Tag: Bowl Game

CBS Sports projects Florida to face off with a Pac-12 opponent come bowl season

After eight weeks of college football, Florida is projected to play in a bowl game out west against a Pac-12 opponent.

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has released his post-Week 8 bowl projections, and he has the Florida Gators facing off with the Washington Huskies on Dec. 17 in the Las Vegas Bowl.

The Las Vegas Bowl has become a popular projection for the Gators, who currently sit at 4-3 on the season with No. 1 Georgia, Texas A&M, No. 25 South Carolina and Florida State left on the schedule. Assuming Florida beats Vanderbilt in November, the Gators will need to win just one of those four games to become bowl eligible.

Last year, Florida played in the Gasparilla Bowl against UCF in Tampa. The in-state game made it easy for fans of either school to attend and there was plenty of regional interest in the annoying little brother versus struggling older brother matchup. Playing out west against a Pac-12 school might make it a bit harder on the Florida faithful, but there are Gators fans all over the country.

Palm projects every bowl game and has Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson and Tennessee in the College Football Playoff. Alabama is the first team out and Michigan is No. 6. Interestingly, Palm sees Florida State matching up with Utah in the postseason. The Gators took down the Utes to start the regular season and will end it against the Seminoles.

Of course, these projections could look a lot different in a week if Florida can pull off the upset against Georgia this weekend.

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Which bowl game does ESPN see Florida in following Week 3?

ESPN doesn’t have Florida playing in a major bowl game at this point in the season, but a win over No. 11 Tennessee could change that.

After watching Florida fight and claw and its way to a 4-point victory on Saturday against USF, it’s not too surprising to see the Gators outside of ESPN‘s weekly predictions for the New Years Six bowl games. Fortunately, Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach predict every bowl, not just the big ones, and the Gators are still pegged to play an extra game this season.

Schlabach has UF meeting up with Notre Dame in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on December 30. Although it’s not the ideal bowl game, Florida would have an obvious home-field advantage with the game being played in Jacksonville, and there are worse postseason opponents to have than the Fighting Irish.

Bonagura has Florida playing Oregon State in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl, which would be far worse for Gators fans looking to travel for the game. This is clearly the worse option for Florida, but they might deserve it after the performances given over the past two weeks.

Competing against Tennessee this week would do a lot for Florida in these projections. Schlabach has the Volunteers playing in the Allstate Sugar Bowl and Bonagura has them in the Citrus Bowl. Beating Tennessee would give Florida two wins over ranked opponents and a strong argument to play in a major bowl game.

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Which bowl game does ESPN predict Florida to wind up in?

Well, at least it’s not the Gasparilla Bowl, right? Check out which bowl games ESPN thinks Florida plays will play in to close out the 2022 season.

In 2021, Florida barely qualified for a bowl game and wound up losing to UCF, 29-17, in the Gasparilla Bowl. If ESPN’s preseason predictions are close to accurate, the Gators will once again find themselves in a minor bowl game as the team looks to rebuild under [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag].

ESPN had two experts make the projections, Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach, so Florida has two placements on this list. Bonagura has the Gators facing off with the Miami Hurricanes at TIAA Bank Stadium in Jacksonville on Dec. 29 for the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. It’s close to home and would be an in-state battle similar to last season’s finale against the Knights, except Florida won’t be in lame-duck mode with Napier looking to close things out strong in year one.

Schlabach projects Florida to play against Kansas State in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Dec. 28 in Memphis, Tennessee. That’s a lot further from the Swamp than Jacksonville, and there’s not much of a rivalry going on with Kansas State at the moment. A close game and the transfer of [autotag]Keyontae Johnson[/autotag] is the proper kindling needed to start that fire, though.

A clash between Florida and Miami seems like the better option for everyone involved, but Napier and Co. are hoping to shock everyone and land a New Year’s Six bid. That might not be possible given the strength of the two giants atop the SEC right now, but it’s the goal.

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Which bowl game is Florida projected to make ahead of the 2022 season?

After falling to UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl last year, Florida is hoping to bounce back in 2022-23.

