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Bowl projections: Notre Dame could go from BCS to Pizza Bowl

Here are our latest bowl projections for the last season with the BCS in place.

Last week's results produced a huge shakeup in the projections. The projection now is the ACC, Pac-12 and SEC will have two teams apiece in the BCS. The projection is Northern Illinois will get a second consecutive BCS berth, too.

Fresno State is unbeaten and No. 14 in this week's BCS standings. BCS rules stipulate that if a team from a non-automatic qualifying conference (Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt) finishes in the top 12 of the final BCS standings or finishes in the top 16 of the final BCS standings and is ranked ahead of a league champ from an automatic qualifying conference, the non-AQ team is guaranteed a spot. Fresno State is three spots ahead of UCF -- the front-runner in the AAC -- this week.

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But Northern Illinois also is unbeaten and one spot behind Fresno State. As with Fresno, NIU should be favored in the rest of its games. There is one difference: NIU plays better teams the rest of the way, starting Wednesday night with a huge MAC West showdown against nine-win Ball State. NIU also has to face six-win Toledo. NIU  could play an eight- or nine-win team in the MAC championship game, too. Fresno's best remaining regular-season foe is five-win San Jose State, but the Bulldogs could get Boise State in the Mountain West championship game. Fresno already beat Boise once this season.

A game to watch Saturday is Georgia at Auburn. Auburn (9-1) is in good shape for a BCS at-large berth assuming the Tigers finish with two losses. Considering they still have Alabama on the schedule, a loss to Georgia could end any BCS hopes.

Also important is Stanford's game at USC. The Cardinal is the frontrunner in the Pac-12 North, but a loss to the Trojans would put Stanford a game behind Oregon in the division.

The final BCS standings will be released Dec. 8.

Remember that a bowl's tie-in with a league doesn't necessarily mean it will get the third- or fourth-, etc., place team from the league; instead, it means it gets the third or fourth, etc., selection from that league.

BCS MATCHUPS

ROSE BOWL

FIESTA BOWL

SUGAR BOWL

ORANGE BOWL

BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

THE OTHER BOWLS

NEW MEXICO BOWL

LAS VEGAS BOWL

FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL

NEW ORLEANS BOWL

BEEF 'O' BRADY'S BOWL

HAWAII BOWL

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LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA BOWL

POINSETTIA BOWL

MILITARY BOWL

TEXAS BOWL

KRAFT FIGHT HUNGER BOWL

PINSTRIPE BOWL

BELK BOWL

RUSSELL ATHLETIC BOWL

BUFFALO WILD WINGS BOWL

ARMED FORCES BOWL

MUSIC CITY BOWL

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ALAMO BOWL

HOLIDAY BOWL

ADVOCARE V100 BOWL

SUN BOWL

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LIBERTY BOWL

CHICK-FIL-A BOWL

HEART OF DALLAS BOWL

GATOR BOWL

CAPITAL ONE BOWL

OUTBACK BOWL

COTTON BOWL

BBVA COMPASS BOWL

GODADDY.COM BOWL

Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.