Several Changes at the Top
Hello friends and welcome back to Last Word On College Football’s weekly bowl projections. There were several great matchups this past weekend and a few major surprises. As a result, our playoff teams have not only changed but swapped spots from last week. Of course, the big story from the weekend was Northern Illinois getting 1.4 million from Notre Dame and winning 16-14 in South Bend. Yes, we said all Notre Dame had to do was keep winning and they’ll clinch a playoff spot. But hey we weren’t the only ones. Anyway, there’s a lot to discuss so let’s get right to our 2024 Week Two Bowl Projections.
How This Works
If you haven’t been following along the playoff is expanding to 12 teams this year. The process goes as follows; the winners of the four major conferences will be seeded 1-4 by the committee. The top Group Of Five squad gets a berth, leaving seven teams fighting for the other spots. Champions of the Power Four get a first-round bye while the other eight meet in matchups at the higher seed. In addition, many of the New Year’s Six games are now playoff games.
With all the backstory out of the way let’s get to our picks.
College Football Playoff First Round
Friday, December 20th- (12) Boise State at (5) Texas- The Longhorns had the biggest win of the weekend going into Ann Arbor dominating Michigan 31-12. Despite another huge performance from Ashton Jeanty and a last-second loss to Oregon, the Broncos remain our Group Of Five Team.
Saturday, December 21st- (9)Penn State at (8) Tennessee- The Nittany Lions barely pulled one out over Bowling Green. Following their 51-10 win over North Carolina State the Volunteers rocket into our playoff projections.
Saturday, December 21st- (11) Kansas State at (6) Ole Miss- Another week and another big performance from Jaxson Dart and the Rebels. They move up a couple of spots. With Michigan losing we looked at a dozen teams for this final berth. For this week we went with K-State.
Saturday, December 21st- (10) Oregon vs. (7) Alabama– Both teams got all they could handle in their respective games. As mentioned earlier the Ducks won at the buzzer against Boise State. For a second straight year, the Crimson Tide struggled with South Florida before outscoring them 28-3 in the fourth quarter.
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
VRBO Fiesta Bowl- Tuesday, December 31st- (5) Texas at (4) Utah- Cam Rising left the win over Baylor with an injured hand. That’s something to watch going forward.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (6) Ole Miss vs. (3) Miami (Florida)- Two high-powered offenses meeting in south Florida. Sign us up for that one.
Rose Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (7) Alabama vs. (2) Ohio State- The Buckeyes had no trouble with Western Michigan. We’re trying to keep some tradition by sending the Big Ten Champ to Pasadena.
Allstate Sugar Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (8) Tennesse vs. (1) Georgia- An All-SEC quarterfinal in New Orleans between these two schools would be one of the hottest tickets ever.
College Football Semi-Finals And Final
Capital One Orange Bowl- Thursday, January 9th- (5) Texas vs. (1) Georgia– The Longhorns get past Utah setting up a battle versus the Bulldogs.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl- Friday, January 10th- (3) Miami vs. (2) Ohio State- The schools have met four times with each winning twice.
College Football National Championship- Atlanta, Georgia- Monday, January 20th- (2) Ohio State vs. (1) Georgia- The two best teams all year in college football meet in the title game.
Well, that’s a lot to digest but we’ve still got a lot more to come. Let’s move on with the 2024 Week Two Bowl Projections.
Filling The Void
A few things to consider as we go through the remainder of the games. With the end of the Pac-12, many of the old teams from the league are eligible to fill those bowl slots. Those are the Alamo, Holiday Independence, LA, Las Vegas, and Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl. While Oregon State and Washington State are of course eligible don’t be surprised to see former Pac-12 schools as well. In addition, bowls try to avoid teams playing in the same game in back-to-back years. However, with all the conference swapping madness duplicates are a definite possibility. One other thing you’ll notice is with five SEC schools in the playoff we had more games with league tie-ins than we had teams.
Let’s check out our next set of games with our 2024 Week Two Bowl Projections.
Games Around The New Year
TransPerfect Music City Bowl- December 30th Big Ten vs. SEC- Nebraska vs. South Carolina– As a result of their huge win at Kentucky the Gamecocks roll into our projections. Matt Ruhle’s Cornhuskers looked very impressive in a 28-10 win over Colorado.
Reliaquest Bowl- December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- Oklahoma vs. Iowa-
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Boston College vs. California- This is an interesting one with Cal representing its old conference against its new one. However, these two don’t play during the season so why not?
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl- December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- Missouri vs. Michigan– The Tigers were one of those dozen teams we looked at for the final playoff spot.
