College football bowl projections, Week 8
By John Buhler
Week 7 of the 2016 college football is all wrapped up. Here are the latest bowl projections entering Week 8 of the season.
CBSSports.com’s Jerry Lamb released his 2016 college football bowl projections entering Week 8. Not a lot has changed from the previous, given that few teams were upset or look completely out of the bowl conversation.
Here is a look at the projected College Football Playoff, the New Year’s Six Bowls, and the number of Power 5 teams making it to a bowl this holiday season.
New Year’s Six
College Football Playoff
Peach Bowl: No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. No. 4 Washington Huskies
Fiesta Bowl: No. 2 Clemson Tigers vs. No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes
The only real change from last week is that Clemson and Ohio State swap places. Ideally, Clemson would prefer to play in Atlanta over Glendale, but Alabama is the top-seed in these National Semifinals.
Selection Committee Bowls
Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma Sooners vs. Texas A&M Aggies
Rose Bowl: Michigan Wolverines vs. Stanford Cardinal
Cotton Bowl: Houston Cougars vs. Tennessee Volunteers
Orange Bowl: Louisville Cardinals vs. Wisconsin Badgers
Oklahoma and Texas A&M for the time being makes sense in the Sugar Bowl. Michigan would obviously go to the Rose Bowl, but is Stanford really the Pac-12’s second-best team? Probably, and they’ll play in Pasadena.
Louisville in the Orange Bowl is likely, but Wisconsin, Houston and Tennessee still have to prove that they are worthy of a New Year’s Six bowl bid. Another loss for any of those three teams removes them from the New Year’s Six conversation.
Bowl Teams per Power 5 conference
ACC (11): Clemson, Louisville, North Carolina Tar Heels, Virginia Tech Hokies, Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Miami Hurricanes, Florida State Seminoles, Pittsburgh Panthers, North Carolina State Wolfpack, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Boston College Eagles
Big Ten (11): Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Indiana Hoosiers, Iowa Hawkeyes, Penn State Nittany Lions, Michigan State Spartans, Northwestern Wildcats, Maryland Terrapins
Big 12 (6): Oklahoma, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Baylor Bears, TCU Horned Frogs, West Virginia Mountaineers, Kansas State Wildcats
Pac-12 (8): Washington, Stanford, Arizona State Sun Devils, Utah Utes, Washington State Cougars, USC Trojans, Colorado Buffaloes, UCLA Bruins
SEC (10): Alabama, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas Razorbacks, Ole Miss Rebels, Florida Gators, Auburn Tigers, South Carolina Gamecocks, Missouri Tigers
Once again, the ACC, the Big Ten, and the SEC will send at least 10 teams to holiday season bowl games. The Pac-12 gets eight of its 12 teams in, while the Big 12 gets only six of its 10 teams to a bowl.
Three things stand out when looking at the projected Power 5 bowl teams: 1) Why is South Carolina in over LSU in the SEC? 2) Michigan State is 2-4, but is still projected to go bowling. 3) Apparently the Kentucky Wildcats are as good as the Missouri Tigers or the Gamecocks they already beat?
Not having LSU as one of the 10 teams from the SEC is a travesty. South Carolina will be lucky to win five games. LSU clobbered Missouri and should win around seven or eight games this season.
Michigan State might get to 6-6, but that would mean it has to go 4-2 the rest of the way. Keep in mind that the Spartans still have to play their three biggest rivals: Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State.
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Kentucky may not get to a bowl, but they are the better team over Missouri and South Carolina without question. 6-6 is absolutely attainable for the Wildcats. Wins over Georgia, Mississippi State, and Missouri are possible.