Another Exciting Week in the Books
Welcome to our 2023 Week Five Bowl Projections. While this past weekend’s slate of games may not have matched up to the previous one we still had a lot of really good games. Number one was in real trouble late in the fourth quarter. In addition, there were a couple of games that shook up our SEC picks this week. With the preliminaries out of the way let’s get to this week’s selections. As always you can see how things changed from last week by clicking here.
College Football Playoff
Rose Bowl: January 1st- (2)- Michigan vs. (3)- Texas- Jim Harbaugh’s squad went on the road and had no trouble at Nebraska winning 45-7. Quinn Ewers and the Longhorns beat previously unbeaten Kansas 40-14. The “Red River Showdown” against Oklahoma is next.
Sugar Bowl: January 1st- (1)- Georgia vs. (4)- Florida State- The Bulldogs got all they could handle from Auburn before a late Carson Beck to Brock Bowers touchdown gave them a 27-20 win. They host undefeated Kentucky on Saturday. Jordan Travis and the Seminoles had the week off.
College Football National Championship: January 8th- (1)- Georgia vs. (2)- Michigan- Our title game remains the same as the last few weeks.
Selection Committee Games
Goodyear Cotton Bowl: December 29th- Washington vs. Oklahoma- The Huskies won a tough one on the road at Arizona over the weekend. As we mentioned earlier the Sooners and Longhorns meet for the final time as members of the Big 12 in the “Red River Showdown.”
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: December 30th- Alabama vs. Ohio State– Look who’s back in our Selection Committee games. As a result of LSU’s loss and the Crimson Tide’s big win over Mississippi State, they’re our SEC representative. The Buckeyes had their bye week and host unbeaten Maryland on Saturday.
Capital One Orange Bowl: December 30th- North Carolina vs. Penn State– The Tar Heels continue to hold firm as the ACC representative. The Nittany Lions found themselves tied with Northwestern at the half on Saturday before outscoring the Wildcats 28-3 in the second half.
VRBO Fiesta Bowl: January 1st- Fresno State vs. USC- Caleb Williams threw for six touchdowns against Colorado. However, the defense nearly let them down again at the Buffaloes made a furious rally only to lose 48-41. The Bulldogs notched their 14th straight win going back to last year with a 27-9 win over Nevada.
Continuing with our 2023 Week Five 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.
As we mentioned earlier a few of the games in the SEC caused us to shuffle the teams in that league considerably from previous weeks.
Games Around the New Year
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl: January 1st-Big 10 vs. SEC- Tennessee vs. Maryland- With Alabama moving up to the Peach Bowl the Volunteers move back to Orlando.
ReliaQuest Bowl: January 1st- SEC vs. Big 10- Kentucky vs. Wisconsin- The Wildcats are 5-0 for the second time in three years after a huge win over Florida. We swapped the Terrapins and Badgers this week.
TransPerfect Music City Bowl: December 30th- SEC vs. Big 10- Minnesota vs. Missouri- Folks aren’t talking much about the Tigers but they are 5-0 with wins over Kansas State and Memphis.
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. Utah
AutoZone Liberty Bowl: December 29th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Texas A&M 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. Tulsa
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big 10- TCU vs. Purdue
Holiday Bowl: ACC vs. Pac-12- Clemson vs. Oregon State
Military Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- SMU vs. Wake Forest
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- LSU vs. Louisville- With their loss to Ole Miss the Tigers fall from the selection committee games. The Cards are 5-0 and host Notre Dame in a huge one this weekend.
TaxAct Texas Bowl: December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Oklahoma State vs. Arkansas
Wasabi Fenway Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- North Carolina State vs. Tulane
Bad Boy Motors Pinstripe Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 10- Syracuse vs. Illinois
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
As we roll on with our 2023 Week Five Bowl Projections let’s move to the set of games just before Christmas. That includes a whopping seven games on December 23rd.
One thing that makes these games hard to select is the Sun Belt conference. Right now there are close to ten teams who could be bowl eligible. That doesn’t even take James Madison into account. Their bowl waiver was denied by the NCAA. However, they can make it if there aren’t enough eligible teams. It’s only week five and we aren’t allowing for that, yet. That’s why you don’t see them even though they are 5-0.
Games Right Before Christmas
TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl December 23rd: American vs. SEC- Florida 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- South Carolina vs. South Florida
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. Texas State
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
Duluth Trading Cure Bowl: December 16th- Group Of Five vs. Group Of Five- Colorado vs. Arkansas State
Isleta New Mexico Bowl: December 16th- C-USA vs. MWC- Boise State vs. Louisiana Tech
Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl: December 16th- Pac-12 vs. Mountain West- Air Force vs. UCLA
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl: December 16th-Big 12 vs. Pac-12- BYU vs. Arizona
Myrtle Beach Bowl: American/MAC/Sun Belt- December 18th- Rice vs. Troy
Thanks for checking out our Week Five 2023 Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football.
