Big Upset Shakes Up Our Top Four
Hello everyone and welcome to our 2024 Week 12 Bowl Projections. Last we highlighted several games to watch this past week. However, it was an upset in an under-the-radar game that caused a big shift in our top four teams. As a result, we’ve got a new team representing the Big 12. Elsewhere our top-ranked team got a huge scare and figuring out who’s getting in from the SEC continues to be a week-to-week thing. With that out of the way let’s get to this week’s projections.
How The Process Works
The playoff expanded 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. Due to existing bowl deals the SEC champ will play its quarterfinal game in the Sugar Bowl. The ACC champ plays in the Peach Bowl, Big 12 in the Fiesta and Big Ten in the Rose. That doesn’t change anything with our projections because that’s what we’ve been doing all along.
Before we get to the picks we’re adding something new this week, our first teams out. Currently, those are Ole Miss and SMU. Both still have great chances of getting into the top 12. However, that’s how we see it this week.
College Football Playoff First Round
Friday, December 20th- (12) Boise State at (5) Ohio State- Behind 159 yards and three touchdowns from Ashton Jeanty the Broncos broke open a tie game in the third quarter to beat San Jose State 42-21. The Buckeyes had no trouble with Northwestern and host Indiana in the week’s most anticipated game.
Saturday, December 21st- (9) Georgia at (8) Notre Dame- The Bulldogs rewarded us for leaving them in the playoff last week with a 14-point win over Tennessee. Besides Indiana and Ohio State, the other marquee game on Saturday is the Fighting Irish playing Army at Yankee Stadium.
Saturday, December 21st- (11) Ole Miss at (6) Penn State- Sometimes it’s as much about when you lose during the course of the season. After Tennessee’s loss to Georgia, we are moving the Rebels back into the playoff.
Saturday, December 21st- (10) Alabama at (7) Indiana– As expected the Crimson Tide handled Mercer with no trouble. They travel to Oklahoma on Saturday. Curt Cignetti got a huge raise after leading the Hoosiers to 10-0 for the first time in school history.
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
VRBO Fiesta Bowl- Tuesday, December 31st- (5) Ohio State vs. (4) Colorado- As a result of BYU’s loss to Kansas the Buffaloes are now our Big 12 pick.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (6) Penn State vs. (3) Miami- Again SMU is right on their heels but we’re rolling with the “U” again this week.
Rose Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (9) Georgia vs. (1) Oregon- Dillon Gabriel and the Ducks got all they could handle from Wisconsin before winning by three.
Allstate Sugar Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (10) Alabama vs. (2) Texas- They don’t play during the regular season but could meet in the SEC title game and again in a couple of weeks in the playoff.
College Football Semi-Finals And Final
Capital One Orange Bowl- Thursday, January 9th- (6) Penn State vs (2) Texas- These two schools last met in 1997 with the Nittany Lions winning in the Fiesta Bowl.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl- Friday, January 10th- (5) Ohio State vs (1) Oregon- A possible third meeting is on the horizon if our projections play out.
College Football National Championship- Monday, January 20th- (2) Texas vs. (5) Ohio State- We’ve got a change this week as we are projecting the Buckeyes to beat the Ducks and advance to the playoff
Yes, that’s four Big Ten and four SEC teams in the College Football Playoff. That’s the way we are seeing things today. That’s a lot to digest but we’ve still got a lot more to come. Let’s move on with the 2024 Week 12 Bowl Projections.
Filling The Void
A few things to consider as we go through the remainder of the games. Many of the old teams from the Pac-12 are eligible to fill those bowl slots. Those are the Alamo, Holiday Independence, L.A., 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 more thing, currently we have 64 bowl-eligible teams for 82 slots. However the ACC has five teams with five wins, the Big Ten four and Big 12 two. One of the two Big 12 teams, Cincinnati, is second on the list of APR rankings. 4-6 Northwestern is first. At this point we still don’t believe there will be any 5-7 teams needed this year.
