College football bowl projections: New Year’s Six matchups based on first CFP rankings

Here is what the New Year’s Six bowl game matchups would look like if the first College Football Playoff rankings stay the same.

The very first College Football Playoff rankings were revealed on Tuesday, Nov. 1, and of course, there were some shocking developments. Tennessee is ranked No. 1 over the Georgia Bulldogs, Michigan is listed at No. 5 behind the Clemson Tigers, and undefeated TCU watching the one-loss Alabama Crimson Tide being ranked in front of them.

When it comes to the CFP rankings, fans want to know how that affects the important bowl games of the season, specifically the New Year’s Six games. If the rankings were to hold, here is what those bowl games would look like, courtesy of FOX Sports’ Bryan Fischer.

Here is what the New Year’s Six bowl games could look like after first CFP rankings

Obviously, the focus will be on the College Football Playoff semifinal games, and it is rather easy. It will be No. 1 vs. No. 4 in the Peach Bowl and No. 2 vs. No. 3 in the Fiesta Bowl. So, it would be Tennessee against Clemson in the Peach Bowl and Ohio State facing Georgia in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Rose Bowl is set to be a Big Ten vs. Pac-12 matchup, and it would be Michigan taking on No. 8 Oregon.

As for the Sugar Bowl, it will be a battle against two at-large teams, and it would pit No. 6 Alabama and No. 7 TCU against each other.

The Cotton Bowl would be an interesting one, as the No. 9 USC Trojans would face the No. 19 Tulane Green Wave.

Finally, the Orange Bowl would be between the No. 17 North Carolina Tar Heels taking on the No. 10 LSU Tigers.

This is what the New Year’s Six games would look like following the first CFP rankings release. Given that there is still less than a month remaining in the season, expect there to be a ton of changes to take place on a week-by-week basis.

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