College Football Bowl Projections going into Week 9: Can Georgia still snag SEC's auto-bid?

The college football landscape has significantly been altered after Saturday's Week 8 slate. Two gigantic ranked upsets have turned the AP Top 25 on its head and the race for the College Football Playoff is really heating up.

We're now entering the part of the season where the potential playoff bracket is beginning to take shape and some teams are starting to plan for bowl season.

How the CFP impacts bowl games

With the expanded 12-team playoff field making its debut this season, there are a few changes you should be aware of.

Firstly, the playoff committee will be releasing rankings each week starting Nov. 5 on which the bracket will be based. However, it won't be just as simple as the Top 12 teams being inserted into the appropriate seeds.

The Power Four conference champions will be given automatic bids into the playoff and seeded 1-4 according to the committee's rankings. Those four seeds will receive a first-round bye and await the winners of the first-round games.

Seeds 5-12 will be given to at-large teams and the highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion. So, it's entirely possible for the No. 12 ranked team to miss the playoff entirely if the final conference champion is ranked below them.

The first round games will be hosted on-campus by seeds 5-8 with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals to face seeds 1-4 on neutral turf, a New Year's Six bowl game.

The NY6 bowls will rotate each season as to which four will be hosting quarterfinal games with the remaining two hosting the semifinal matchups. This year the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowls are quarterfinal venues and the Orange and Cotton Bowls are semifinal venues.

Projected CFP bowl games

Below is a table of our projected playoff bracket with each matchup and the teams participating. Full disclosure, these projections are mostly based on the most recent AP Top 25 poll and our evaluation of each team's remaining schedule.

Notable matchups

Remember these projections are based on the remaining schedules of the teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25. I've taken the liberty of assessing which teams will be making it to and winning their respective conference championship games, which may not reflect what the AP poll shows at the moment.

You'll notice Ohio State is ranked ahead of Oregon here and that's because I think the Buckeyes win the rematch in Indianapolis (where it doesn't have to travel across two time zones). I also think the two teams will have a rubber match in the semifinals because they really are that good this year.

Just like its Big Ten counterpart, the SEC looks like it could feature a three game series between Georgia and Texas, with the two meeting in the conference championship game and then again in the semifinals if all goes well.

College football bowl projections

The expanded playoff means more teams get to vie for a national championship in the postseason but there will still be a significant amount of good programs on the outside looking in. Lucky for them, if they have at least six wins then they will be playing in a bowl game (albeit a lesser one).

Here are our projections for the remaining 36 bowl games and who will be playing in them.

Predicting notable bowl matchups

Las Vegas Bowl - Alabama v. Arizona State

I understand if there are several of you that think this is impossible. In the long run, it probably is but based on both teams' current records and potential trajectory, it's entirely possible. Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer had giant shoes to fill this year and just didn't step up to the enormous task (and I can't blame him). Arizona State has wildly overperformed under second-year head coach Kenny Dillingham (one win away from doubling last year's total).

Citrus Bowl - Illinois v. Iowa State

The Fighting Illini have shown up as Big Ten contenders this year but ultimately they're destined to fall short of the title game in Indianapolis. A consolation prize in Orlando will do just fine, especially with a shot at the likely Big 12 runners-up. Iowa State could find itself in the playoff in another scenario but given its recent form, there's at least one loss coming before probably falling short to undefeated BYU in the conference title game. Chalk this one up as a potential instant classic for bowl season.

Gator Bowl - Indiana v. Texas A&M

This could be another instance of two teams that just fall short of the playoff despite terrific seasons. Indiana needs a massive upset over Ohio State to even sniff the playoff but a one-loss season to a national title contender isn't half bad either. Facing a potential SEC dark horse at the moment in the Aggies will make this bowl game an intriguing watch if it pans out.