Florida football returns in 40 days and that means it’s time for the preseason bowl game predictions to start pouring in. College Football News projects the Gators to face off with the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl on January 2.

UF was projected to land in the Citrus Bowl plenty of times last year before the wheels ultimately fell off and Gator Nation was forced to lower its expectations. A 29-17 loss to the UCF Knights in the Gasparilla Bowl was the eventual outcome in 2021, but now the team is under new leadership and looking to bounce back.

While Dan Mullen did end up making a New Year’s Six bowl game in each of his first three seasons with Florida, he inherited a much better situation than he left Billy Napier. Although Napier was hired to get the Gators back into contention for a national championship, a Citrus Bowl appearance in the 2022-23 season would be an appropriate sign of progress from last year.

Speaking of national championships, CFN has a pair of SEC teams making the College Football Playoff. Alabama and Georgia are projected to clash in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Eve, and Ohio State and Clemson are in the Fiesta Bowl. A prospective national championship game between Alabama and Ohio State is what CFN opts to go with if forced to pick winners in the semifinal.

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Alabama’s 2022 CFB bowl game prediction. Another title run in the works?

See which bowl game Alabama is expected to play in for the 2022 season!

Alabama Football is currently in the early stages of preparing for the upcoming 2022 season, which is still months away. However, it’s never too early to look ahead at what might be for the Crimson Tide.

Despite losing in the national championship to Georgia and having some talent leave for the NFL draft or the transfer portal, Alabama is still expected to make a run for it all in 2022.

247Sports’ Brad Crawford projected next year’s college football bowl game lineup, and the Crimson Tide make it back to the College Football Playoff.

Alabama is expected to be the No. 1 seed, according to Crawford, and would take on Notre Dame in the Peach Bowl.

Crawford writes,

“Go ahead and Sharpie the Crimson Tide as a Playoff team with Bryce Young and Will Anderson back. If the Fighting Irish are able to run the table and finish 11-1 following a season-opening loss at Ohio State, it’s hard to imagine Notre Dame not getting the committee’s fourth-seed vote considering that would mean notable wins over BYU, Clemson and USC. In fact, that late-season matchup with Clemson could determine which of those programs get to the final four since the Tigers are our preseason ACC champion pick.”

Then, No. 3 Ohio State is projected to upset No. 2 Georgia in the Fiesta Bowl to move onto the national championship.

Alabama and Ohio State would face off in Inglewood, California, which would be a rematch of the 2020 national championship, the final result of which led to Alabama claiming national title No. 18.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to cover Alabama Football and projections for the upcoming 2022 season.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on Twitter @SpurrFM.

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What bowl game Brett McMurphy foresees Texas making in 2022

It’s not glamorous, but it’s a step above last season.

To say that the 2021 season did not go as planned for Texas would be an understatement.

The Longhorns parted ways with Tom Herman and hired who many viewed as the best offensive mind in college football, Steve Sarkisian. What many didn’t realize was how shallow Texas was at seemingly almost every position on the field, and the season went about as poorly as it could.

Texas blew multiple double digit leads and lost six consecutive games in what seemed like the worst stretch of Texas football in years.

The staff more than made up for it this offseason, as they hit the recruiting trail as hard as possible bringing in the No. 5 recruiting class, with the addition of multiple talented transfers.

All of the offseason movements have led to the expectations for Texas to continually grow. Action Sports’ Brett McMurphy released his predictions for next season’s bowl games, and the Longhorns were featured.

McMurphy has the Longhorns slated to play in the Texas Bowl against Tennessee. While it isn’t the most glamorous of bowl games, any bowl game is better than nothing for a Texas team that wasn’t eligible for one in 2021.

Texas still has a long way to go before thinking about the postseason, as this team needs to find their identity this offseason, while also settling numerous position battles.

Significant injury news regarding Notre Dame defense

How much would Notre Dame miss him Saturday?