Let’s check out our next set of games with our 2024 Week 12 Bowl Projections.
Games Around The New Year
TransPerfect Music City Bowl- December 30th Big Ten vs. SEC- Wisconsin vs. LSU
Reliaquest Bowl- December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- South Carolina vs. Iowa- There may be no hotter team in football than the Gamecocks. The Citrus Bowl is a possibility but right now we’re projecting Tampa.
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Pittsburgh vs. USC
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl- December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- Tennessee vs. Illinois- Vol Nation won’t be happy with us but we swapped them and Ole Miss this week. Since Iowa played in the Citrus Bowl last year we are putting in the Fighting Illini.
Texas Bowl- December 31st- Big 12 vs. SEC- Arkansas vs. Kansas State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- January 2nd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Texas A&M vs. Clemson
ServPro First Responder Bowl- January 3rd- American/ACC/Big 12- Baylor vs. Sam Houston State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- January 3rd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Louisville vs. Minnesota
Bahamas Bowl- January 4th- Conference USA vs. MAC- Jacksonville State vs. Western Michigan
Continuing with our 2024 Week 12 Bowl Projections let’s move to the contests held just after Christmas.
After Christmas Bowl Games
GameAbove Sports Bowl- December 26th- Big Ten vs. MAC- Michigan State vs. Toledo- There’s a new sponsor for the game played in Detroit.
Rate Bowl- December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big Ten- Texas Tech vs. Michigan- The Wolverines must beat Northwestern or upset Ohio State to get to six wins. By the way, they and Wisconsin are tied for third in APR rankings.
68 Ventures Bowl- December 26th- Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Ohio vs. Texas State
76 Birmingham Bowl- December 27th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool- North Carolina State vs. Florida- Following their big win over LSU, Billy Napier’s Gators move back into our projections. They still need one more win but we like their chances against Florida State.
AutoZone Liberty Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Vanderbilt vs. TCU
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl- December 27th- SEC vs. Pac-12- Missouri vs. Washington
DirecTV Holiday Bowl- December 27th- ACC vs. Pac-12- Duke vs. Arizona State
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 12 Bowl Projections.
A Huge Day Of Games
Wasabi Fenway Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Georgia Tech vs. Tulane
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Syracuse vs. Rutgers
Isleta New Mexico Bowl- December 28th- Mountain West vs. American/Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- South Alabama vs. San Jose State
Pop-Tarts Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- BYU vs. SMU- Following the loss to Kansas the Cougars are now heading to Orlando. They’ve got another tough one this Saturday as they head to Arizona State. The Mustangs are now in the driver’s seat for an ACC title game berth.
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl- December 28th- MAC vs. Mountain West- Fresno State vs. Bowling Green
Go Bowling Military Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- North Carolina vs. Navy
Valero Alamo Bowl- December 28th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Iowa State vs. Washington State
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl- December 28th- American vs. Pac-12- Army vs. West Virginia- We have our first official conference championship game as the Black Knights face Tulane for the AAC crown.
Let’s finish our 2024 Week 12 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. South Carolina State
IS4S Salute To Veterans Bowl- December 14th- MAC vs. Sun Belt- Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois –The former Camellia 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. Liberty
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. California
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl- December 19th- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt- Louisiana vs. Western Kentucky
Staff DNA Cure Bowl- December 20th- Pool vs. Pool- James Madison vs. Virginia Tech
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl- December 20th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool– East Carolina 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- New Mexico vs. Buffalo
Hawai’i Bowl- December 24th- American vs. Mountain West- Memphis vs. Colorado State
*Denotes a replacement team for a conference with not enough bowl-eligible teams.
Games We Are Watching This Weekend
We’ve talked about them already but three huge games are Indiana at Ohio State, Army versus Notre Dame, and BYU at Arizona State. Thanks for checking out our 2024 Week 12 Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football.
