College football bowl predictions heading into Championship Week
By Staff
Rolling out the college football bowl predictions following Week 13 of the regular season.
Welcome to the weird, wild and sometimes frustrating world of college football. Why frustrating? Well, in a sport full of drama the postseason is terribly watered down.
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For example, this year we have 40 bowl games, meaning 80 teams reaching one final game. While that’s great for departing seniors (one last game!), it makes for less-than-stellar viewing. There are not, as of post, 80 teams at or above the .500 record required to make a bowl. This means, some teams will submit petitions to be included in Bowl Season.
For the purpose of this post, we have graded out all the bowls by their tie-ins (listed in parentheses after team names). In order to fill up the remaining allotment, we’ve assumed certain teams will win out and waivers will be doled out to other squads whom we think might be granted an extra game. All are denoted by the legend below.
With that, let’s get to the projections.
*Filling bowl vacancy for another conference’s allotment
**Assuming they win out
***Finished season with losing record, but admitted to a bowl via petition
| DATE | BOWL | TEAMS | |
| 12/19 | Cure | Tulsa (American) vs. Georgia State** (Sun Belt) | |
| 12/19 | New Mexico | New Mexico (MWC) vs. Kentucky*** (C-USA) | |
| 12/19 | Las Vegas | BYU (MWC or BYU) vs. UCLA (Pac-12) | |
| 12/19 | Camellia | Georgia Southern (Sun Belt) vs. Akron (MAC) | |
| 12/19 | New Orleans | Arkansas State (Sun Belt) vs. Minnesota*** (C-USA) | |
| 12/21 | Miami Beach | South Florida (American) vs. Central Michigan* (C-USA) | |
| 12/22 | Idaho Potato | Nevada (MWC) vs. Western Michigan (MAC) | |
| 12/22 | Boca Raton | Memphis (American) vs. Ohio (MAC) | |
| 12/23 | Poinsettia | Boise State (MWC) vs. Toledo (MAC) | |
| 12/23 | GoDaddy | Northern Illinois (MAC) vs. Appalachian State (Sun Belt) | |
| 12/24 | Bahamas | Bowling Green (MAC) vs. Marshall (C-USA) | |
| 12/24 | Hawaii | Cincinnati (American) vs. BYU San Diego State (MWC or BYU) | |
| 12/26 | St. Petersburg | UConn (American) vs. Middle Tennessee (C-USA) | |
| 12/26 | Sun | Miami (ACC) vs. Washington State (Pac-12) | |
| 12/26 | Heart of Dallas | Missouri*** (Big 12) vs. Southern Miss (C-USA) | |
| 12/26 | Pinstripe | Duke (ACC ) vs. Cal* (Big Ten Nos. 5-7) | |
| 12/26 | Independence | Virginia Tech (ACC) vs. Colorado State* (SEC No. 10) | |
| 12/26 | Foster Farms | USC (Pac-12) vs. Indiana (Big Ten) | |
| 12/28 | Military | Pittsburgh (ACC) vs. Navy (American) | |
| 12/28 | Quick Lane | Nebraska*** (Big Ten Nos. 8-9) vs. Arizona* (ACC Nos. 7-9) | |
| 12/29 | Arizona | Utah State (MWC) vs. W. Kentucky (C-USA) | |
| 12/29 | Armed Forces | Air Force (MWC) vs. Washington* (Big Ten) | |
| 12/29 | Russell Athletic | North Carolina (ACC) vs. Baylor (Big 12) | |
| 12/29 | Texas | Texas A&M (SEC) vs. Texas Tech (Big 12) | |
| 12/30 | Birmingham | Temple (American) vs. Auburn (SEC No. 9) | |
| 12/30 | Belk | Arkansas (SEC) vs. NC State (ACC) | |
| 12/30 | Music City | Mississippi State (SEC) vs. Penn State (Big Ten) | |
| 12/30 | Holiday | Utah (Pac-12) vs. Wisconsin (Big Ten) | |
| 12/31 | Peach | Michigan (at-large) vs. Houston (Group of 5) | |
| 1/1 | Outback | Northwestern (Big Ten) vs. Georgia (SEC) | |
| 1/1 | Citrus | Ole Miss (SEC) vs. Ohio State (Big Ten) | |
| 1/2 | TaxSlayer | LSU (SEC) vs. Louisville (ACC) | |
| 1/2 | Liberty | Tennessee (SEC) vs. West Virginia (Big 12) | |
| 1/2 | Alamo | TCU (Big 12) vs. Oregon (Pac-12) | |
| 1/2 | Cactus | Kansas State** (Big 12) vs. Arizona State (Pac-12) |
New Year’s Six
| DATE | BOWL | TEAMS | |
| 1/1 | Fiesta | Notre Dame (at-large) vs. Florida State (at-large) | |
| 1/1 | Rose | Michigan State (Big Ten) vs. Stanford (Pac-12) | |
| 1/1 | Sugar | Florida (SEC) vs. Oklahoma State (Big 12) |
College Football Playoff
| DATE | BOWL | TEAMS | |
| 12/31 | Cotton (semifinal) | Alabama (CFP No. 2) vs. Iowa (CFP No. 3) | |
| 12/31 | Orange (semifinal) | Clemson (CFP No. 1) vs. Oklahoma (CFP No. 4) |