More Changes At The Top This Week
In what’s becoming the norm it was another crazy week in college football. One of the top teams was upset at home and overall six ranked teams lost. As a result we’ve got not only a change in our playoff teams but welcome a new squad to the selection committee games. As always if you’d like to check how things changed from last week you can click right here. There’s a lot to cover so let’s get to it with our LWOS Week Seven Bowl Projections.
College Football Playoff
Orange Bowl- December 31st- (1) Georgia vs. (4) Cincinnati- A week ago the talk was “can the Bearcats make the playoff.” As other teams keep losing they are solidly in following another blowout win, this time 56-21 over Central Florida. However we are projecting Ohio State jumps over them to the three seed. On the other side of the ball Kirby Smart‘s squad pretty much punched their ticket to the SEC title game following their 30-13 win over Kentucky.
Cotton Bowl- December 31st- (2) Oklahoma vs. (3) Ohio State- There’s no doubt it’s now Caleb Williams‘ world in Norman. The Sooner signal caller threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns in a 52-31 win. With Iowa’s loss we’re moving another Big 10 team back into the playoff. Ryan Day’s squad isn’t projected to lose another game. In addition you could make the case for Michigan however in the end we went with OSU based on the fact they will beat them.
College Football National Championship- January 10th- (1) Georgia vs. (2) Oklahoma– If these two schools give us anything resembling the 2018 Rose Bowl classic then a great title game is on tap.
Selection Committee Games
Peach Bowl- December 3oth- Kentucky vs. Wake Forest– Mark Stoops’ Wildcats played Georgia better than anyone in the SEC has all year before losing 30-13. In addition, UK controls its own destiny. All they need to do is keep winning. You’d probably get 35,000 of the Big Blue Nation heading to “Catlanta” for the New Year. The Demon Deacons remain our ACC squad for now. However no team has a tougher finishing schedule than Dave Clawson’s club. North Carolina State and Pittsburgh are two other options for the ACC representative.
Fiesta Bowl- January 1st- Michigan vs. Notre Dame- This match up is so much fun we’re keeping it around for another week. This would be the 45th all-time meeting between the two schools but the first in a bowl game.
Rose Bowl- January 1st- Iowa vs. Oregon- As mentioned earlier, with the Hawkeyes surprising 24-7 loss to Purdue they drop out of the playoff but still head to Pasadena. The Ducks still have an outside shot at the playoff but will need some help.
Sugar Bowl- January 1st- Alabama vs. Oklahoma State- No two loss squad has ever made the college football playoff and the committee won’t make an exception for Alabama this year. We here at Last Word have been high on the Cowboys for a few weeks and they proved us right by beating Texas on the road. These two teams have only met once in history, the 2006 Independence Bowl with OSU winning 34-31. If you’re curious that’s the last game before Nick Saban took over in Tuscaloosa.
Now that we’ve gone through our playoff and selection committee picks let’s turn to the other games played on January 1st.
Other New Year’s Day Games
Citrus Bowl- January 1st- Michigan State vs. Ole Miss- The Spartans went into Bloomington and knocked off Indiana. A lot’s already been said about what happened in Knoxville on Saturday night. However, at the end of the day Matt Corral and the Rebels got a big road win. Much like Kentucky they control their own destiny towards a major bowl game.
Outback Bowl- January 1st- Penn State vs. Texas A&M- The Nittany Lions drop down to Tampa this week based on the fact we’re projecting one or two more loses. There was no post-Alabama win hangover for Jimbo Fisher’s squad as they beat Missouri on the road 35-14.
Texas Bowl- January 4th- Arkansas vs. Iowa State- After a fast start the bottom’s fallen out for the Razorbacks dropping three straight.
New Year’s Eve Games
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl- December 31st- Buffalo vs. Nevada
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- Virginia vs. Utah
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- December 31st- Auburn vs. Pittsburgh- The Panthers are a very good squad who aren’t getting near enough love from the national media.
Continuing our LWOS Week Seven Bowl Projections we now head to the games between Christmas and the New Year.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- December 30th- Boston College vs. Florida
Music City Bowl- December 30th- Maryland vs. Tennessee
Las Vegas Bowl- December 30th- Oregon State vs. Purdue
Alamo Bowl- December 29th- Arizona State vs. Baylor
Cheez-It Bowl- December 29th- Clemson vs. Texas
Fenway Bowl- December 29th- North Carolina vs. Memphis
Pinstripe Bowl- December 29th- Virginia Tech vs. Wisconsin
Continuing our LWOS Week Seven Bowl Projections we now head to the games between Christmas and the New Year.
Bowl Games After Christmas
Birmingham Bowl– December 28th- Central Florida vs. Mississippi State
First Responder Bowl- December 28th- Houston vs. USC
Guaranteed Rate Bowl- December 28th- Minnesota vs. Texas Tech
Holiday Bowl- December 28th- North Carolina State vs. UCLA- The Bruins went on the road and got a big win at Washington. They host Oregon this Saturday.
Liberty Bowl- December 28th- LSU vs. TCU- After much speculation Ed Orgeron will end his time on the LSU sidelines in Memphis and won’t be back for 2022.
Military Bowl- December 27th- East Carolina vs. Louisville
Quick Lane Bowl- December 27th- Northwestern vs. Northern Illinois- This game features a fun in state match up who have played eight times in history.
Christmas Holiday Games
Camellia Bowl- December 25th- Central Michigan vs. Wyoming
Hawaii Bowl- December 24th- SMU vs. Utah State
We are in the home stretch with our LWOS Week Seven Bowl Projections time for a look at the pre-Christmas set of games.
Union Home Mortgage Bowl- December 22nd- Missouri vs. Stanford- Make no mistake the Tigers’ bowl hopes are on major life support. We’re keeping them in a bowl for this week but they have a difficult path to six wins.
Armed Forces Bowl- December 22nd- Army vs. Boise State
Frisco Bowl- December 21st- Air Force vs. Charlotte
Idaho Potato Bowl- December 21st- Ball State vs. Fresno State
Myrtle Beach Bowl- December 20th- Coastal Carolina vs. Florida Atlantic
First Weekend Matchups
Bahamas Bowl- December 17th- Marshall vs. Western Michigan
Cure Bowl- December 17th- Appalachian State vs. Liberty
Boca Raton Bowl- December 18th- South Alabama vs. Western Kentucky
Celebration Bowl- December 18th- Jackson State vs. Norfolk State
Independence Bowl- December 18th- UAB vs. BYU
Lending Tree Bowl- December 18th- Eastern Michigan vs Troy
Jimmy Kimmel Los Angeles Bowl- December 18th- San Diego State vs. Washington State
New Mexico Bowl- December 18th- San Jose State vs. UTEP
New Orleans Bowl- December 18th- Louisiana vs. Texas San-Antonio- This game is always one of the best every year and this is no exception. The Roadrunners ran their record to 7-0 beating Rice while the Ragin’ Cajuns made a statement with a blowout over Appalachian State.
Thanks for checking out our LWOS Week Seven Bowl Projections. Of course, as we always say if you don’t like where your team is slotted just wait, it’s going to change from week to week. In addition, it’s another huge week in college football featuring several top matchups. Among them are Oregon at UCLA and Oklahoma State traveling to Iowa State.
