A Few Changes From Last Week
Welcome to our 2023 Week Four Bowl Projections. This past weekend had as much hype around it as any week in recent memory. It certainly lived up to the billing with several thrilling games. The results changed a few things around with our selection committee games. In addition, we made numerous changes in our early-season contests. If you’d like to see how things changed from last week click here.
College Football Playoff
Rose Bowl: January 1st- (2)- Michigan vs. (3)- Texas- Jim Harbaugh returned from his suspension and the Wolverines handled previously unbeaten Rutgers easily. The Longhorns had no trouble on the road against Baylor. This week they host 4-0 Kansas in what should be a good one.
Sugar Bowl: January 1st- (1)- Georgia vs. (4)- Florida State- The Bulldogs shook off another slow start before putting away UAB 49-21. In the process, Kirby Smart won the most games (85) in his first 100 games in SEC history. Jordan Travis and the Seminoles laid claim to the ACC after being Clemson on the road in an overtime thriller.
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- We’ve talked about this before but it’s going to be difficult for a Pac-12 team to make it to the playoff. However, if there is a squad the Huskies look like the club. The Sooners beat Cincinnati on the road and remain our Big 12 representative with Texas in the playoff.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: December 30th- LSU vs. Ohio State– We’ve got a new matchup for Atlanta this week. If we move the rankings past the top four we have OSU at five after their huge win at Notre Dame. By the way, USC is number six. Jayden Daniels and the Tigers got all they could handle from Arkansas before winning at the buzzer.
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 held Iowa to 76 yards in a 31-0 blowout win in front of the second-biggest crowd ever at Beaver Stadium.
VRBO Fiesta Bowl: January 1st- Fresno State vs. USC- Another new contest this week features two West Coast teams. Caleb Williams and the Trojans got past Arizona State and host Colorado this week. At 4-0 and ranked 24th in the new poll the Bulldogs are our Group Of Five team this week. They’ve got a great chance of going unbeaten in the regular season.
Continuing with our 2023 Week Four 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- The “Alabama and Nick Saban is through” narrative lasted all of one week.
ReliaQuest Bowl: January 1st- SEC vs. Big 10- Tennessee vs. Maryland
TransPerfect Music City Bowl: December 30th- SEC vs. Big 10- Minnesota vs. Missouri
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl: December 30th- MAC vs. MWC– UNLV vs. Toldeo
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. West Virginia
Post Christmas Games
Quick Lane Bowl: December 26th- Big 10 vs. MAC- Rutgers vs. Ohio
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: December 26th- American/ACC/Big 12/ SEC- Central Florida vs. Florida
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big 10- TCU vs. Texas State*- At this point we’ve run out of bowl-eligible Big 10 squads. As a result, we’re sending the Bobacats as a replacement team.
Holiday Bowl: ACC vs. Pac-12- Clemson vs. Utah- Is the Dabo Dynasty Done in Clemson? The Tigers currently sit at 2-2 with several tough games remaining.
Military Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Navy vs. Wake Forest
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Kentucky vs. Syracuse- The Wildcats are 4-0 for a fourth straight season. These two clubs’ only meeting was in the 1999 Music City Bowl with the Orange winning 20-13.
TaxAct Texas Bowl: December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M
Wasabi Fenway Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- North Carolina State vs. Tulane- With the Green Wave dropping out of the selection committee games we’re now sending them to Boston.
Bad Boy Motors Pinstripe Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 10- Louisville vs. Illinois- The Cardinals are off to a 4-0 start under Jeff Brohm.
Pop Tarts Bowl- December 28th: ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- Notre Dame vs. Kansas
Valero Alamo Bowl: December 28th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Kansas State vs. Oregon- Dan Lanning’s Ducks called their shot against Colorado and certainly backed it up with a blowout win.
As we roll on with our 2023 Week Four 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- South Florida vs. Temple
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: December 23rd- MAC vs. MWC- Miami (Ohio) vs. New Mexico
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
Easy Post Hawai’i Bowl: December 23rd- Conference USA/MWC/American- Tulsa 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- Central Michigan 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- Georgia State vs. Western Kentucky- The Bobcats rocket into our projections following their 4-0 start.
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. Louisiana Tech
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- BYU vs. Colorado– As we mentioned earlier the Buffaloes came down to earth this weekend. It doesn’t get any easier as they face USC on Saturday.
Myrtle Beach Bowl: American/MAC/Sun Belt- December 18th- South Florida vs. Troy
Thanks for checking out our Week Four 2023 Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football.
