Off the Field News Dominate the Week
Hello everyone and welcome to our 2023 Last Word Week 11 Bowl Projections. On the field, it was another crazy and exciting week of football. However, the biggest news came away from the gridiron.
The Big Ten suspended Jim Harbaugh for the final three games of the regular season for his part in the alleged sign-stealing scandal. In addition, Texas A&M decided to let Jimbo Fisher go. This after a 41-point win over Mississippi State. With his buyout, he’ll get 77 million to not coach in College Station. Monday morning Mississippi State parted ways with Zach Arnett who was in his first year in Starkville.
With all the news out of the way let’s get to this week’s picks. As always if you want to see how things changed from last week click here.
College Football Playoff
Prudential Rose Bowl: January 1st- (2)- Michigan vs. (3)- Florida State- Even without Harbaugh on the sidelines the Wolverines went into Penn State and won 24-15. The Seminoles got all they could handle from Miami before pulling out a seven-point win.
Allstate Sugar Bowl: January 1st- (1)- Georgia vs. (4)- Washington- Kirby Smart’s club welcomed back Brock Bowers and won their 27th straight game blowing out Ole Miss. Michael Penix and the Huskies are 10-0 for the first time since 1991 after beating always tough Utah.
College Football National Championship: January 8th- (1)- Georgia vs. (2)- Michigan- Our title game remains the same as the last few weeks.
Heading into our next set of match-ups ups there are all kinds of changes as three of our teams lost. As a result, all three are pretty much out of contention now.
Selection Committee Games
Goodyear Cotton Bowl: December 29th- Ole Miss vs. Texas- Quinn Ewers returned for the Longhorns who jumped out to a big lead before holding on against TCU. Despite their blowout loss to Georgia, the Rebels remain in our selection committee games.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: December 30th- Alabama vs. Penn State- A week after his huge performance against LSU Jalen Milroe accounted for six scores in a blowout win over Kentucky. Much like Ole Miss the Nittany Lions stay in this week despite a loss.
Capital One Orange Bowl: December 30th- Louisville vs. Ohio State– Jeff Brohm’s squad held off Virginia’s upset bid before winning by seven. They travel to Miami next Saturday. The Buckeyes had no trouble with Michigan State.
VRBO Fiesta Bowl: January 1st- Oregon vs. Tulane- Bo Nix threw for 412 yards and four touchdowns as the Ducks handed USC another loss. The Green Wave continue flirting with disaster but keep pulling out close games.
Continuing with our 2023 Week 11 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.
And Then There Were 58
Currently, that’s the number of bowl-eligible teams with two weeks to go. Adding in James Madison and Jacksonville State that makes 60. That leaves 22 spots which means most likely they’re going to be some 5-7 teams getting in. Maybe it’s a sign but there are also 22 teams with five wins. The next two weeks are going to be wild as five teams in the Big 10 West are 5-5. Furthermore, there are two 5-5 schools in the Mountain West and that doesn’t include Colorado State who is 4-6 but should be favored in their last two.
Then there’s the SEC where we dropped Florida and added South Carolina back in. Currently, 4-6 if they win one of their last two against Kentucky and Clemson, both in Columbia, they should get in on APR rankings. Lastly, there are three Big 12 teams who are also 5-5.
Games Around the New Year
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl: January 1st- Big 10 vs. SEC- Missouri vs. Iowa- The Tigers blew out Tennessee and take over the bid for Orlando. We thought about moving Missouri into the selection committee games replacing Ole Miss. However, there’s always next week.
ReliaQuest Bowl: January 1st- SEC vs. Big 10- LSU vs. Notre Dame
TransPerfect Music City Bowl: December 30th- SEC vs. Big 10- Auburn vs. Maryland
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl: December 30th- MAC vs. MWC– UNLV vs. Toledo
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl: December 29th- SEC vs. Big 10 or ACC/Notre Dame- North Carolina vs. Tennessee
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl: December 29th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Miami (Florida) vs. USC
AutoZone Liberty Bowl: December 29th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Mississippi State vs. Kansas State
Post Christmas Games
Quick Lane Bowl: December 26th- Big 10 vs. MAC- Northwestern vs. Ohio
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: December 26th- American/ACC/Big 12/ SEC- Air Force* vs. Texas Tech
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big 10- West Virginia vs. Minnesota
DirecTV Holiday Bowl: December 27th- ACC vs. Pac-12- Clemson vs. Oregon State
Military Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Virginia Tech vs. Navy
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Duke vs. Kentucky- Two of the winningest college basketball teams meet in Charlotte. The two schools haven’t played since 1933 with the Blue Devils holding a 4-0 lead.
TaxAct Texas Bowl: December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Kansas vs. Texas A&M
Wasabi Fenway Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Syracuse vs. Memphis
Bad Boy Motors Pinstripe Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 10- Georgia Tech vs. Rutgers
Pop Tarts Bowl- December 28th: ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- North Carolina State vs. Oklahoma State
Valero Alamo Bowl: December 28th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Oklahoma vs. Utah- Word is the folks in San Antonio really want a “Lincoln Riley” matchup in this game. However, USC continues to lose you wonder if they’ll change their minds.
As we roll on with our 2023 Week 11 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- South Carolina vs. *Nebraska
Camellia Bowl- December 23rd: MAC vs. Sun Belt- Bowling Green vs. Coastal Carolina
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: December 23rd- Big 12 vs. Pool- Colorado State* vs. Louisiana
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: December 23rd- MAC vs. MWC- Miami (Ohio) vs. San Jose State
68 Ventures Bowl: December 23rd- Pool vs. Sun Belt- Georgia Southern vs. Utah State
RS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl: December 23rd- Big 10 vs. Pac-12- Wisconsin vs. Arizona
Easy Post Hawai’i Bowl: December 23rd- Conference USA/MWC/American- SMU vs. Wyoming
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl: December 22nd- American/ACC/Notre Dame/SEC- South Florida vs. South Alabama*
RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl: December 21st- Group Of Five vs. Group Of Five- Appalachian State vs. New Mexico State- A big shout out to coach Jerry Kill who has the Aggies 8-3 and headed to the Conference USA title game in his first year.
We wrap up our 2023 Week 11 Bowl Projections with the first set of bowls on the schedule. That includes a massive seven-game slate on December 16th alone.
First Weekend Games
HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl: December 16th- Conference USA vs. MAC- Central Michigan vs. Marshall- The Bahamas Bowl…played in Charlotte doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?
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- Troy vs. Liberty- We really thought about Liberty and James Madison here. However these two teams facing each other is still one of the best of the entire bowl season.
Duluth Trading Cure Bowl: December 16th- Group Of Five vs. Group Of Five- Jacksonville State vs. James Madison- Why not have the these two teams meet on the gridiron?
Isleta New Mexico Bowl: December 16th- C-USA vs. MWC- Boise State vs. Western Kentucky- The Broncos let coach Andy Avalos go as the school is trying to avoid their first losing season since 1997.
LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk: December 16th- Pac-12 vs. Mountain West- UCLA vs. Fresno State
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl: December 16th-Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Iowa State vs. Illinois*
Myrtle Beach Bowl: American/MAC/Sun Belt- December 18th- Northern Illinois vs. Georgia State
Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl: December 19th-Group of Five vs. Group Of Five- Texas San-Antonio vs. Texas State
*Denotes a replacement team.
Thanks for checking out our Week 11 2023 Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football.
