washington (Pac-12 No. 4)

Liberty: Southern Miss (C-USA No. 1) vs. Texas A&M (SEC No. 8/9 or Big East)

Chick-fil-A: Virginia Tech (ACC No. 2) vs. Florida (SEC No. 5)

TicketCity: Purdue (Big Ten No. 7) vs. SMU (C-USA)

Capital One: Georgia (SEC No. 2) vs. Nebraska (Big Ten No. 2)

Outback: Wisconsin (Big Ten No. 3) vs. Arkansas (SEC)

Gator: Iowa (Big Ten No. 4/5) vs. Auburn (SEC No. 6)

Cotton: Oklahoma State (Big 12 No. 2) vs. South Carolina (SEC)

BBVA Compass: Syracuse (Big East No. 5/C-USA) vs. Mississippi State (SEC No. 8/9)

GoDaddy.com: Toledo (MAC) vs. Arkansas State (Sun Belt No. 2)

BCS bowls

Jan. 1 Fiesta: West Virginia (Big 12 champ) vs. Oregon (BCS at-large)

Jan. 2 Rose: Michigan (Big Ten champ) vs. USC (Pac-12 champ)

Jan. 2 Sugar: Alabama (SEC champ) vs. Michigan State (BCS at-large)

Jan. 3 Orange: Clemson (ACC champ) vs. Rutgers (BCS at-large)

Jan. 7 BCS national championship (Miami): LSU (BCS No. 1) vs. Oklahoma (BCS No. 2)

So what matchups are you projecting this early in the offseason? Let me know.

Email dave.miller@nationalfootballpost.com or follow me on Twitter at Miller_Dave

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