Our First Picks For 2o22
Hello everyone and welcome back to the first projections of the 2022 season. A lot’s happened since we were last together. Georgia won the national championship for the first time since 1980. UCLA and USC announced intentions of heading to the Big 10, or at least we think. If that wasn’t enough the Big 10 landed a major media rights deal. Lastly, the college football playoff is expanding to 12 teams. With all the news out of the way let’s get to our 2022 Week One Bowl Projections.
College Football Playoff
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl- December 31st- (1) Alabama vs. (4) Clemson- Last year’s runner-up starts where they usually do, the top seed. Early Heisman favorite Bryce Young threw for five touchdowns in a 55-0 blowout of Utah State.
The Tigers shook off a slow start to knock off Georgia Tech 41-10. After a one-year absence, they are back in the playoff. After playing four straight years this will be their first meeting in four years.
Fiesta Bowl- December 31st- (2) Ohio State vs. (3) Georgia- If we base it solely on week one then these two squads should be switched. However, we base these on how we think they’ll finish. The Buckeyes and Bulldogs have met only once with Georgia winning the 1993 Citrus Bowl 21-14.
College Football National Championship- January 9th- (1) Alabama vs. (2) Ohio State- For this first round of projections we’re going with a rematch of the 2021 game won by the Crimson Tide 52-24.
The next part of our 2022 Week One Bowl Projections move to the New Year’s Six games. With January 1st being on a Sunday the games are moved to other days so as to not compete with the NFL.
Selection Committee Games
Orange Bowl- December 30th- North Carolina State vs. Notre Dame– The Fighting Irish gave Ohio State quite a battle on Saturday. At this point, they may not lose again until they face USC at the end of the year.
Sugar Bowl- December 31st- Baylor vs. Texas A&M- A battle of two teams who end up falling just short of the playoff.
Cotton Bowl- January 2nd- Cincinnati vs. Utah– The Bearcats went into Arkansas and nearly pulled out a win. They start the year as our Group of Five pick with Houston and BYU also garnering consideration. Between the Utes and USC, we’ll probably flip-flop on who ends up here and who goes to Pasadena.
Rose Bowl- January 2nd- Michigan vs. USC- It certainly would be ironic if the Trojans end up in this game in the near future as the Big 10 representative. This is the first match-up of these schools since the 2007 Rose Bowl.
Continuing our 2022 week one bowl projections we head to the games usually played on New Year’s Day. As mentioned earlier all of these games have been moved so they don’t compete with the NFL. Also of note, the Outback Bowl is no more, it is now the ReliaQuest Bowl.
Other Games Around The New Year
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- December 30th- Florida State vs. Penn State
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 30th- North Carolina vs. Oregon State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- December 30th- Florida vs. Pittsburgh
Arizona Bowl- December 30th- Fresno State vs. Toledo
Music City Bowl- December 31st- Arkansas vs. Iowa
ReliaQuest Bowl- January 2nd- Kentucky vs. Michigan State- For two teams that haven’t played since 1947, there’s quite the rivalry. The Wildcats have won many recent recruiting battles against the Spartans. Mel Tucker attempted to hire Vince Marrow for his staff last year. Finally, Tucker left the Cats off his Top 25 at the end of 2021.
Citrus Bowl- January 2nd- Tennessee vs. Wisconsin- A battle of a great offense versus a great defense always makes for an interesting game. This one is no exception.
Post-Christmas Day Games
Quick Lane Bowl- December 26th– Central Michigan vs. Maryland
Camellia Bowl- December 27th– Marshall vs. Miami (Ohio)
First Responder Bowl- December 27th- California vs. Iowa State
Birmingham Bowl- December 27th- Missouri vs. Rutgers
Guaranteed Rate Bowl- December 27th- Kansas State vs. Nebraska- At this point would making a bowl game be enough to keep Scott Frost’s job?
Military Bowl- December 28th- East Carolina vs. Virginia
Liberty Bowl- December 28th- South Carolina vs. West Virginia
Holiday Bowl- December 28th- UCLA vs. Wake Forest- Organizers hope this one gets played after being canceled the last two years due to COVID. As far as the game goes Dorian Thompson-Robinson versus Sam Hartman, we’re hopping a plane now.
Texas Bowl- December 28th- Mississippi State vs. Texas
Pinstripe Bowl- December 29th- Boston College vs. Purdue
Cheez-It Bowl- December 29th- Miami (Florida) vs. Oklahoma- Much like the Sugar Bowl, this meeting of two schools who just miss the upper bowls is one of the best of the whole season.
Alamo Bowl- December 29th- Oklahoma State vs. Oregon– This is always one of the best games of the year and this should be no exception.
Games Around Christmas
Myrtle Beach Bowl- December 19th- Coastal Carolina vs. Memphis
Idaho Potato Bowl- December 20th- Air Force vs. Northern Illinois
Boca Raton Bowl- December 20th- Central Florida vs. Old Dominion
New Orleans Bowl- December 21st- Louisiana vs. UAB
Armed Forces Bowl- December 22nd- Houston vs. TCU
Independence Bowl- December 23rd- Army vs. Tulane
Gasparilla Bowl- December 23rd- Auburn vs. Louisville
Hawai’i Bowl- December 24th- BYU vs. San Diego State
As we wrap up our 2022 Week One Bowl Projections let’s look at the early season games. This includes a whopping seven games on December 17th alone.
First Weekend Games
Bahamas Bowl- December 16th- Florida Atlantic vs. Western Michigan
Cure Bowl- December 16th- Liberty vs. Western Kentucky
Fenway Bowl- December 17th- SMU vs. Syracuse- Organizers hope the third time is the charm as the Boston game’s been canceled twice due to COVID.
Celebration Bowl- December 17th- Delaware State vs. Jackson State
New Mexico Bowl- December 17th- Texas San-Antonio vs. Utah State
Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl– December 17th- Boise State vs. Washington State– Last year’s game was certainly memorable, though not necessarily by what happened on the field.
Lending Tree Bowl- December 17th- Appalachian State vs. Kent State
Las Vegas Bowl- December 17th- Ole Miss vs. Washington- The “Lane Train” pulling into Las Vegas certainly makes for an interesting game.
Frisco Bowl- December 17th- Colorado State vs. UTEP
A couple of teams you don’t see on our first list are LSU and Virginia Tech. However, both have plenty of time to get back on the right side of our projections. Thanks for checking out our 2022 Week One Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football. We’ll be back next and every week until December updating our picks.
