No Changes At The Top This Week
Welcome to the Last Word On College Football Week Three Bowl Projections. Many college football pundits called this past weekend’s slate a “Subpar Saturday” due to the lack of big games. However, we’d never say that because any weekend of college football is a good one.
As it turned out there were a couple of upsets and all of our playoff teams struggled. A little further down a couple of surprises in the SEC shook up their selections. Of course, there was that Colorado-Colorado State game that dominated headlines for most of the week. There’s no real news so let’s get right to our 2023 Week Three Bowl Projections. As always if you’d like to see what changed from last week click here.
College Football Playoff
Rose Bowl: January 1st- (2)- Michigan vs. (3)- Texas- The Wolverines only led Bowling Green 14-6 before eventually pulling away. Call it an “Alabama Hangover” but the Longhorns got all they could handle from Wyoming. Tied 10-10 at the end of three Texas scored 21 in the fourth for a 31-10 win.
Sugar Bowl: January 1st- (1)- Georgia vs. (4)- Florida State- The Bulldogs found themselves trailing South Carolina 14-3 at the half. They righted the ship outscoring the Gamecocks 21-0 after that. The Seminoles jumped out to a 31-10 lead over Boston College. However the Eagles made a furious comeback and if not for a late penalty things may have gotten very interesting. Mike Norvell’s squad travels to Clemson next week.
College Football National Championship: January 8th- (1)- Georgia vs. (2)- Michigan- Our title game remains unchanged from last week.
Selection Committee Games
Goodyear Cotton Bowl: December 29th- Washington vs. Oklahoma- The Huskies had no trouble on the road with Michigan State. With Texas in the playoff the Big 12 representative this week is the Sooners. They’ve looked very impressive so far and why not send them to Dallas one last time.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: December 30th- LSU vs. Tulane– The Green Wave got back on track with a 21-3 win over Southern Mississippi. Jayden Daniels and the Tigers had no trouble with Mississippi State.
Capital One Orange Bowl: December 30th- North Carolina vs. Penn State– Right now we’re forecasting the Tar Heels as the ACC representative. The Nittany Lions easily got past Illinois and host Iowa on Saturday.
VRBO Fiesta Bowl: January 1st- Ohio State vs. USC- Heisman winner Caleb Williams has been spectacular in his first three games. The Buckeyes travel to Notre Dame in the game of the weekend.
Continuing with our 2023 Week Three Bowl Projections let’s roll through the games by date. One thing to note there are no games on December 24th or 31st so as to not go up against the NFL schedule.
Games Around the New Year
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl: January 1st-Big 10 vs. SEC- Alabama vs. Wisconsin- Let’s be honest, the Crimson Tide have a quarterback problem. Following their loss to Texas and uninspiring win over South Florida, Nick Saban’s club drops out of the New Year’s Six game.
ReliaQuest Bowl: January 1st- SEC vs. Big 10- Tennessee vs. Maryland- Couple Alabama’s bad play with the Volunteers’ loss to Florida and the SEC games changed up this week. Apparently, the worst thing you can do when playing the Terrapins is get ahead 14-0. It’s happened the last two weeks and they’ve gone on to blowout wins.
TransPerfect Music City Bowl: December 30th- SEC vs. Big 10- Minnesota vs. Missouri
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl: December 30th- MAC vs. MWC– Fresno State vs. Northern Illinois
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl: December 29th- SEC vs. Big 10 or ACC/Notre Dame- Miami (Florida) vs. Ole Miss
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl: December 29th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Duke vs. Oregon State
AutoZone Liberty Bowl: December 29th- Big 12 vs. SEC- South Carolina vs. Texas Tech
Post Christmas Games
Quick Lane Bowl: December 26th- Big 10 vs. MAC- Michigan State vs. Western Michigan
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: December 26th- American/ACC/Big 12/ SEC- Central Florida vs. Florida- We’ve stuck with the Gators in our picks this year and they gave Billy Napier his best win since starting in Gainesville.
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big 10- TCU vs. Rutgers
Holiday Bowl: ACC vs. Pac-12- Clemson vs. Utah
Military Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Navy vs. Wake Forest- The Demon Deacons rallied from 17 down to beat Old Dominion and remain undefeated.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Kentucky vs. Syracuse- With all the switching around with the SEC teams we’ve got a new game for the Wildcats.
TaxAct Texas Bowl: December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- BYU vs. Texas A&M
Wasabi Fenway Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- North Carolina State vs. Rice
Bad Boy Motors Pinstripe Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 10- Louisville vs. Illinois- The Cardinals continue their tour of baseball parks. Last year it was the Fenway Bowl and in 2023 we have them at Yankee Stadium.
Pop Tarts Bowl- December 28th: ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma State- A win over the Buckeyes likely sends Notre Dame into our selection committee games next week.
Valero Alamo Bowl: December 28th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Kansas State vs. Oregon
As we roll on with our 2023 Week Three Bowl Projections let’s move to the set of games just before Christmas. That includes a whopping seven games on December 23rd.
Games Right Before Christmas
TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl December 23rd: American vs. SEC- Auburn vs. Memphis
Camellia Bowl- December 23rd: MAC vs. Sun Belt- Eastern Michigan vs. Coastal Carolina
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: December 23rd- American vs. C-USA- Kansas vs. Texas San-Antonio
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: December 23rd- MAC vs. MWC- Miami (Ohio) vs. San Jose State
68 Ventures Bowl: December 23rd- MAC vs. Sun Belt- Georgia Southern vs. Toledo
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl: December 23rd- Big 10 vs. Pac-12- Iowa vs. Washington State– Yes Iowa football and Las Vegas may seem like an odd combination. However, that’s the match-up we’ve got for this week.
Easy Post Hawai’i Bowl: December 23rd- Conference USA/MWC/American- UAB vs. Wyoming
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl: December 22nd- American/ACC/Notre Dame/SEC- Arkansas vs. Pittsburgh
RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl: December 21st- Group Of Five vs. Group Of Five- Appalachian State vs. North Texas
Frisco Bowl: December 19th-Group of Five vs. Group Of Five- Cincinnati vs. SMU
First Weekend Games
HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl: December 16th- Conference USA vs. MAC- Ball State vs. Marshall
Cricket Celebration Bowl: December 16th- MEAC vs. SWAC- Florida A&M vs. North Carolina Central
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: December 16th- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt- Liberty vs. South Alabama
Duluth Trading Cure Bowl: December 16th- Group Of Five vs. Group Of Five- Army vs. Old Dominion
Isleta New Mexico Bowl: December 16th- C-USA vs. MWC- Air Force vs. Western Kentucky- This bowl game now has a sponsor.
Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl: December 16th- Pac-12 vs. Mountain West- Boise State vs. UCLA
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl: December 16th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- West Virginia vs. Colorado– Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes went to 3-0 after that epic game against Colorado State. Business is about to pick up when they face Oregon and USC in back-to-back weeks. However, they’ll have to go it without Travis Hunter who’s expected to miss three weeks.
Myrtle Beach Bowl: American/MAC/Sun Belt- December 18th- Florida Atlantic vs. Troy
As we mentioned earlier it’s a huge weekend for college football. Ohio State and Notre Dame head the lineup that also features Ole Miss at Alabama, UCLA at Utah, and Oregon State at Washington State. Thanks for checking out our Week Three 2023 Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football.
Photo courtesy: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
