A Fairly Normal Week In College Football
On paper this week’s set of college football games didn’t appear that stellar. However that’s the great thing about the game there’s always some surprises. We had two of our playoff teams struggle and then there’s was the first ever nine overtime game. At the end of the day there’s one change in our playoff teams and that’s just seeding. Furthermore there’s no changes in our selection committee games, which might be first in 2021. However there are quite a few shakeups in some of our other bowls. As always if you want to see how things changed from last week click here. With the preliminaries out of the way let’s get to our LWOS Week Eight Bowl Projections.
College Football Playoff
Orange Bowl- December 31st- (1) Georgia vs. (4) Cincinnati- Following their win over Kentucky the Bulldogs had the week off. They play Florida in the annual game in Jacksonville next week. On the other side of the ball the Bearcats built a 17 point lead on Navy then had to withstand a furious rally. In fact the game wasn’t sealed until Arquon Bush picked off a pass with 25 seconds left.
Cotton Bowl- December 31st- (2) Ohio State vs. (3) Oklahoma- The Sooners played about as bad as possible trailing eternal cellar dweller Kansas 17-7. However Caleb Williams rallied the troops for a 35-23 victory. Ryan Day’s Buckeyes are firing on all cylinders right now blowing out Indiana 54-7. We’re flipping these two seeds for this week for whatever that means for the game.
College Football National Championship- January 10th- (1) Georgia vs. (2) Ohio State- Based on the way OSU has been playing we’re moving them into the championship game.
Selection Committee Games
Peach Bowl- December 30th- Kentucky vs. Wake Forest- Mark Stoops’ Wildcats had a much needed bye week before they head to Mississippi State Saturday night under the lights. The Demon Deacons are 7-0 for the first time since 1944. Their game against Army turned into something resembling a Big 12 contest winning 70-56.
Fiesta Bowl- January 1st- Michigan vs. Notre Dame- Jim Harbaugh‘s club used a strong second half in beating Northwestern 33-7. The Fighting Irish handled USC 31-16 running their record to 6-1.
Rose Bowl- January 1st- Iowa vs. Oregon- The Ducks built a big second half lead then held off a furious UCLA rally. Following their loss to Purdue the Hawkeyes had the week off before heading to Wisconsin next Saturday.
Sugar Bowl- January 1st- Alabama vs. Oklahoma State- Midway through the third quarter the Crimson Tide only led Tennessee 24-17. However they outscored the Vols 28-7 the rest of the way winning 52-24. The Cowboys fell from the ranks of the unbeatens losing 24-21 at Iowa State. However we’re still keeping them here for now.
Moving on with our LWOS Week Eight Bowl Projections, we turn to the other games ringing in 2022.
New Year’s Day And After Games
Citrus Bowl- January 1st- Michigan State vs. Ole Miss- Arguably the biggest game in college football this week is Michigan and Michigan State. That one has serious bowl implications. After being considered “questionable” to play against LSU Matt Corral threw for a touchdown and ran for another as he continued making his case for the Heisman.
Outback Bowl- January 1st- Penn State vs. Texas A&M- The Aggies continued the wave of momentum from the Alabama win blowing out South Carolina 44-14. Last week we said the Nittany Lions would lose at least one or two more games. However we didn’t think it would be to Illinois in college football’s first nine overtime game.
Texas Bowl- January 4th- Arkansas vs. Iowa State
New Year’s Eve Games
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl- December 31st- Kent State vs. Nevada
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- Virginia vs. Utah
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- December 31st- Auburn vs. Pittsburgh- We said last week the Panthers are a very good squad who aren’t getting near enough love from the national media. They proved us correct with a win over Clemson and are close to an even bigger bowl. Auburn and Ole Miss is a huge game in the SEC West on Saturday.
Continuing our LWOS Week Eight Bowl Projections we now head to the games between Christmas and the New Year.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- December 30th- Clemson vs. Florida- The Tigers’ free fall in 2021 continues as they now head to Charlotte for their game. In a normal year this game is one you’d see much higher in the pecking order.
Music City Bowl- December 30th- Maryland vs. Tennessee
Las Vegas Bowl- December 30th- Oregon State vs. Wisconsin
Alamo Bowl- December 29th- Arizona State vs. Baylor- Year in and year out this is one of the best games of the bowl season. This one is certainly no exception.
Cheez-It Bowl- December 29th- North Carolina State vs. Texas
Fenway Bowl- December 29th- North Carolina vs. SMU- We moved the Mustangs back to the main land for their bowl. However they have a tough one coming up this weekend when they play at Houston.
Pinstripe Bowl- December 29th- Purdue vs. Virginia Tech
Continuing our LWOS Week Eight Bowl Projections we now head to the games between Christmas and the New Year.
Bowl Games After Christmas
Birmingham Bowl– December 28th- East Carolina vs. Mississippi State
First Responder Bowl- December 28th- Houston vs. Miami (Ohio)- Right now there’s nine possible bowl eligible teams from the Mid-American Conference. With no team from either the ACC/Big 12 or Pac-12 available we’re putting the Cougars from the AAC against the RedHawks.
Guaranteed Rate Bowl- December 28th- Minnesota vs. Texas Tech
Holiday Bowl- December 28th- Boston College vs. UCLA- Even after their loss to Oregon the Bruins remain here for another week however they need a big win or two stay in San Diego.
Liberty Bowl- December 28th- LSU vs. TCU
Military Bowl- December 27th- Central Florida 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. Boise State
Hawaii Bowl- December 24th- Hawaii vs. Memphis- We’re now projecting the Rainbows to get to six wins. As a result we’re making things easy by keeping them at home for a bowl.
We are in the home stretch with our LWOS Week Eight 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. Utah 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- The Chanticleers hopes of being the Group Of Five team likely ended with their loss to Appalachian State.
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. USC
New Mexico Bowl- December 18th- San Jose State vs. UTEP
New Orleans Bowl- December 18th- Louisiana vs. Texas San-Antonio- This matchup is looking better and better every week. The Roadrunners ran their record to 8-0 with a 45-16 win over Louisiana Tech. On the other side of the ball the Ragin’ Cajuns survived an upset bid from Arkansas State winning 28-27.
Thanks for checking out our LWOS Week Eight 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. As mentioned earlier the two biggest games of Week Nine happen in the Big Ten where Michigan faces Michigan State and Penn State travels to Ohio State.
