Florida State vs Northern Illinois: This is an awful, awful matchup. Sometimes, a team just has too much talent for the other team. NIU QB Jordan Lynch will make a few plays, and FSU will feel the losses of Cornelius Carradine and Mark Stoops, but the talent gap is ridiculous. NIU lost to a terrible Iowa team. FSU 48-16

Florida vs Louisville: See above, with one exception. Louisville QB Teddy Bridgewater is the kind of player who can go off and keep them in the game for a lot longer than their talent level should, and Charlie Strong will get the most out of these guys. Gillislee runs for 150+ and UF salts the game away in second half. Florida 34-20

Wisconsin vs Stanford: Is any team more schizo lately than Wisconsin? Run for 562 on Indiana, lose in OT to OSU and PSU, run for 539 on Nebraska. Stanford's vaunted defense just allowed UCLA to run for 282 and quite frankly they are lucky to be in this game; UCLA should have won. Stanford gets just enough from Stepfon Taylor to keep Wisconsin pressing, and Wisconsin QB Curt Phillips will throw a bad interception that ends their chances. Stanford 35-27

Oregon vs Kansas State: Can Collin Klein do enough? People think Kansas State was exposed by Baylor, but it appears that they just had a bad night on a night when Baylor played over their heads. Kansas State has a good front seven that can run and tackle. So did Ohio State, LSU, Auburn, and Stanford. They all beat Oregon using this formula. Klein has to play a marvelous game for Kansas State to win. He will, and it won't be enough. Oregon's run game won't work like it normally does but Marcus Mariota will save the day. Oregon 41-34

Alabama vs Notre Dame: Saban gets a month to prepare his team for a ND team that is better than a lot of you think they are. Alabama will kick FGs instead of score TDs early. The Irish will hang around, hang around, hang around...and then, boom. Alabama will crank up the intensity to another level and play to their talent level, and ND won't have an answer. Alabama 27-14

So I think the Fiesta has classic potential, Rose will be good, Sugar will be fun until Louisville gets worn down, BCSCG will be decent until Alabama stuffs their chances, and the Orange Bowl will be downright ugly and FSU leaves with an unfilfilling win.

This post was edited on 12/2/12 at 10:59 pm