College football bowl projections entering Week 9 sees the Ohio State Buckeyes out of the College Football Playoff picture after a loss to Penn State.
The College Football Playoff rankings will be coming out shortly as the postseason picture will begin to take center stage as the season nears its finish line. With teams being in the heart of conference play, we see a much clearer view of the bowl picture each week.
This week was no different as our first projections for the New Year’s Six sees a bit of a shakeup when it comes to the playoff. However, we will start with the non-playoff members of the six major bowls.
Orange Bowl: Louisville vs. Nebraska
- Date: December 30, 2016
- Location: Hard Rock Stadium
This Orange Bowl has a bit of a nostalgic feel with Nebraska facing off against Louisville. One thing that makes this game even more intriguing is that you could have the Heisman Trophy winner in Lamar Jackson on Louisville’s side. Nebraska’s side you’ve got the lovable head coach Mike Riley their surprising run through the Big Ten this season. This game might not even be close because Louisville has run like a well-oiled machine, no reason it should stop here on South Beach.
Outside of Ohio State, Nebraska will not have faced an offense as dynamic as Louisville’s if this game were to go down. You really have to like Louisville’s chances in this one based on the fact that outside of Clemson, nobody has been able to contain what they can do overall. This projection may change with the winner of this week’s Nebraska at Wisconsin matchup moving into first place in the Big Ten’s west division. Barring anything dramatic happening to Louisville, they’ll be playing in Miami on December 30.
Prediction: Louisville 49, Nebraska 20