Our Last Picks Before Rivalry Week
Hello everyone, and welcome to our Bowl Projections After Week 13. For the most part, this past weekend was about as normal as you can get in college football. However, one place where that isn’t the case is the ACC. Pittsburgh’s win over Georgia Tech, who we had ACC Champion last week, means there are several teams that can make it to Charlotte for the title game. One team that can’t is Miami, which at 13th, was the committee’s highest-ranked club last week. This is after SMU took care of Louisville, and Duke beat North Carolina.
Could the league not get a team in at all at the expense of two Group of Five teams? It’s highly unlikely, but there’s always a chance. Elsewhere, we are up to 72 bowl-eligible teams, and there are 20 teams with five wins. Most likely, we’ll get our 82 squads with the joy of six. The bowl corporate sponsors are always a big talking point. We’ve got a new one this week, and we’ll talk about it when we get there.
One last bit of news, California fired coach Justin Wilcox after nine years. He was 48-55 but had the Bears in a bowl this year. In addition, an announcement on Lane Kiffin’s future will be made after Friday’s Egg Bowl. Now to why you’re here, this week’s projections.
College Football Playoff First Round
Friday, December 19th – (12) North Texas at (5) Texas Tech- The Mean Green had no trouble with Rice, winning 56-24, and remains our Group of Five team. They host Temple on Saturday. On the other side of the ball, the Red Raiders had the week off before finishing the regular season at West Virginia.
Saturday, December 20th- (11) SMU at (6) Ole Miss- The one new team in our projections this week is the Mustangs. As we mentioned earlier, they walloped Louisville 38-6 and travel to California on Saturday. With the Rebels having the week off before facing Mississippi State, Lane Kiffin’s future continues to be the talk of the coaching world.
Saturday, December 20th- (10) Alabama at (7) Oregon- The Crimson Tide bounced back from the Oklahoma loss by beating Eastern Illinois 56-0. They face Auburn in the Iron Bowl. Dante Moore and the Ducks took care of USC 42-27 and travel to Washington this week.
Saturday, December 20th- (9)- Notre Dame at (8) Oklahoma- The Fighting Irish were up 21-0 on Syracuse before ever running an offensive play. They ended up winning 70-7. The Sooners followed up their big win over Alabama by getting past Missouri.
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
Goodyear Cotton Bowl: Wednesday, December 31st- (5) Texas Tech vs. (4) Georgia- What an incredible atmosphere this would be if these two end up meeting. The Bulldogs made easy work of Charlotte and now face Georgia Tech on Friday.
Capital One Orange Bowl: Thursday, January 1st- (6) Ole Miss vs. (3) Indiana- Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers had the week off before playing Purdue Friday night. These two schools have never met.
Rose Bowl Game: Thursday, January 1st– (9) Notre Dame vs. (1) Ohio State- We’re going with the Irish to get past Oklahoma and set up a battle with the top-seeded Buckeyes. Ryan Day’s club easily beat Rutgers and heads to Michigan.
Allstate Sugar Bowl: Thursday, January 1st- (7) Oregon vs. (2) Texas A&M- The Aggies travel to Texas Friday night in one of the weekend’s biggest games.
Semi-Finals and Final
VRBO Fiesta Bowl: Thursday, January 8th- (4) Georgia vs. (1) Ohio State- The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 2-0.
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl: Friday, January 9th- (3) Indiana vs. (2) Texas A&M- These two schools have never met on the gridiron.
College Football National Championship: Monday, January 19th- (3) Indiana vs. (1) Ohio State- Much like we’ve done the past few weeks, we’re going with an all-Big Ten final.
That’s your breakdown of the playoff for this week. Continuing with our 2025 Bowl Projections After Week 13, let’s move to the games around the New Year.
Filling The Void
Once again, this season, legacy Pac-12 teams can be slotted to games featuring that league. However, that will change next year when the conference starts fresh. As always, we’ll try not to pair them with teams they’ve already played.
In addition, with it being 2025, the SEC plays in the Mayo Bowl while the Big Ten goes to the Las Vegas Bowl. Furthermore, for the second time in three years, the Bahamas Bowl won’t be played there. No word yet on what a replacement game might be called.
One other thing to note, we’ve got fewer SEC bowl-eligible teams than bowls. However, Auburn, Kentucky, and Mississippi State are all 5-6. We’re taking a shot on at least one team filling a slot.
Games Around The New Year
Music City Bowl: December 30th- Big Ten vs. SEC- Nebraska vs. LSU
Valero Alamo Bowl: December 30th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Houston vs. USC Trojans go to San Antonio as a legacy Pac-12 member.
