College football bowl projections: LSU chooses Peach Bowl, Alabama to Sugar Bowl

Week 11 of the 2019 NCAA season is in the books. Here are what the New Year’s Six bowl projections look like heading into the third week of November.

As we are in the last month of the 2019 college football regular season, we have enough evidence to make some solid bowl game projections. While there are so many bowls to watch this holiday season, we really only care about the New Year’s Six. In addition to making the College Football Playoff, making the other four New Year’s Six games is a huge accomplishment for any program.

At this time, there are roughly 10 teams that have a realistic to a semi-realistic shot of making the College Football Playoff. Outside of those 10 teams, there are a handful more than are in the mix to earn an invitation to a New Year’s Six bowl game.

This year, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl will act as the two national semifinal games of the 2020 College Football Playoff. The other four games (Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Capital One Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual, Allstate Sugar Bowl) could have any number of teams playing in them, outside of some conference tie-ins.

So through 11 weeks of the NCAA season, here is what we project as the 12 teams taking part in these most meaningful of bowl games this year. Who will represent the Group of 5, how many SEC teams will make this dozen and who on planet earth will represent the ACC in the Capital One Orange Bowl? Let’s find that out now.

College Football Playoff

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA, Saturday, Dec. 28)

No. 1 LSU Tigers (13-0) vs. No. 4 Oregon Ducks (12-1)

The projected top seed in the 2020 College Football Playoff will be the undefeated SEC Champion LSU Tigers. With their choice of which national semifinal to play in, they’ll make the trek to Atlanta to face the one-loss Pac-12 Champion Oregon Ducks.

PlayStation Fiesta Bowl (State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ, Saturday, Dec. 28)

No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (13-0) vs. No. 3 Clemson Tigers (13-0)

Your No. 2 seed nationally will be the undefeated Big Ten Champion Ohio State Buckeyes. They will take on the undefeated ACC Champion Clemson Tigers in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium in the Greater Phoenix area. LSU having more quality wins over these two programs is why the Tigers get the No. 1-seed over Ohio State and Clemson this year.

New Year’s Six

Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX, Saturday, Dec. 28)

Cincinnati Bearcats (12-1) vs. Penn State Nittany Lions (10-2)

Representing the Group of 5 in this year’s New Year’s Six will be the one-loss AAC Champion Cincinnati Bearcats, whose only defeat came to Ohio State in the non-conference. They will face a two-loss Penn State Nittany Lions team as the final at-large of the field. Penn State’s two losses to the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Ohio State are two of the better defeats in college football.

Capital One Orange Bowl (Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL, Monday, Dec. 30)

Virginia Cavaliers (9-4) vs. Georgia Bulldogs (11-2)

Since ACC Champion Clemson made the College Football Playoff, its slim pickings to get a quality team from the ACC. For now, let’s go with the ACC Coastal Champion Virginia Cavaliers, who went 9-3 during the regular season before falling to Clemson in Charlotte. Playing Virginia will be the two-loss Georgia Bulldogs as an at-large SEC team, fulfilling an Orange Bowl obligation.

Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual (Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA, Wednesday, Jan. 1)

Minnesota Golden Gophers (12-1) vs. Utah Utes (11-2)

With both the Big Ten and Pac-12 Champions reaching the College Football Playoff, the Rose Bowl will take the second-best team from both Power 5 conferences. Coming out of the Big Ten will be Minnesota, having only lost to Ohio State in the conference championship. Utah will represent the Pac-12 with two losses, coming at the hands of the USC Trojans and Oregon in the title bout.

Allstate Sugar Bowl (Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, LA, Wednesday, Jan. 1)

Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1) vs. Oklahoma Sooners (12-1)

Since the Big 12 Champion Oklahoma Sooners didn’t make the College Football Playoff, they will play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl to fulfill the conference tie-in. With SEC Champion LSU making the College Football Playoff, the Sugar Bowl will take the second-best team out of the SEC in a one-loss Alabama Crimson Tide squad.

There are a handful of teams that will be in the mix to make the New Year’s Six. Notable teams left out this week include the Baylor Bears, the Florida Gators, the Memphis Tigers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Naturally, these projections will change by this time next week. For now, these are the dozen that will get in with three weeks left of regular-season ball to be played.

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