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Bowl projections 2012: ESPN projects USC for Alamo Bowl, UCLA to Holiday Bowl

Both the Trojans and Bruins are in line to face teams from the Big 12 if ESPN's bowl predictions come to fruition.

By Ronald Clark
Jeff Gross

The USC Trojans lost in a shootout to Oregon over the weekend. The UCLA Bruins blew out the Arizona Wildcats. Both results altered how both teams are looked at in terms of where they are projected to play once bowl season rolls around.

ESPN now predicts the Trojans will be in the Valero Alamo bowl in a game against a member of the Big 12. As of now, ESPN has either the Texas Tech Red Raiders or the Oklahoma St. Cowboys facing the Trojans. One thing is certain, if the Trojans face the Red Raiders it could rival the offensive explosion against the Ducks, due to the Red Raiders having one of the top offenses in the country.

Meanwhile, UCLA is in line to face a member of the Big 12 in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl. ESPN has the Bruins facing either the West Virginia Mountaineers or the TCU Horned Frogs. The game against TCU would pit two similar teams against one another and the game against the Mountaineers will be a battle between the Mountaineers' offense and the Bruins' defense.

UCLA is where it should be at this stage in the year, but the preseason No. 1 Trojans will be settling for a bowl game they never saw themselves playing in when the season started.