Jan 5, 2013; Miami FL, USA; A detailed view of the Coaches Trophy during media day for the BCS Championship game to be played between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The college football season is a few months away, but the analysis and predictions are already beginning to roll in for the 2013 season. The latest predictions give us a look at who may be matched up in the top BCS bowls. As you would expect, the Alabama Crimson Tide and Ohio State Buckeyes are the overwhelming favorites to make it to the BCS title game, but there are some very intriguing match ups in the remaining bowl games.

Here are the BCS bowl projections from Jerry Palm of CBS Sports:

BCS National Championship
Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Ohio State Buckeyes

Orange Bowl
Florida State Seminoles vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Sugar Bowl
Texas A&M Aggies vs. Clemson Tigers

Fiesta Bowl
Texas Longhorns vs. Louisville Cardinals

Rose Bowl
Nebraska Cornushkers vs. Stanford Cardinal

You can read Palm’s projections for all 35 bowl games here on CBS.com.

The Longhorns vs. Cardinals and Aggies vs. Tigers match ups would be especially intriguing. The high-powered offenses would light up the scoreboard and we would get a chance to see three of the nation’s top signal-callers in action — Teddy Bridgewater (Louisville), Tajh Boyd (Clemson) and Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M).

What do you think of the predictions and what games are you looking forward to seeing the most if they would come to fruition? Sound off in the comments section and share your thoughts.

Jan 7, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban holds the Coaches Trophy after the 2013 BCS Championship game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Sun Life Stadium. Alabama won 42-14. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

It should come as exactly no surprise that the Alabama Crimson Tide are the odds-on favorites to win the BCS National Championship for the third consecutive year. Following spring ball, the odds makers have unveiled their very early list of betting odds for the upcoming year and Nick Saban’s squad topped the list.

Coming in second was the Ohio State Buckeyes, who went undefeated just a season ago, but were ineligible for the postseason.

The Oregon Ducks are near the top of the list, despite the loss of Chip Kelly, and a number of teams in the SEC follow — what else would you expect?

Here is the complete list of odds for the 2013 BCS title, via Bovada.lv:

• Alabama 3/1
• Ohio State 13/2
• Oregon 7/1
• Texas A&M 8/1
• Georgia 16/1
• Stanford 16/1
• LSU 18/1
• Florida 20/1
• Louisville 22/1
• Clemson 25/1
• Florida State 28/1
• Miami 28/1
• Notre Dame 28/1
• South Carolina 28/1
• Michigan 33/1
• Oklahoma State 33/1
• Texas 33/1
• Nebraska 50/1
• Oklahoma 50/1
• UCLA 50/1
• USC 50/1
• TCU 66/1
• Wisconsin 66/1
• Boise State 100/1
• Michigan State 100/1
• Oregon State 100/1
• Mississippi 125/1
• North Carolina 150/1
• Northwestern 150/1
• Virginia Tech 150/1
• Washington 150/1
• Auburn 200/1
• BYU 200/1
• California 200/1
• Cincinnati 200/1
• Georgia Tech 200/1
• Kansas State 200/1
• Mississippi State 200/1
• Pittsburgh 200/1
• Rutgers 200/1
• Arizona 250/1
• Arkansas 250/1
• Iowa 250/1
• Tennessee 250/1
• Missouri 300/1
• West Virginia 300/1
• Boston College 500/1
• South Florida 500/1

Jan 7, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te’o in the BCS National Championship Game against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Mandatory Photo Credit: USA Today Sports

Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te’o had all of the makings of a top twenty pick heading into the BCS National Championship against the Alabama Crimson Tide, but then everything came crashing down. Now, there are those who question whether Te’o should even be a first-round pick. Alabama’s dominant line was able to render Te’o useless and exposed the major flaws in his game.

Almost immediately after the game, a Deadspin report surfaced that showed the story of his girlfriend’s death was a total fraud, and people began to question Te’o even more.

Te’o understands that people will look at the Alabama take because it is the top team he faced during his college career, but he doesn’t want to be defined by that one game.It was the worst game he has ever had and, but Te’o wants talent evaluators to use all of his game film instead of focusing on those sixty minutes.

“It’s a little frustrating that people look at one game and say that was the closest thing to an NFL team that I had faced, not giving credit to all the other teams that I played,” Te’o told the Detroit Lions official website. “So you’re saying Stanford isn’t an NFL team; Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue and USC. [Alabama] is definitely a game I didn’t do as well as I could have, but it’s not something I felt could define my career at Notre Dame.”

When you consider everything that Te’o had on his mind heading in to the game with the story of his girlfriend about to be reported, you can understand why he may have looked unfocused and unprepared, but that shouldn’t be used as an excuse.

Te’o needs to do better than that and he needs to keep his emotions in check.

While he was dominated in the Alabama game, he was also the only player on that Notre Dame defense that Alabama was game-planning for. Their focus was to shut down Te’o and force the others to make plays, and that is exactly what they did with no one else stepping up.

Te’o can be better.

He has shown all draft season that he is dedicated to improving himself on and off the field, so an NFL general manager should feel comfortable making Te’o their first-round selection.

Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

The Alabama Crimson Tide repeated as National Champions back in January but things apparently weren’t as easy as they appeared. Despite Rolling Tide all the way to a title, Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron played the last six games of the college football season, including the SEC and National Championship games, with a rib injury.

“I had three ribs come out of place,” McCarron told ESPN.com earlier this week. “They kept popping in and out of place, the one at the top, and it was just a nagging pain the whole time.”

McCarron said that he suffered the injury all the way back on October 27th in a game against Mississippi State which explains why he looked so mortal against the LSU Tigers and Texas A&M Aggies. The game after suffering the rib injury, McCarron struggled through much of Alabama’s game against LSU before leading them back to win. The following game, things didn’t go as swimmingly as the Tide dropped their first and only game of the season in a loss to Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M.

“I couldn’t throw much during the week for a long time, really almost up to the bowl game,” McCarron admitted. “I was hurting really bad through the week, and it just took a long time for those ribs to heal.”

McCarron said that the five weeks between winning the SEC Championship and playing in the BCS National Championship allowed him to heal but he still wasn’t 100 percent when the Tide took on the Notre Dame Irish. However, McCarron played one of his best games of the season against the Irish, throwing for four touchdowns in the win.

“When it first happened, I still tried to throw some so our timing wouldn’t fall off that much in our passing game,” McCarron said. “That’s one of the things that kind of put a damper on our passing game a little. I was injured, and we had so many receivers injured, so it was hard to do a whole lot in practice. That kind of threw us off a little, but we still kept it going.”

Barring another injury, McCarron and the Tide will be going for a historic three-peat this season but as he proved in 2012 even if his ribs aren’t in the right place inside his body, nothing can stop McCarron or the Crimson Tide.

Sep 11, 2011; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; American model Kate Upton on the field before the game between the New York Jets and the Dallas Cowboys at Met Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

The BCS National Championship was an absolute snoozefest, but some lovely ladies kept the night interesting. First, it was ESPN analyst Brent Musburger’s creepy commentary regarding Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron’s girlfriend and then model Kate Upton created a stir on the Twittersphere by taking a jab at the New York Jets.

Yes, even during the national championship the Jets are the butt of all the jokes.

With the Notre Dame Fighting Irish being blown out of the water, Upton made the connection that Notre Dame fans and Jets fans could sympathize with each other because of the poor on-field performance.

Here is the brilliance of Kate Upton:

It’s okay Notre Dame this happened to the Jets every week

— Kate Upton (@KateUpton) January 8, 2013

Ouch. Talk about a low blow.

There was one difference between Notre Dame’s offensive performance and the Jets, however. At least the Notre Dame offense wasn’t turning the ball over on every other occasion. This was simply a national title game to forget.

Since the game was brutal to watch, we leave you with some of the greatness that is Kate Upton:

For the game, Alabama will be rocking some new Nike Pro Combat uniforms but they won’t be the only ones with some spanking new accessories.

Notre Dame will be rocking the Adizero 5-star 2.0 glove from none other Adidas for the game. The gloves look rather plain, but it’s still a sharp design and a brilliant promo photo for the gloves. Here is a look:

Of course, the gloves won’t make a difference on the field, but it never hurts to look good.

While all of us here at FanSided are excited for the game, there is a Notre Dame fan who has taken his excitement for the game to another level. A fan of the Fighting Irish pained his lawn to resemble a football field with the Notre Dame logo to show his support of his favorite college team.

Check out this fan’s work of art:

Photo via Reddit

Now that is dedication! Be sure to stay tuned to FanSided for coverage of tonight’s BCS National Championship game and the latest sports news.

Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The BCS title game is a weekend away, and already the anxiety across the country is building. This isn’t a title game where a flashy young quarterback has lucked his team into the big game, or a matchup between to “second tier” programs. THis is a battle of historical titans, as Alabama and Notre Dame square off with everything on the line.

One of the reasons this matchup is so much better than ones we’ve had in the past, is the eclectic mix of fan bases involved. On the one hand, you have the Alabama fans, who are as rabid as any fans in the country and rival the loyalty of most NFL fan bases. If there’s one thing people should know about ‘Bama fans, it’s that you should probably not mess with them on game day.

On the other side we have Notre Dame fans, who pride themselves on intellect as much as they take pride in their historical football team. Irish fans aren’t nearly as ferocious as ‘Bama faithful, but once they get on a roll, even the Tide need to be mindful of Domer homers.

Mike Golic, from ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike in the Morning, is one of those Domer homers and regularly takes public pride in the fact that he’s Irish alumni. He also reguarly makes it known that his son happens to be following in his shoes, and is currently playing for the Irish, and will be representing the Golic’s in the title game on Monday.

When cameras followed the elder Golic into a diner in Conneticut, way far north of the Mason-Dixie line, he encountered an interesting site in a predominately Irish-friendly hang out.

Much to the surprise of Golic and his his posse, already sitting in the diner were two Alabama fans who were a long way from home.