Texas Bowl- December 31st- Big 12 vs. SEC- BYU vs. Auburn
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- January 2nd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- LSU vs. Florida State- The Seminoles last played in the Gator Bowl in 2010.
ServPro First Responder Bowl- January 3rd- American/ACC/Big 12- Texas Tech vs. Sam Houston State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- January 3rd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Louisville vs. Indiana- The SEC and Big Ten alternate every other year in this contest and 2024 it’s the Big Ten’s turn.
Bahamas Bowl- January 4th- Conference USA vs. MAC- New Mexico State vs. Bowling Green– The game is back in its normal home this year. In addition, it’s moving from the first weekend to the last non-playoff bowl.
Continuing with our 2024 Week Two Bowl Projections let’s move to the contests held just after Christmas.
After Christmas Bowl Games
Detroit Bowl- December 26th- Big Ten vs. MAC- Rutgers vs. Northern Illinois- Could the Huskies end up as the Group of Five team? That’s certainly something worth watching going forward.
Guaranteed Rate Bowl- December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big Ten- Illinois vs. West Virginia
68 Ventures Bowl- December 26th- Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Ohio vs. Texas State- The Bobcats are another school to watch for the Group Of Five bid.
76 Birmingham Bowl- December 27th- ACC/SEC/American- Syracuse vs. East Carolina
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl- December 27th- American vs. Conference USA- Air Force vs. Iowa State
AutoZone Liberty Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Kentucky vs. Central Florida- Following their dismal performance against South Carolina the Wildcats have a much tougher road to six wins. However, we still think they’ll get there.
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl- December 27th- SEC vs. Pac-12- Texas A&M vs. Arizona- With the Big Ten playing in the Mayo Bowl it’s the SEC’s turn to head to Las Vegas.
DirecTV Holiday Bowl- December 27th- ACC vs. Pac-12- Clemson vs. Washington
The biggest date as far as the number of games is December 28th with eight bowls total. Let’s go through each of them with our 2024 Week Two Bowl Projections.
A Huge Day Of Games
Wasabi Fenway Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Virginia Tech vs. Memphis
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- North Carolina vs. Wisconsin
Isleta New Mexico Bowl- December 28th- Mountain West vs. American/Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Troy vs. San Jose State
Pop-Tarts Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- Kansas vs. Notre Dame- Following their loss to Northern Illinois the Irish drop out of the playoff.
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl- December 28th- MAC vs. Mountain West- Utah State vs. Western Michigan
Go Bowling Military Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- SMU vs. South Florida- The Mustangs represent their new conference (ACC) vs. their old one (American)
Valero Alamo Bowl- December 28th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Oklahoma State vs. USC
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl- December 28th- Army/ American vs. Pac-12- Army vs. Washington State- A big shout out to the former Pac-12 who remained undefeated on the year (4-0.)
Let’s finish up our 2024 Week Two Bowl Projections with a look at the first slate of contests.
Early Season Bowl Games
Cricket Celebration Bowl- December 14th- MEAC vs. SWAC- Jackson State vs. North Carolina Central
Camellia Bowl- December 14th- MAC vs. Sun Belt- Louisiana vs. Texas San-Antonio
Boca Raton Bowl- December 17th- American/Conference USA/MAC/Mountain West/Sun Belt- Georgia Southern vs. Western Kentucky
Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl- December 17th- American/Conference USA/MAC/Mountain West/Sun Belt- Pittsburgh vs. TCU
LA Bowl Presented By Gronk- December 18th- Pac-12 vs. Mountain West- UNLV vs. Oregon State
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl- December 19th- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt- Coastal Carolina vs. Liberty
Staff DNA Cure Bowl- December 20th American/Conference USA/MAC/Mountain West/Sun Belt- James Madison vs. Eastern Michigan
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl- December 20th- American vs. ACC/SEC– Georgia Tech vs. Michigan State *
Myrtle Beach Bowl- December 23rd- American/MAC/Sun Belt- Appalachian State vs. Toledo
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl- December 23rd- MAC vs. Mountain West- Colorado State vs. Miami (Ohio)
Hawai’i Bowl- December 24th- Conference USA vs. Mountain West- Fresno State vs. Tulane- The Green Wave let one slip away on Saturday against Kansas State.
*Denotes a replacement team for a conference without enough bowl-eligible teams.
That does it for our 2024 Week Two Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football. Don’t see your favorite team? Don’t worry, we’re only a couple of weeks into the season. We’ll be back next week with another round of bowl projections.