Notre Dame is just days away from taking on Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl and the Irish already knew they’d be without star safety Kyle Hamilton who hasn’t played since mid-October.  Now it appears that Notre Dame may be playing without another stellar member of their secondary as cornerback Cam Hart was seen at Wednesday’s practice with his leg heavily wrapped and not moving around well whatsoever.

Hart was stellar in Notre Dame’s secondary this season with his biggest game coming against Wisconsin when he recorded a pair of interceptions.  If he’s  unable to go expect to see more playing time at corner for senior Tariq Bracy or possible some of freshman Ryan Barnes.

Related:

Photos from Notre Dame’s Tuesday Fiesta Bowl practice

What to know about Oklahoma State

Shuffling on offensive line for Notre Dame ahead of Fiesta Bowl

Ryan Day’s offer to Marcus Freeman

TRIVIA QUIZ: LSU Tigers bowl history

LSU Tigers Wire presents a 10-question quiz to test your knowledge of the program’s postseason football history.

The LSU Tigers boast one of the most impressive postseason histories in college football.

With more than 50 postseason appearances and nearly 30 bowl victories, the Bayou Bengals are a bellwether of the holiday season.

Joe Burrow, Billy Cannon, Rohan Davey, Matt Flynn, Leonard Fournette and JaMarcus Russell are just a few of the star players who have sparkled in bowl games for the Tigers through the decades.

With all that in mind, LSU Tigers Wire presents a 10-question quiz to test your knowledge of the program’s postseason football history. We rate this quiz as medium/advanced difficulty.

Also see:
• QUIZ: How well do you know LSU football history?

Marcus Freeman pens letter to Notre Dame community

Are you all-in on the Freeman train?

Marcus Freeman has only been Notre Dame’s head coach officially for a handful of days but I feel safe in declaring something about him.

He gets it.

Lou Holtz once said about Notre Dame that those who don’t understand what makes it special, no explanation to them will suffice and that nobody who understands requires any explanation whatsoever.

I think it’s crystal clear at this point that Freeman is in the later.

Freeman penned a letter to the Notre Dame community through The Players Athletic that was released on Tuesday morning.  Check out the full letter here as some highlights include:

  • Stressing the importance of being himself as a head coach
  • Coaching not being now and never being in the future, about himself
  • A huge reason he sees as to why the 2021 Notre Dame team has gotten so much better as the year has gone on
  • Who he names as the best leaders he’s ever talked to – perhaps more noteworthy is who he doesn’t mention
  • The two main ideas of his leadership style

I’m not going to simply steal their letter and post it as my own like some places may do, but I’ll use certain things that are said in it and react to them in a matter of days after their link has made its rounds.

Related: The best images from Marcus Freeman’s introductory press conference

Just know that my main takeaway not from just the letter but from seeing how Freeman has handled this entire situation is that Notre Dame got the right guy.

Plenty more on that thought to come in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

Related:

Marcus Freeman discusses wild week that was with Dan Patrick

Notre Dame OC Tommy Rees talks all things Fiesta Bowl

Watch Marcus Freeman’s entire introductory press conference 

Longtime Notre Dame assistant is joining Brian Kelly at LSU

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What bowl game will Notre Dame end up in?

Do you prefer the Peach Bowl or Fiesta Bowl for the Irish?

Notre Dame needed help to make the College Football Playoff entering Saturday and received some but not enough.  As a result the four teams that will make the CFP appear to be obvious which leaves Notre Dame on the outside looking in.

Related: College Football Playoff Projection

So where will Notre Dame instead be headed?

As has been projected by many it will be one of two places: the Peach Bowl in Atlanta or the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.

If it is the Peach Bowl they’ll play old rival Pitt who beat Wake Forest 45-21 in the ACC Championship.  If it’s the Fiesta Bowl it’ll likely be against Oklahoma State who fell to Baylor in the Big 12 title game.

It’s not what Notre Dame fans were hoping for entering Saturday but all things considered, 11-1 and headed to a very winnable New Years Six bowl game isn’t bad.  Especially when you factor in the overhaul that occurred ahead of the 2021 season and as well as the week since the Irish finished their regular season at Stanford.

Related:

Notre Dame’s all-time bowl history