Even better, the two fans — in rabid ‘Bama fan fashion– began chanting ‘Roll Tide’, never once fearing for their lives. It helps that the diner was full of overweight, middle aged men and it really helped that the two ‘Bama fans happened to be fairly attractive young women.

Golic and company took the jesting in stride, and even paid for the women’s food, but only on the condition that they switch their allegiance from Alabama to Notre Dame. The Alabama gals kindly refused to root for Notre Dame, but gladly accepted Golic’s offer to pay for their food. Gloc did manage to get a ‘Go Irish’ out of the fans, but they stuck to their Alabama guns.

In a sport that can feature some pretty nasty fan interactions, it’s nice, refreshing and a little odd to see rival fan-bases acting so civil towards one another. But like the BCS title game might go, when all the joking is put aside, the Irish ended up paying for the Tide’s lunch.

Is that an omen, or just a coincidence?

Sep 1, 2012; Arlington, TX, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide defensive end Quinton Dial (90) defensive end Damion Square (92) and defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan (8) during the game against the Michigan Wolverines at Cowboys Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Games are won and lost in the trenches. That is something football fans have heard day in and day out and it is a saying that has proved to have some truth. When the Notre Dame Fighting Irish face off against the Alabama Crimson Tide on January 7th in Miami for the BCS National Championship, the tough match ups in the trenches will prove to be a deciding factor in who takes home the trophy.

Alabama senior defensive end and co-captain Damion Square is preparing for a tough, physical battle from the Notre Dame offensive line.

“They’re a pretty good group. The center is a big, physical guy. All those guys have great size on them, great height. They protect the young guy back there pretty well. It’s definitely a game we’re going to have to strap it up and come to play. It’s power football,” said Square Those guys are coming at you and not trying to run around you. You have to bow your neck and get ready to go.”

This is the third national championship appearance of Square’s collegiate career, but he understands it will not be like the previous experiences.

“They’re all different,” Square said. “When you think about the bowl trips and the fun you have on the bowl trips, you try to imagine what you’re going to do this trip that will set it apart from others besides the game.

“But they’re all their own game. I’ve played in a few of them myself, but this one will be a different experience. Something will happen in the game or this bowl trip to make it more significant than the other ones or on another level.

We try to reach this point every year,. To work how we work, to get back to this point is exciting. It’s great. You always want to get paid what you work for. If you work like a champion you want to be in a championship game. I feel like we work like champions.”

Of course, while Square was discussing the upcoming game against Notre Dame, reporters couldn’t help but to ask him about the rumors of head coach Nick Saban bolting for the NFL.

“Wherever he goes, this is the effect he has on places,” Square said. “As long as he’s here, this program is going to be a significant program that can compete for a long time.

“Even if he isn’t, what he’s established here will go on for some time. We’re great players that are fortunate enough to get scholarships and come here and play in his system. We bought in and give credit to that guy to get 11 guys to buy into his system and play shutout football. We’re great players, and great players come to this university. And this university is great. But credit to Coach Saban and what he does here and the system he runs.”

Regardless of Saban’s future, he has built a heck of a football team thanks to players like Damion Square. When the Crimson Tide take on Notre Dame, they’ll be in for a physical contest that will put their dynasty to the test.

September 29, 2012; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide fans during the second quarter against the Mississippi Rebels at Bryant Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

While we were with our families over the holiday, we were all reminded about just how special the time with our loved ones can be. Christmas gives us an opportunity to give back to those around us for what they’ve done and one Alabama family had a special moment that they were lucky enough to capture on tape.

An Alabama Crimson Tide fan opened up his gift — a fedora like the one Bear Bryant used to wear. The ‘Bama fan was ecstatic over the gift he received from his son, but it only got better.

His son asked what size the hat was so that the father could see the rest of his present.

When the father looked inside his hat, he was overcome with joyous tears. Inside the hat were tickets to the BCS National Championship game between Alabama and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, which takes place on January 7th in Miami.

It’s a great moment to see on video and it’s one that I wanted to share with all of the readers. Hopefully your holidays were filled with this same kind of love and joy. Check out the video:

Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The Notre Dame Irish are a well under a month away from their epic title showdown with Alabama, and they got some encouraging news on the offensive end today. Head coach Brian Kelly announced that third-leading receiver DaVaris Daniels is on pace to make his return in the national championship game on January 7th.

Daniels suffered a broken clavicle in Notre Dame’s win over Boston College earlier this year. But when he sustained the injury, there was some minor hope that the Irish would get him back in time for the postseason.

Thanks to the hard play of the Irish, they gave their teammate the maximum amount of time to heal as the title game is the final major bowl game played in the BCS season.

“He looks really good,” Kelly said. “He’s going to be able to be a key contributor for us.”

Daniels doesn’t have a touchdown this season but he is the third best receiver on the Irish roster. He totaled 25 receptions for 375 yards before going down with the injury, but any kind of offensive help against an intense Alabama defense will be greatly appreciated.

At the moment, Daniels is transitioning from non-contact drills to full contact in practice. It’s not certain that he will be healthy enough to play, but with the Irish playing for the crown of college football, the motivation is already very much in place for Daniels to meet the deadline.