More Changes In The Playoff
Hello everyone and welcome to our 2024 Week Eight Bowl Projections. The third weekend of October had been circled on just about every college football fan’s calendar since the schedule came out. With two huge SEC matchups plus a slew of other important games, it looked like one of the biggest weekends in recent memory. So much so a simple scroll across social media found post after post asking for there not to be any weddings or important get-togethers to not happen.
As it turned out the games mostly all lived up to their billing. The results of these games caused some changes at the top and some shuffling throughout our top 12. As always if you’d like to see how things changed from week to week please click here. With that out of the way let’s get to our projections.
How The Process 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) Penn State- Ashton Jeanty remains at the top of our Heisman list. The Broncos are still our Group Of Five Team. However, both Army and Navy and the team they play this week are hot on their heels. Friday night’s game against UNLV should decide the Mountain West champion. The Nittany Lions also had the week off and traveled to always-tough Wisconsin on Saturday night.
Saturday, December 21st- (9) Clemson at (8) Iowa State- The Cyclones had to rally late to beat Central Florida. Dabo’s Tigers had no trouble with Virginia.
Saturday, December 21st- (11) Texas A&M at (6) Ohio State- The Buckeyes had the week off before hosting Nebraska Saturday. Mike Elko’s squad beat Mississippi State and host LSU for the top spot in the SEC.
Saturday, December 21st- (10) LSU at (7) Texas– The Longhorns got a “welcome to the SEC” from Georgia Saturday night. As a result, they drop from the top spot. Who would have thought back in August that LSU and Texas A&M would be playing for the SEC lead this weekend? These two schools don’t play each other in the regular season so a conference playoff matchup isn’t as bad.
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
VRBO Fiesta Bowl- Tuesday, December 31st- (5) Penn State vs. (4) BYU- The Cougars had to rally to beat Oklahoma State Friday night. They remain our Big 12 Champion. Penn State holds a 2-1 lead all-time. However, they haven’t played since 1992.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (6) Ohio State vs. (3) Miami (Florida)- Cam Ward and the Hurricanes beat Louisville in one of the most exciting games you’ll see all season.
Rose Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (7) Texas vs. (2) Oregon- The Ducks get to play close to home as the Big Ten champ.
Allstate Sugar Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (9) Clemson vs. (1) Georgia- The reports of the Bulldogs’ demise were greatly exaggerated. Kirby Smart’s club still has to travel to Ole Miss and host Tennessee but they look like the top-ranked team once again.
College Football Semi-Finals And Final
Capital One Orange Bowl- Thursday, January 9th- (5) Penn State vs (1) Georgia- The two schools have met twice with each team winning once.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl- Friday, January 10th- (6) Ohio State vs. (2) Oregon- Can the Ducks beat the Buckeye three times? We could potentially find out at “Jerry World.”
College Football National Championship- Monday, January 20th- (2) Oregon vs. (1) Georgia- The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 2-0.
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 Eight 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.
Let’s check out our next set of games with our 2024 Week Eight Bowl Projections.
Games Around The New Year
TransPerfect Music City Bowl- December 30th Big Ten vs. SEC- Michigan vs. South Carolina- Following their big win over Oklahoma the Gamecocks move back into our picks.
Reliaquest Bowl- December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- Tennessee vs. Illinois- Since the Vols played in the Citrus Bowl last year we’re sending them to Tampa.
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Louisville vs. Arizona State
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl- December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- Alabama vs. Indiana- The loss to Tennessee likely ended any chance of the Crimson Tide making the playoff. The Hoosiers had no trouble with Nebraska. Unfortunately, quarterback Kurtis Rourke missed the second half with an injured hand. Tayven Jackson will start against Washington.
Texas Bowl- December 31st- Big 12 vs. SEC- Arkansas vs. Texas Tech
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- January 2nd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Missouri vs. Pittsburgh
ServPro First Responder Bowl- January 3rd- American/ACC/Big 12- North Carolina State vs. Sam Houston State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- January 3rd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Syracuse vs. Nebraska- The SEC and Big Ten alternate every other year in this contest and in 2024 it’s the Big Ten’s turn.
Bahamas Bowl- January 4th- Conference USA vs. MAC- Jacksonville State vs. Western Michigan
Continuing with our 2024 Week Seven Bowl Projections let’s move to the contests held just after Christmas.
After Christmas Bowl Games
Detroit Bowl- December 26th- Big Ten vs. MAC- Michigan State vs. Toledo
Rate Bowl- December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big Ten- West Virginia vs. Wisconsin- We got a name change in this game this week. The lending and financial services company Guaranteed Rate is now simply known as Rate.
68 Ventures Bowl- December 26th- Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Ohio vs. Texas State
76 Birmingham Bowl- December 27th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool- Virginia vs. Minnesota
AutoZone Liberty Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Vanderbilt vs. Cincinnati- The Commodores struggled as a big favorite before finally beating Ball State 24-14.
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl- December 27th- SEC vs. Pac-12- Ole Miss vs. Colorado- What a game this one could potentially be.
DirecTV Holiday Bowl- December 27th- ACC vs. Pac-12- SMU vs. Utah
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 Eight 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- Duke vs. Iowa
Isleta New Mexico Bowl- December 28th- Mountain West vs. American/Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Louisiana-Monroe vs. San Jose State
Pop-Tarts Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- TCU vs. Notre Dame
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl- December 28th- MAC vs. Mountain West- San Diego State vs. Central Michigan
Go Bowling Military Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Georgia Tech vs. Navy
Valero Alamo Bowl- December 28th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Kansas State vs. Washington State
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl- December 28th- American vs. Pac-12- Army vs. Oregon State- It was announced Monday that the American conference had entered into an agreement to send a team here. Previously Army was slotted to play here if eligible. For this week we are leaving them in Shreveport.
Let’s finish up our 2024 Week Eight 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
IS4S Salute To Veterans Bowl- December 14th- MAC vs. Sun Belt- Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois – Our second name change of the week. The former Camiella Bowl is now sponsored by Integrated Solutions for Systems.
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- Pool vs. Pool- Connecticut vs. Arkansas State
LA Bowl Presented By Gronk- December 18th- Pac-12 vs. Mountain West- UNLV vs. USC
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl- December 19th- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt- Louisiana vs. Liberty
Staff DNA Cure Bowl- December 20th American/Conference USA/MAC/Mountain West/Sun Belt- James Madison vs. Tulane
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl- December 20th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool– Maryland vs. Boston College
Myrtle Beach Bowl- December 23rd- American/MAC/Sun Belt- Marshall vs. Eastern Michigan
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl- December 23rd- MAC vs. Mountain West- Colorado State vs. Buffalo
Hawai’i Bowl- December 24th- Conference USA vs. Mountain West- Fresno State vs. North Texas
Games We Are Watching This Weekend
We talked about a couple of these already but LSU and Texas A&M along with Boise State and UNLV head up another big weekend of football. In addition, Notre Dame plays Navy at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Penn State travels to Wisconsin.
Thanks for checking out our 2024 Week Eight Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football.
