Another Week With More Changes
As it seems to be every week, it was another exciting and chaotic week in college football. One of our playoff teams who had been playing with fire all year finally got burned on Saturday. As a result there’s a new team in our playoff. In addition the New Year’s Six games changed somewhat from last time out as well. If you’d like to see the differences from week to week click right here. There’s a lot to get to so without further ado here’s the LWOS Week 11 Bowl Projections.
College Football Playoff
Orange Bowl- December 31st- (1) Georgia vs. (4) Cincinnati- No sense keeping you in suspense as we finally move the Bearcats into the playoff. While they still weren’t dominant in a 45-28 win over 2-8 South Florida, with other teams losing they move up to the four spot. Their two remaining games plus the AAC Title game are all against bowl eligible teams and that should help their case. On the other side of the ball, the Bulldogs actually trailed Tennessee for a while before pulling away in the second half for a 41-17 win.
Cotton Bowl- December 31st- (2) Ohio State vs. (3) Oregon- The Buckeyes had an easy time against Purdue. As a result they move up to the two seed this week. After being tied at 14 at the half the Ducks pulled away for a 38-24 win over Washington State. Of course one of the biggest games happening on Saturday has Oregon visiting Utah where that result could shake up the playoffs again.
College Football National Championship- January 10th- (1) Georgia vs. (2) Ohio State- These two schools have only met one time in history. The Bulldogs beat the Buckeyes 21-14 in the 1993 Citrus Bowl.
Selection Committee Games
Peach Bowl- December 30th- Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest- Should the Fighting Irish finish 11-1 they present a good case for inclusion in the playoff as their only loss was to Cincinnati. We’ve been rolling with the Demon Deacons for weeks now for this game and Sam Hartman and company haven’t let us down yet. However after being North Carolina State 45-42 they still have to go to Clemson this Saturday.
Fiesta Bowl- January 1st- Baylor vs. Ole Miss- The game features two new teams this week. Dave Aranda’s club rode a strong second half to a 27-14 win over Oklahoma. After knocking off Texas A&M 29-19 Matt Corral and the Rebels replace the Aggies who we had here last week.
Rose Bowl- January 1st- Michigan State vs. Utah- The Spartans knocked off Maryland on Saturday but head to Columbus this week for a battle with Ohio State. We’re still projecting MSU here because we think OSU will sweep the state of Michigan and Sparty holds the tiebreaker over the Wolverines. The Utes will go to Pasadena as a result of winning the Pac 12 South.
Sugar Bowl- January 1st- Alabama vs. Oklahoma State- A week ago if we told you two Big 12 teams not named Oklahoma were in the NY6 we wouldn’t have believed it either. However with Baylor beating the Sooners and the likelihood of the Cowboys beating them too here we are. At the end of the day the committee has to decide whether to take a two loss Crimson Tide squad over an undefeated Cincinnati team.
Now that we gone through the playoff and selection committee games let’s head to the next biggest games as we continue our LWOS Week 11 bowl projections.
New Year’s Day And After Games
Citrus Bowl- January 1st- Michigan vs. Texas A&M- The loss to Ole Miss drops Jimbo Fisher’s squad from the Fiesta Bowl to playing in Orlando. As mentioned earlier Michigan remains here due to the fact they will be ranked lower than Michigan State.
Outback Bowl- January 1st- Kentucky vs. Wisconsin- Following three straight losses the Wildcats got back into the win column with a good 34-17 win over Vanderbilt. We’re bumping them down on slot due to the fact A&M will be ranked higher that the Cats. Winners of six straight, the Badgers are one of the hottest teams in football.
Texas Bowl- January 4th- Florida vs. Kansas State- Dan Mullen’s Gators nearly lost to FCS Samford on Saturday having to rally to win by a ridiculous score of 70-52.
A couple of things to know going through the rest of our picks. First we don’t project any team that can’t get to six wins until the final weekend. Second we’ve dropped LSU and Texas from bowl consideration. It’s unlikely the Tigers get to six wins and in the case of the Longhorns, you don’t lose to Kansas and make a bowl.
New Year’s Eve Games
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl- December 31st- Kent State vs. Fresno State
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- Louisville vs. Washington State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- December 31st- Mississippi State vs. Clemson- Trailing 28-10 at the half Will Rogers and the Bulldogs made an amazing comeback outscoring Auburn to win 43-34.
Continuing our LWOS Week 11 Bowl Projections we now head to the games between Christmas and the New Year.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- December 30th- North Carolina State vs. Tennessee
Music City Bowl- December 30th- Arkansas vs. Iowa
Las Vegas Bowl- December 30th- Penn State vs. Washington
Alamo Bowl- December 29th- Arizona State vs. Oklahoma- As mentioned earlier the 27-14 loss to Baylor drops the Sooners out of not only the playoff but New Year’s Six games as well.
Cheez-It Bowl- December 29th- Iowa State vs. Pittsburgh
Fenway Bowl- December 29th- Boston College vs. Memphis
Pinstripe Bowl- December 29th- Miami (FL) vs. Purdue
Continuing our LWOS Week 11 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. Wyoming
First Responder Bowl- December 28th- Miami (Ohio) vs. Nevada
Guaranteed Rate Bowl- December 28th- Minnesota vs. Texas Tech
Holiday Bowl- December 28th- Virginia vs. UCLA- The Bruins rallied from a 20-10 halftime deficit to beat Colorado 44-20. As a result they are bowl eligible for the first time in four years.
Liberty Bowl- December 28th- Auburn vs. West Virginia- From all accounts Bo Nix is out for the year for the Tigers which really hurts their chances of a bigger bowl.
Military Bowl- December 27th- Houston vs. North Carolina
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
We are in the home stretch with our LWOS Week Ten Bowl Projections time for a look at the pre-Christmas set of games.
Union Home Mortgage Bowl- December 22nd- Central Florida vs. Missouri- Following a one week absence the Tigers are back in after beating South Carolina in a “win and you’re in game.”
Armed Forces Bowl- December 22nd- Army vs. SMU
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- Liberty vs. Toledo
Boca Raton Bowl- December 18th- South Alabama vs. Western Kentucky
Celebration Bowl- December 18th- Jackson State vs. South Carolina State
Independence Bowl- December 18th- BYU vs. UAB
Lending Tree Bowl- December 18th- Eastern Michigan vs Troy
Jimmy Kimmel Los Angeles Bowl- December 18th- San Diego State vs. Oregon State- Word came out earlier this week the Aztecs don’t want to play in the Arizona Bowl due to the sponsorship with Barstool Sports. The winner of the Mountain West is slotted for this game and that’s where we think they end up.
New Mexico Bowl- December 18th- San Jose State vs. UTEP
New Orleans Bowl- December 18th- Louisiana vs. Texas San-Antonio- We continue to go with this matchup that on paper looks like one of the best of the entire bowl season.
Thanks for checking out our LWOS Week 11 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 it’s a huge weekend in college football with Oregon visiting Utah and Michigan State and Ohio State. We’ll be back this time next week with our updated picks.
