Our Last Picks Before The Announcement
The only thing that seems certain in college football is nothing’s for sure. We headed into “Championship Weekend” with a dominant and seemingly unbeatable top team. That didn’t quite work out. In fact several of the favorites lost. As a result our playoff and selection committee games have changed once again. In the other big news of the week on Thursday the NCAA added one more bowl game so that no six win team would stay home this year. If you go back to last week we had Ball State and Hawaii as the two teams out. We’ll have more on that as we go along but let’s get right to our LWOS Final 2021 Bowl Projections.
College Football Playoff
Orange Bowl- December 31st- (1) Alabama vs. (4) Cincinnati- Everything seemed to set up perfectly for Georgia. They went into Saturday as the favorite over Alabama. However if we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s to never underestimate Nick Saban. Not only did the Crimson Tide win the SEC title again they did it in dominating fashion 41-24. Unfortunately it looks like they’ll be missing a key player as it’s believed John Metchie tore his ACL in the SEC title game.
We have to give a huge shout out to what Luke Fickell’s club accomplished this year. Led by quarterback Desmond Ridder the Bearcats knocked off a good Houston club 35-20 to become the first Group Of Five school to make the playoff.
Cotton Bowl- December 31st- (2) Michigan vs. (3) Georgia- Following their 42-3 win over Iowa in the Big 10 Championship you could make the case for the Wolverines as number one. However when you knock off number one as Alabama did then you take the top spot. The Bulldogs drop from one to the three seed.
College Football National Championship- (1) Alabama vs. (2) Michigan- These two schools have met five times before with Alabama holding a 3-2 lead. However none of the previous matchups are as big as this one.
Selection Committee Games
Peach Bowl- December 30th- Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh- We’re sliding the Fighting Irish, who were fifth in our final rankings, to Atlanta. Kenny Pickett and the Panthers knocked off Wake Forest and are the ACC Champs.
Fiesta Bowl- January 1st- Michigan State vs. Oklahoma State- The Cowboys literally came as close as possible to winning only to be stopped at the goal line. They drop out of the playoff and head to Arizona.
Rose Bowl- January 1st- Ohio State vs. Utah- As expected the Utes had no trouble with Oregon and are headed to Pasadena for the first time ever. This is the only one of our top games that remained the same from last week.
Sugar Bowl- January 1st- Baylor vs. Ole Miss- With Alabama winning on Saturday we’re moving the Rebels from the Peach to the Sugar Bowl. The Bears are still heading to New Orleans, but now as the Big 12 Champs.
Now that we’ve gone through the playoff and selection committee games as we continue with our LWOS 2021 final bowl projections let’s look at the New Year’s games.
New Year’s Day And After Games
Citrus Bowl- January 1st- Iowa vs. Kentucky– As a result of the Hawkeyes losing in the Big 10 Championship we get the match up every bowl projector tries for every year. Mark Stoops and the 9-3 Wildcats playing against his alma mater. While bowl organizers also looked at Arkansas and Texas A&M here this was too good to pass up.
Outback Bowl- January 1st- Texas A&M vs. Wisconsin
Texas Bowl- January 4th- Auburn vs. Texas Tech
New Year’s Eve Games
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl- December 31st- Boise State vs. Kent State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- December 31st- Arkansas vs. Wake Forest- We had been rolling with Sam Hartman and the Demon Deacons all year as a NY6 team. However their loss to Pittsburgh sends them to Jacksonville.
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- Miami vs. Washington State
Continuing our LWOS Final 2021 Bowl Projections we now head to the games between Christmas and the New Year.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- December 30th- North Carolina vs. Tennessee
Music City Bowl- December 30th- Minnesota vs. Mississippi State
Las Vegas Bowl- December 30th- Arizona State vs. Penn State
Alamo Bowl- December 29th- Oklahoma vs. Oregon
Cheez-It Bowl- December 29th- Clemson vs. Iowa State
Fenway Bowl- December 29th- Houston vs. Virginia
Pinstripe Bowl- December 29th- Louisville vs. Maryland
Continuing our LWOS Week 13 Bowl Projections we now head to the games between Christmas and the New Year.
Bowl Games After Christmas
Birmingham Bowl– December 28th- Tulsa vs. South Carolina
First Responder Bowl- December 28th- Miami (Ohio) vs. San Diego State
Guaranteed Rate Bowl- December 28th- Kansas State vs. Purdue
Holiday Bowl- December 28th- North Carolina State vs. UCLA
Liberty Bowl- December 28th- Missouri vs. West Virginia
Military Bowl- December 27th- East Carolina * vs. Virginia Tech- The Pirates finished 7-5 and became the first team to officially accept a bowl bid.
Quick Lane Bowl- December 27th- Northern Illinois vs. Old Dominion- With no Big 10 team available we’re sending the Monarchs to Detroit.
Christmas Holiday Games
Camellia Bowl- December 25th- Central Michigan vs. Georgia State
Hawaii Bowl- December 24th- Hawaii* vs. Memphis *- We mentioned this earlier the NCAA created another bowl game so every six win team could play in the post-season. As a result the 6-7 Rainbows not only make a bowl but get to stay at home. They host the Tigers who already accepted a bid.
We are in the home stretch with our LWOS Final 2021 Bowl Projections time for a look at the pre-Christmas set of games.
Union Home Mortgage Bowl- December 22nd- Central Florida vs. Florida- This in-state battle is too good to pass up.
Armed Forces Bowl- December 22nd- Army vs. SMU
Frisco Bowl- December 21st- Air Force vs. Marshall
Idaho Potato Bowl- December 21st- Nevada vs. Western Michigan
Myrtle Beach Bowl- December 20th- Coastal Carolina vs. North Texas
First Weekend Matchups
Bahamas Bowl- December 17th- Middle Tennessee * vs. Toledo *- As we reported last week these two schools have already accepted a bid to this game. This was done in advance due to the travel involved.
Cure Bowl- December 17th- Appalachian State vs. LSU
Boca Raton Bowl- December 18th- Boston College vs. UAB
Celebration Bowl- December 18th- Jackson State vs. South Carolina State
Independence Bowl- December 18th- BYU vs. Texas San-Antonio- The Conference USA champions head to Shreveport in what could be one of the best games of the year.
Lending Tree Bowl- December 18th- Liberty* vs. Eastern Michigan- According to published reports the Flames have accepted a bid to the game in Mobile, Alabama.
Jimmy Kimmel Los Angeles Bowl- December 18th- Oregon State vs. Utah State- The Aggies blew out San Diego State 46-13 to win the Mountain West title. As a result they head to L.A. for a date with the Beavers.
New Mexico Bowl- December 18th- Fresno State vs. UTEP
New Orleans Bowl- December 18th- Louisiana vs. Western Kentucky- Word came down Billy Napier won’t coach the Ragin’ Cajuns in their bowl game. They’ll face a Hilltopper squad who nearly came back from a 42-13 deficit in the Conference USA title game.
Scooby-Doo Mystery Bowl- Ball State vs. Wyoming- At this point the only thing we know about this game is Frisco, Texas is the location. Since everything else is a mystery why not name it in honor of America’s favorite crime-solving canine.
Thanks for checking out our LWOS Final 2021 Bowl Projections. In addition a special thank you for everyone who’s followed along this year, we really appreciate it.