Radience Technologies Independence Bowl: December 30th- Big 12 vs. Conference USA- Kansas State vs. Kennesaw State
Reliaquest Bowl: December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- Vanderbilt vs. Illinois
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl: December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Georgia Tech vs. Washington State
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl: December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- Michigan vs. Texas
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl: December 31st- Big Ten vs. Pac-12- Iowa vs. Arizona State- *The Sun Devils go as a legacy Pac-12 team.
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: January 2nd- Big 12 vs. American/Conference USA/Sun Belt- Army vs. New Mexico
Autozone Liberty Bowl: January 2nd- Big 12 vs. SEC- TCU vs. East Carolina- With no SEC team available, we are sending the Pirates to Memphis.
Holiday Bowl: January 2nd- ACC vs. Pac-12- Virginia vs. Utah+- The Utes go to San Diego as a legacy Pac-12 squad. This is the first time the game will be played in January.
Moving on with our 2025 Bowl Projections After Week 13, let’s look at the games right after the big holiday.
Post-Christmas Games
Game Above Sports Bowl: December 26th- Big Ten vs. MAC- Penn State vs. Ohio- The Nittany Lions have rallied at the end of the season and are one game away from a bowl. They travel to Rutgers who are also 5-6. The winner goes to Detroit.
Rate Bowl- December 26th: Big Ten vs. Big 12- Minnesota vs. Iowa State
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: December 26th- AAC/ACC/Big 12- Arizona vs. Utah State
Go Bowling Military Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Navy vs. Duke
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Louisville vs. Northwestern
Wasabi Fenway Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- North Carolina State vs. Memphis
Pop-Tarts Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- Miami (Florida) vs. BYU
Snoop Dog Arizona Bowl: December 27th- MAC vs. Mountain West- Western Michigan vs. Fresno State
Isleta New Mexico Bowl: December 27th- Mountain West vs. American/Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Boise State vs. LouisIana
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Pittsburgh vs. Tennessee
Kinder’s Texas Bowl: December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Missouri vs. Cincinnati
JLab Birmingham Bowl: December 29th- American/ACC/SEC- Troy vs. Florida State- Mike Norvell will be back next season. However, the Seminoles must beat Florida to get to a bowl.
Moving on with our 2025 Bowl Projections After Week 13, let’s move to the season’s initial games.
First Weekend Games
Cricket Celebration Bowl- December 13th- MEAC vs. SWAC- Delaware State vs. Jackson State
Bucked Up LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk: December 13th- Mountain West vs. Pac-12- San Diego State vs. Washington+- The Huskies go to LA as a legacy Pac-12 squad.
IS4S Salute To Veterans Bowl: December 16th- Mid-American vs. Sun Belt- Central Michigan vs. Coastal Carolina
68 Ventures Bowl: December 17th- Conference USA/Mid-American/Sun Belt- Toledo vs. Texas State
StaffDNA Cure Bowl: December 17th- American/Conference USA/Sun Belt- South Florida vs. UCONN
Myrtle Beach Bowl: December 19th- Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Marshall vs. Jacksonville State
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl: December 19th- American/ACC/Notre Dame/SEC- Tulane vs. Clemson
Bowls Right Before Christmas
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: December 22nd- Mountain West vs. MAC- UNLV vs. Buffalo- The Bulls must beat Ohio on Saturday to get to six wins.
Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl Of Beans: December 23rd- American/Conference USA/MAC/Mountain West/Sun Belt- James Madison vs. Louisiana Tech. It was announced that Bush’s is now the corporate sponsor. No word if the winning coach gets a bunch of beans dumped on him. As we mentioned earlier the Dukes sit at 10-1 and could be a second Group Of Five team.
New Orleans Bowl: December 23rd- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt– Western Kentucky vs. Old Dominion
Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl: December 23rd- AAC/CUSA/MAC/MWC/SBC- Texas San-Antonio vs. Southern Mississippi
Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl: December 24th- American vs. Mountain West- California * vs. Hawaii- With no AAC team available we’re sending Cal to the island paradise.
To Be Announced Bowl Game-
Former Bahamas Bowl: Conference USA vs. MAC – Florida International vs. Miami (Ohio). We don’t know the title or where the game will be played, but we have a matchup.
What We’re Watching
It’s rivalry week and that means a ton of big games. We’ve already talked about Texas A&M at Texas and Ohio State at Michigan. In addition, there’s three more big games involving SEC teams. Those are Ole Miss at Mississippi State, Georgia at Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt at Tennessee. Thanks for checking out our Bowl Projections After Week 13 here at Last Word On College Football.
Main Image: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
