A New Team Enters The Playoff
Hello everyone and welcome back to our favorite time of the week, the bowl projections. In what seems to be the norm it was another crazy weekend of college football. One of our playoff teams lost and several other top teams had scares. As a result, the playoff picture has changed along with one of the selection committee games. Who’s our new team? Let’s find out as we begin our 2022 Week Four Bowl Projections. As always if you’d like to see how things changed from week to week click here for last week’s picks.
College Football Playoff
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl- December 31st- (1) Georgia vs. (4) Clemson- Right off the bat you see the Tigers are back in the playoff after one year away. You can make the case for either Michigan or USC in this spot. However, at the end of the day, the Tigers’ epic win over Wake Forest was the best of the weekend and they get the nod. Of course, they must face North Carolina State this weekend.
Vrbo Fiesta Bowl- December 31st- (2) Ohio State vs. (3) Alabama- No changes here from the previous couple of weeks. Behind 385 yards and four touchdowns from Bryce Young, the Crimson Tide blew out Vanderbilt 55-3. Current Heisman favorite C.J. Stroud had five touchdowns as the Buckeyes made easy work of Wisconsin 52-21.
College Football Playoff- January 9th- (1)- Georgia vs. (2) Ohio State- If this match-up holds true this is only the second meeting of all time between the two schools. Georgia won the 1993 Citrus Bowl 21-14.
Selection Committee Games
Orange Bowl- December 30th- North Carolina State vs. Penn State- With Clemson moving up to the playoff the Wolfpack gets the ACC’s automatic bid. The Nittany Lions continue to roll and should again against Northwestern.
Sugar Bowl- December 31st- Kentucky vs. Oklahoma- It wasn’t pretty but Mark Stoops‘ Wildcats are now 4-0 after beating Northern Illinois. They travel to Ole Miss in one of this weekend’s marquee games.
Sometimes a team just has your number. Following their third loss in four years to Kansas State the Sooners drop out of the playoff. Oklahoma leads the all-time series 2-1 but the Kentucky win was a big one as they won the 1951 Sugar Bowl 13-7 and were later crowned National Champion.
Cotton Bowl- January 2nd- Cincinnati vs. Utah– Appalachian State’s loss to Old Dominion pretty much ended their chances as the Group Of Five representative. We’ve stuck with the Bearcats since the beginning and they’re making us look good. The Utes had no trouble with Arizona State on Saturday night.
Rose Bowl- January 2nd- Michigan vs. USC- Jim Harbaugh’s club was finally tested and turned back Maryland’s challenge 34-27 behind a monster game from Blake Corum. The Trojans rallied late to beat a good Oregon State team on the road. This is the first match-up of these schools since the 2007 Rose Bowl.
Continuing our 2022 Week Four bowl projections we head to the games usually played on New Year’s Day. As we like to point out every week these games have been moved so they don’t compete with the NFL. Also of note, the Outback Bowl is no more, it is now the ReliaQuest Bowl.
Games Around The New Year
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- December 30th- Miami (Florida) vs. Purdue- The Hurricanes’ unexpected loss to Middle Tennessee drops them down a couple of games in the ACC pecking order.
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 30th- Florida State vs. Oregon State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- December 30th- Arkansas vs. Notre Dame
Arizona Bowl- December 30th- Boise State vs. Toledo
Music City Bowl- December 31st- Florida vs. Michigan State
ReliaQuest Bowl- January 2nd- Texas A&M vs. Wisconsin- The Aggies picked up a big win over Arkansas. However, their schedule really picks up as they travel to Mississippi State and Alabama over the next two weeks.
Citrus Bowl- January 2nd- Minnesota vs. Tennessee- Many think the Vols should be in the Sugar Bowl and they very well may end up in New Orleans. However for now they’re heading to Orlando for two reasons. First Kentucky is ranked higher and second UK beat Florida by 10 on the road while UT won at home by five. Mark October 29th on your calendar when the Vols host Kentucky. The winner likely has the inside track to the Sugar Bowl.
Post-Christmas Day Games
Quick Lane Bowl- December 26th– Central Michigan vs. Iowa
Birmingham Bowl- December 27th- South Carolina vs. Rutgers
Camellia Bowl- December 27th– Marshall vs. Miami (Ohio)
First Responder Bowl- December 27th- California vs. Texas
Guaranteed Rate Bowl- December 27th- Maryland vs. Texas Tech
Military Bowl- December 28th- Houston vs. Virginia Tech
Liberty Bowl- December 28th- Kansas State vs. Mississippi State
Holiday Bowl- December 28th- Wake Forest vs. Washington- As mentioned earlier the Demon Deacons dropped a tough one against Clemson. Behind Michael Penix Jr. the Huskies had no trouble with Stanford.
Texas Bowl- December 28th- Ole Miss vs. Iowa State
Pinstripe Bowl- December 29th- Illinois vs. North Carolina
Cheez-It Bowl- December 29th- Pittsburgh vs. Oklahoma State
Alamo Bowl- December 29th- Baylor vs. Oregon
As we go through the final sets of games in our 2022 Week Four Bowl Projections you’ll find a couple of more of the teams we talked about earlier as the “Group Of Five” school. Again with all the bowl tie-ins to the Power Five schools, it’s hard to find a bigger game for them.
Games Around Christmas
Myrtle Beach Bowl- December 19th- Coastal Carolina vs. Western Kentucky
Idaho Potato Bowl- December 20th- Northern Illinois vs. Wyoming
Boca Raton Bowl- December 20th- Central Florida vs. South Alabama
New Orleans Bowl- December 21st- Louisiana vs. UAB
Armed Forces Bowl- December 22nd- BYU vs. Kansas- The Cougars have a couple of chances at becoming the Group Of Five team. Although, it’s a long shot at best. At 4-0, the Jayhawks are one of the pleasant surprises of the football season.
Independence Bowl- December 23rd- Army vs. SMU
Gasparilla Bowl- December 23rd- South Alabama vs. Duke
Hawai’i Bowl- December 24th- San Jose State vs. Texas-San Antonio
Time to wrap our 2022 Week Four Bowl Projections will the enormous slate of early season games. Of course that includes a whopping seven games on December 17th alone.
First Weekend Games
Bahamas Bowl- December 16th- Florida Atlantic vs. Western Michigan
Cure Bowl- December 16th- Liberty vs. Middle Tennessee
Fenway Bowl- December 17th- Memphis vs. Syracuse
Frisco Bowl- December 17th- Nevada vs. Tulsa
Celebration Bowl- December 17th- Jackson State vs. North Carolina Central
New Mexico BowAlthough,l- December 17th- Air Force vs. North Texas
Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl– December 17th- Fresno State vs. Washington State
Lending Tree Bowl- December 17th- Appalachian State vs. Kent State
Las Vegas Bowl- December 17th- LSU vs. UCLA
Last Word On Sports Bowl- Date TBA- Indiana vs. UNLV- If the San Francisco Bowl can’t be played this year ESPN has the right to create a new game to replace it. Since it doesn’t have a sponsor may we suggest Last Word On Sports?
Thanks for checking out our 2022 Week Four Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football. We’ll be here next week and every week until the entire schedule is announced in December.
