2012 – 13 NCAA football bowl games The 2012 – 13 NCAA football bowl games is a series of college football bowl game s . They will conclude the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season , and include 35 team - competitive games and two all - star games . The games began on Saturday December 15 , 2012 and , aside from the all - star games , concluded with the 2013 BCS National Championship Game in Miami Gardens , Florida that was played on January 7 , 2013 . Selection of the teams . Bowl - eligibility contingency plan . As per 2010 and 2011 , initial bowl eligibility would go to teams with no lower than a non - losing record ( 6 - 6 ) for the season . On August 2 , 2012 , the NCAA Division I Board of Directors approved a significant change to the process to determine bowl eligible teams , going so far as to potentially allow 5 - 7 teams to go to a bowl , in case there were not enough regular bowl - eligible teams to fill every game . If a bowl has one or more conferences / teams unable to meet their contractual commitments and there are no available bowl - eligible teams , the open spots can be filled – by the particular bowl ' s sponsoring agencies – as follows : This process was created as a number of schools were banned , self - banned or potentially banned from the 2012 bowls , risking unfilled bowl games under the previous process : Ohio State , Penn State , North Carolina and UCF received bowl bans for this season ( UCF ' s appeal hearing has been delayed until 2013 , keeping them eligible this season ) , while there were unresolved NCAA cases examining Oregon and Miami ( Miami has self - imposed a bowl ban for both 2011 and 2012 ) . Note : Georgia Tech lost in the ACC Championship Game to go 6 - 7 on the season . Georgia Tech applied for a waiver , distinct from the bowl - eligibility contingency plan , stating that they were forced to play the ACC Championship Game because higher finishing Miami self - imposed a postseason ban in a bid to lessen possible NCAA sanctions resulting from their school ' s 2011 athletics scandal . ( North Carolina , which also finished ahead of Georgia Tech , was ineligible to participate due to NCAA sanctions . ) The NCAA granted Georgia Tech the waiver and direct , non - contingent , eligibility for bowl play . Bowl Championship Series . Ten teams were selected for the Bowl Championship Series : Conference Champions At - Large Bids Number of bowl berths available : 70 < br > Bowl eligibility . Eligible . Number of teams assured of bowl eligibility : 72 ( 71 plus 6 – 7 Georgia Tech , per NCAA waiver ) Bowl eligible teams that did not receive a bid : 2 Note : On Friday , November 30 , Louisiana Tech was invited to play in the Independence Bowl but asked for more time as they were in negotiations with the Liberty Bowl and Heart of Dallas Bowl . Louisiana Tech athletic director Bruce Van De Velde and WAC commissioner Jeff Hurd both claimed that on Saturday , December 1 , the Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart guaranteed the Bulldogs a bowl invite . After the Independence Bowl ' s deadline for Louisiana Tech to accept their invitation passed , the Independence Bowl selected the MAC ' s Ohio ( 8 - 4 ) instead . On Sunday , December 2 , the Liberty Bowl extended their remaining bid to Iowa State ( 6 - 6 ) instead of Louisiana Tech ( 9 - 3 ) . The Bulldogs did not end up playing in any bowl game despite boasting the nation ' s top scoring offense . Number of teams assured of bowl ineligibility : 52 ( since the above noted bowl - eligibility contingency plan was not required ) New bowl sponsors . The Champs Sports Bowl , in Orlando , is now the Russell Athletic Bowl . The Insight Bowl , held in Tempe , Arizona , is now the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl . The TicketCity Bowl has been renamed the Heart of Dallas Bowl ; its new sponsor is Plains Capital Bank . Moratorium on new bowl games . The NCAA has placed a three - year moratorium , starting with the 2011 - 12 bowl season , on any new bowl games . This follows the addition of two new games ( Pinstripe Bowl , TicketCity Bowl ) for the 2010 - 11 bowl season , bringing the total number of bowl games to 35 . The expansion to 70 teams required to fill these 35 bowl games has challenged the ability to actually find enough teams with winning ( 7 - 5 or better ) records to fill bowl slots . Teams with non - winning ( 6 - 6 ) and losing ( 6 - 7 ) records have participated in bowl games since the expansion to 35 games . As discussed above ( " Bowl - eligibility contingency plan " ) , the NCAA was forced to anticipate a need to allow teams with even worse ( 5 - 7 ) losing records to fill bowl selection slots in 2012 - 13 . Schedule . The bowl game schedule was released July 10 , 2012 . On December 2 , 2012 , the final BCS standings were announced and teams were officially selected for the various bowl games . NOTES : < br > * All times are EST ( UTC −5 ) . " < br > * " Rankings are from final BCS Poll .