We have now completed nine weeks of the college football season (where does the time go!) and the playoff and major bowl picture is, in many ways starting to clear. In many ways, it's also getting a bit more murky after this weekend, where Michigan State emerged, but schools like Michigan, Pitt, Kentucky and Ole Miss fell.
So with that in mind, let's get to our weekly bowl projection round-up, with insight from all the experts across college football:
College Football Playoff:
Cotton Bowl, December 31st (Arlington, Texas): No. 3 Cincinnati vs. No. 2 Ohio State
Orange Bowl, December 31st (Miami, FL): No. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 1 Georgia
Other New Year's Six Games:
Peach Bowl, December 30th (Atlanta, GA): Wake Forest vs. Ole Miss
Fiesta Bowl, January 1st (Glendale, AZ): Michigan vs. Notre Dame
Rose Bowl, January 1st (Pasadena, CA): Michigan State vs. Oregon
Sugar Bowl, January 1st (New Orleans, LA): Alabama vs. Oklahoma State
College Football Playoff:
Cotton Bowl, December 31st (Arlington, Texas): No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 1 Alabama
Orange Bowl, December 31st (Miami, FL): No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 2 Oklahoma
Other New Year's Six Games:
Peach Bowl, December 30th (Atlanta, GA): Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest
Fiesta Bowl, January 1st (Glendale, AZ): Iowa vs. Cincinnati
Rose Bowl, January 1st (Pasadena, CA): Michigan State vs. Oregon
Sugar Bowl, January 1st (New Orleans, LA): Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M
College Football Playoff:
Cotton Bowl, December 31st (Arlington, Texas): No. 3 Michigan State vs. No. 2 Oklahoma
Orange Bowl, December 31st (Miami, FL): No. 4 Cincinnati vs. No. 1 Georgia
Other New Year's Six Games:
Peach Bowl, December 30th (Atlanta, GA): Ole Miss vs. Michigan
Fiesta Bowl, January 1st (Glendale, AZ): Wake Forest vs. Notre Dame
Rose Bowl, January 1st (Pasadena, CA): Ohio State vs. Oregon
Sugar Bowl, January 1st (New Orleans, LA): Alabama vs. Oklahoma State
College Football Playoff
Cotton Bowl, December 31st (Arlington, Texas): No. 3. Cincinnati vs. No. 2 Alabama
Orange Bowl, December 31st (Miami, FL): No. 4 Michigan State vs. No. 1 Georgia
Other New Year's Six Games:
Peach Bowl, December 30th (Atlanta, GA): Wake Forest vs. Michigan
Fiesta Bowl, January 1st (Glendale, AZ): Oklahoma State vs. Notre Dame
Rose Bowl, January 1st (Pasadena, CA): Ohio State vs. Oregon
Sugar Bowl, January 1st (New Orleans, LA): Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma
College Football Playoff:
Cotton Bowl, December 31st (Arlington, Texas): No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Oklahoma
Orange Bowl, December 31st (Miami, FL): No. 4 Cincinnati vs. No. 1 Georgia
Other New Year's Six Games:
Peach Bowl, December 30th (Atlanta, GA): Ole Miss vs. Pitt
Fiesta Bowl, January 1st (Glendale, AZ): Notre Dame vs. Kentucky
Rose Bowl, January 1st (Pasadena, CA): Michigan State vs. Oregon
Sugar Bowl, January 1st (New Orleans, LA): Alabama vs. Oklahoma State
As mentioned above, this weekend's results in many ways cleared some things up. Georgia, Cincinnati and Oklahoma remain undefeated - and because of it, Georgia remains in the playoff for all five experts, Oklahoma four and Cincinnati three. Three have Ohio State representing the Big Ten, while two have Michigan State toppling the Spartans.
Two experts actually still have Bama in the playoff picture as well, which of course assumes that they will not only win out in the regular season, but beat Georgia in the SEC title game as well.
But while the playoff picture remained pretty clear, the shake-up everywhere else came after a weird weekend, where Michigan, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Pitt (all appearing in multiple bowl projections last week) took losses.
One projection still has Pitt as the ACC champ and headed to the Peach, but with their loss, it's looking more and more likely that Wake Forest will win the ACC, with their most likely destination the Peach Bowl (the ACC champ normally goes to the Orange, but this year it's being used in the playoff). Beyond that, there is also shake-up in the Fiesta, where four experts have Notre Dame, but all four playing a different opponent, ranging from Michigan, Wake Forest, Oklahoma State and even Kentucky.
In the Sugar, the most popular matchup is Alabama (the best non-playoff SEC team) vs. Oklahoma State (the best non-playoff Big 12 team), while the Rose is the one place with any consistency in the non-playoff bowls. Oregon is expected to be there as the Pac-12 champ, but could facing either Michigan or Michigan State.
For the first time, we see Texas A&M in the New Year's Six picture, headed to the Sugar Bowl in Brett McMurphy's projections.
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