Welcome to the second-to-last set of bowl projections that I will be providing. Make sure not to miss Phil Harrison’s projections. Every week, Phil projects to the end of the season and gives you where he thinks the Big Ten teams will end up.
I, however, will not be predicting who will win games. Instead, these projections are based on where every team sits now. Meaning, if the season ended today, where would every team be heading to bowl games? That way, readers can know what their team needs to do to move up or down in bowl selection order.
My final set of bowl projections will come out on Saturday night, right after the games end. Those might look very different than these, depending on what happens Saturday. (For example, there are currently two SEC teams in the Playoff. That will almost certainly no longer be true if LSU beats Georgia.)
Also, remember that nowadays, bowl projections are more of an art than a science. Most conferences no longer allow the bowls to select teams in order, but instead provide “pools” of teams for certain tiers of bowls. The Group of 5 conferences often have no selection order preference. The conferences then work with the bowls to determine which team goes where. Anything can be the cause for this–geography, fan interests, matchup quality, whether the conference thinks its team is more likely to win, or any other reason. Therefore, at the end of this article, I will provide a list of which conference pools would be tied to which bowl. That way, you have as much information as possible when figuring out where each team could be headed.
As we approach Selection Sunday, we will be able to hear rumors and whispers as to which team is headed where. I do my best to keep track, and my projections on Saturday night will be based mostly on those. For now, though, all we know is that BYU has accepted an invitation to the Hawaii Bowl and that the Bahamas Bowl will be Buffalo against Charlotte.)
79 teams are bowl-eligible this year, and there are 78 slots available in bowl games. Right now, I have Eastern Michigan being the unlucky team that will stay home, though it could definitely be Toledo or Kent State.
So, without further ado, here are this week’s bowl projections:
College Football Playoff
| Peach Bowl | Sat, Dec 28, 4:00 PM | LSU | vs | Clemson |
| Fiesta Bowl | Sat, Dec 28, 8:00 PM | Ohio State | vs | Georgia |
This is simple enough. No. 1 plays No. 4, and No. 2 plays No. 3. The committee will ensure that the No. 1 team is not given a geographic disadvantage, so Ohio State will not be forced to play Georgia in Atlanta.
The times for these matchups are flexible and not yet set, but given that Ohio State vs Georgia will likely be the bigger draw, I expect that to be the game given prime time billing.