Last Projections Before The First Selection Committee Rankings
This past weekend was nicknamed “Statement Saturday” as there were several key matchups involving Top 25 teams. More specifically two big-time games in the Big 10 helped shape our newest picks. While we have no changes in our playoff there is one newcomer to our New Year’s Six games. As mentioned in the header on Tuesday we get our first look at how the selection committee sees things. From here on out those picks will give us a better idea of how things play out. With all the preliminaries out of the way let’s get to our LWOS Week Nine Bowl Projections. As we always do you can check how things changed from last week by clicking right here.
College Football Playoff
Orange Bowl- December 31st- (1) Georgia vs. (4) Cincinnati- Following a slow start, the Bulldogs went on a massive tear late in the second half and easily handled Florida 34-7. With Kentucky’s loss, they clinched the SEC East and punched their ticket to Atlanta. On the other side of the ball, the Bearcats were less than impressive for a second straight week in defeating Tulane 31-12. When the first rankings come out it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Alabama in the playoff and not UC. However for now we’re keeping Cinncy at number four.
Cotton Bowl- December 31st- (2) Ohio State vs. (3) Oklahoma- A week after playing their worst game of the year against Kansas the Sooners played their best in dismantling Texas Tech. Caleb Williams continued his incredible run throwing for 402 yards and six touchdowns. Ryan Day’s Buckeyes survived a big scare from Penn State before pulling out a 33-24 win.
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- With a chance to virtually clinch a New Year’s Six bid the Wildcats laid a giant egg losing to Mississippi State. Mark Stoops‘ Cats still have a great shot at a major bowl game. However, starting with Tennessee on Saturday they have to win out. The Demon Deacons are 8-0 for the first time in school history after blowing out Duke 45-7. Even with their tough closing schedule, we’re sticking with them as the ACC representative.
Fiesta Bowl- January 1st- Michigan vs. Notre Dame- A close loss to Michigan State doesn’t really hurt the Wolverines that much. The Fighting Irish should finish 11-1 and could play their way into the playoff. These two storied programs have never met in a bowl game.
Rose Bowl- January 1st- Michigan State vs. Oregon- As a result of their win over Michigan we welcome the Spartans into the Rose Bowl. This is their first appearance since 2014. Much like Notre Dame, the Ducks could also play their way into the playoff.
Sugar Bowl- January 1st- Alabama vs. Oklahoma State- We mentioned earlier but it would not be a surprise to see the Crimson Tide as one of the top four teams on Tuesday. Should that happen then either Kentucky, Ole Miss, or Texas A&M could slide into this game. We’re keeping the Cowboys as the Big 12 representative as a result of their win over Baylor.
Moving on with our LWOS Week Nine Bowl Projections, we turn to the other games ringing in 2022.
New Year’s Day And After Games
Citrus Bowl- January 1st- Iowa vs. Texas A&M- Following their blowout loss to Wisconsin the Hawkeyes drop out of the Rose Bowl and head to Orlando.
Outback Bowl- January 1st- Auburn vs. Wisconsin- The Tigers picked up another impressive win beating Ole Miss. A few weeks ago we questioned whether or not the Badgers would even make a bowl. Apparently much like Michael Jordan, they took that personally. They haven’t lost since and looked very impressive in their drilling Iowa.
Texas Bowl- January 4th- Arkansas vs. Texas
New Year’s Eve Games
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl- December 31st- Kent State vs. Fresno State
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- Clemson vs. Utah
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- December 31st- Ole Miss vs. Pittsburgh- Even with the loss to Auburn we’re keeping the Rebels here. After talking up the Panthers for weeks they dropped one at home to Miami.
Continuing our LWOS Week Nine Bowl Projections we now head to the games between Christmas and the New Year.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- December 30th- North Carolina vs. Mississippi State- Sam Howell versus Will Rogers? Sign us up as the first team to 50 wins.
Music City Bowl- December 30th- Florida vs. Minnesota
Las Vegas Bowl- December 30th- Oregon State vs. Penn State
Alamo Bowl- December 29th- Arizona State vs. Iowa State- 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- Iowa State vs. North Carolina State
Fenway Bowl- December 29th- Central Florida vs. Syracuse
Pinstripe Bowl- December 29th- Maryland vs. Virginia Tech
Continuing our LWOS Week Nine Bowl Projections we now head to the games between Christmas and the New Year.
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Bowl Games After Christmas
Birmingham Bowl– December 28th- East Carolina vs. Missouri
First Responder Bowl- December 28th- Miami (Ohio) vs. Nevada
Guaranteed Rate Bowl- December 28th- Purdue vs. West Virginia
Holiday Bowl- December 28th- Virginia vs. Washington
Liberty Bowl- December 28th- LSU vs. Kansas State
Military Bowl- December 27th- Houston vs. Louisville- The Cougars knocked SMU from the ranks of the unbeaten in one of Saturday’s best games. As a result, we’re giving them a nice bump in a bowl game this week.
Quick Lane Bowl- December 27th- Northern Illinois vs. Rutgers
Christmas Holiday Games
Camellia Bowl- December 25th- Central Michigan vs. Georgia State
Hawaii Bowl- December 24th- Utah State vs. Middle Tennessee- Last week we had Hawaii and Memphis in this game. However, we’re not projecting either team to get to six wins so the Aggies and Blue Raiders get to spend Christmas in the Rainbow State.
We are in the home stretch with our LWOS Week Nine Bowl Projections time for a look at the pre-Christmas set of games.
Union Home Mortgage Bowl- December 22nd- Tennessee vs. Miami (Florida)- Following their big road win over Pittsburgh we welcome the Hurricanes back to our bowl projections.
Armed Forces Bowl- December 22nd- Army vs. SMU- Even though the Mustangs fell from the unbeaten on Saturday they have a chance at playing spoiler on November 20th when they play Cincinnati.
Frisco Bowl- December 21st- Air Force vs. Charlotte
Idaho Potato Bowl- December 21st- Ball State vs. Boise 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. UCLA- Another loss by Bruins, this time to Utah, finally dropped them out of the Holiday Bowl.
New Mexico Bowl- December 18th- San Jose State vs. UTEP
New Orleans Bowl- December 18th- Louisiana vs. Texas San-Antonio- The race to see who wins the Sun Belt gets better and better every week. Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, and Louisiana could all win. However, we’ve been rolling with the Ragin’ Cajuns for weeks and we’re not stopping now.
Thanks for checking out our LWOS Week Nine 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. It promises to be another exciting week headlined by Auburn and Texas A&M. In addition, we’ll see how the first playoff rankings affect our picks for next week.
