Tag: New Year’s Six

Bowl Projections: Is Texas back in the New Years Six hunt?

College Wire Regional Editor breaks down his CFP and NY6 matchup projections through Week 10.

There are just three weeks left in the regular season before we gear up for championship weekend and selection Sunday.

We have seen some separation among the contenders and pretenders in the College Football Playoffs seeding but we still have plenty left to decide. The Georgia Bulldogs took firm control of the SEC East on Saturday with their win.

With the loss by the Clemson Tigers, it has opened the door for the Big 12 and Pac-12 to climb into the conversation. The Big 12 has the edge with an undefeated team leading the way.

In the history of the CFP, only the SEC has produced two playoff teams in a single season, they did it twice. Could Ohio State and Michigan give the Big Ten that honor in 2022?

We check in on the New Years Six and the College Football Playoffs with this week’s projections.

Nine top-25 teams lose on Saturday, which could help USC beyond the playoff

It started with No. 1 Tennessee, but didn’t stop there. Top-25 carnage on Saturday could help #USC for reasons not related to the playoff.

The College Football Playoff landscape just shifted drastically after Saturday’s wild slate of games.

Tennessee lost the top spot after falling to the Georgia Bulldogs (the Vols shouldn’t have been No. 1 anyway, or so one could argue). Alabama fell to LSU, and Clemson lost to Notre Dame in a series of games that will alter the next set of rankings drastically.

The USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins both won and should move up, although they might not move up all that much after not playing good games.

The new top 25 will change a lot, and it will be interesting to see how the newest CFP rankings change in a couple of days.

There is more to say about the changes in the rankings, which will affect a number of teams below the Trojans. This could mean something important for USC in the postseason, as we’ll explain below:

The looming bowl controversy which could leave USC and Pac-12 in the cold

Tulane lost to Southern Miss at home. #USC lost to Utah on the road. Tulane could get a Cotton Bowl berth over USC. That seems wrong.

We need to talk about a possible bowl controversy which could emerge one month from now. We’re just about to begin the month of November. In early December, the bowl selections will be revealed.

One scenario could leave USC and the Pac-12 in the lurch, and it would be one more black eye for the Trojans as they linger in the conference before moving to the Big Ten.

You probably know that one of the New Year’s Six bowl slots is reserved for the Group of Five champion, the highest-ranked conference champion from the AAC, Mountain West, C-USA, MAC, and Sun Belt.

The reason for this Group of Five slot is reasonable, obvious and good: Giving the smaller schools and conferences a big bowl game with a substantial payout. Nothing wrong with that.

However: The Group of Five is really bad this year … and that could take a New Year’s Six bowl slot from USC and the Pac-12. Let’s go through the details:

Jon Wilner analysis shows USC will need to beat UCLA to make New Year’s Six bowl

The reality of the situation is that #USC will need to go 11-1 through 12 games if it wants to make either the Rose Bowl or the Cotton Bowl.

USC’s bowl picture is cloudy but promising. What obviously matters is that the Trojans take care of business, but one detail of their situation offers cause for some concern.

Before the season, the idea that USC could get a New Year’s Six bowl with a 10-2 record seemed very realistic, given that Utah was supposed to be a College Football Playoff contender and Notre Dame was supposed to be a very good team. However, with Utah having no shot at the playoff, and with Notre Dame struggling, USC won’t get a huge boost from either its one-point loss at Utah or from a win over Notre Dame.

The thought process going into 2022 was that a narrow loss at Utah might actually improve USC’s resume, and that a loss to Notre Dame wouldn’t detract from it. Those scenarios aren’t in play.

The Trojans will have to go 11-1 to make a New Year’s Six bowl.

Jon Wilner of The Mercury News explains:

One projection has Arkansas playing in New Year’s Six bowl game

Out of all the bowl projections this offseason, this one will make Arkansas fans the happiest.

Arkansas Football made great strides in 2021, and are poised to make an even bigger leap in growth this season.

Depending on the watchlist, Arkansas is either predicted to finish second or third in the SEC West, and is considered to be a top-five team as a whole in the conference.

Despite all the respect that they have received from local media, the national media has not bought the hype just yet. 247Sports has projected Arkansas to end the season in the Music City Bowl, while College Football News and Sporting News believes that Arkansas will play in the Texas Bowl.

Those projections seem a little disrespectful to Arkansas fans and players, and rightfully so. But, there is one news outlet that believes Sam Pittman’s squad will develop into one of College Football’s best teams.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports recently wrote a piece titled “22 compelling storylines, teams, coaches, players that will dominate the 2022 college football season”, where he made predictions of who will play in this season’s New Year’s Six bowl games, and Arkansas is included.

In his projection, Dodd has the Razorbacks meeting former Southwest Conference rival Baylor in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans.

If the projection comes true, it will be the first Sugar Bowl appearance for Arkansas since the 2010 season, when the Razorbacks faced Ohio State in the prestigious bowl game.

[autotag]Ryan Mallet[/autotag] threw for 277 yards and two touchdowns while [autotag]Knile Davis[/autotag] rushed for 139 yards, but it was not enough to slow down Ohio State quarterback Terrell Prior, who compiled 336 all-purpose yards in the Buckeyes’ 31-26 win over Arkansas.

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