Rivalry Week Causes Chaos
The final weekend of the regular season is of course known as “Rivalry Week.” During this time you can throw out all the analytics because they really don’t mean much. This past weekend was no exception where four of the top ten teams lost. As a result, we have some major changes to our playoff and selection committee games. Let’s break it down with our 2022 Week 13 Bowl Projections. As always if you’d like to see how much things changed from Week 12 click here.
College Football Playoff
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl- December 31st- (1) Georgia vs. (4) USC- Kirby Smart’s club pulled away in the second half to beat Georgia Tech 37-14. They remain in the top spot as they get ready for the SEC title game against LSU.
Behind Caleb Williams’ monster game the Trojans knocked off Notre Dame 38-27. They’ll play Utah in the Pac-12 title game on Friday night.
Vrbo Fiesta Bowl- December 31st- (2) Michigan vs. (3) TCU- J.J. McCarthy outplayed C.J. Stroud as the Wolverines went into Columbus and flat out whipped Ohio State 45-23 on Saturday. They take OSU’s place in the playoff.
The Horned Frogs capped out a perfect regular season with a 62-14 thumping of Iowa State where Max Duggan threw for three touchdowns. They’ll play Kansas State in the Big 12 title game.
College Football National Championship- January 9th- (1)- Georgia vs. (2) Michigan- Remember how we said the match up for this game wouldn’t change unless something crazy happened. Well Saturday took care of that.
Selection Committee Games
Orange Bowl- December 30th- ACC vs. SEC/Big 10/Notre Dame
Clemson vs. Tennessee- The Tigers slim hopes of making the playoff ended when South Carolina ended their 40 game home winning streak 31-30. Joe Milton didn’t have to do a whole lot in replacing Hendon Hooker as the Vols blasted Vanderbilt 56-0.
Sugar Bowl- December 31st- SEC vs. Big 12
Alabama vs. Kansas State- Normally the SEC title game runner-up heads to New Orleans unless there’s someone ranked higher. That’s the case this year as both the Crimson Tide and Vols will be above LSU. Bryce Young‘s 343 yards and three touchdowns led ‘Bama to an easy Iron Bowl win.
The Wildcats took care of Kansas and now face TCU in the Big 12 title game.
Cotton Bowl- January 2nd- At Large vs. At Large
Penn State vs. Tulane- The Green Wave had lost 61 straight games to ranked clubs. They changed that on Friday when they knocked off Cincinnati on the road. As a result, they not only get to host the AAC title game but also become our Group Of Five team again.
With Clemson, LSU, and Oregon all losing on Saturday the Nittany Lions are now the favorite to get the Cotton Bowl bid. That of course will create a big ripple effect with the Big 10 games which we will get to shortly.
Rose Bowl- January 2nd-Big 10 vs. Pac 12
Ohio State vs. Washington- Despite all the lobbying from the Big 10 it’s unlikely the Buckeyes sneak in as the fourth playoff team. The Huskies replace USC as the Pac-12 team heading to Pasadena.
Who’s In And Who’s Out
Right now there are 79 bowl-eligible teams so we won’t need the Frisco Football Classic. Buffalo could have been number 80 but they lost to Kent State in overtime. They get one more shot on Friday when they host a 2-9 Akron team.
We are at the point now where school APR numbers come into play for 5-7 schools. Currently, the top two are Rice and UNLV. They along with Buffalo round out our 82 teams.
LSU’s loss to Texas A&M and Penn State moving up to the Cotton Bowl that necessitated numerous changes in the Big 10 and SEC games.
Two other notes an # means a replacement team for a league that doesn’t have enough teams to qualify. An * means the team has accepted a bid to that bowl.
Games Around The New Year
Citrus Bowl- January 2nd-Big 10 vs. SEC- LSU vs. Purdue– The Tigers’ loss to Texas A&M took them out of the selection committee games. If Georgia blows them out in the SEC title game it’s entirely possible South Carolina could leapfrog them as well. On the other side of the ball, the Boilermakers ended up as the Big 10 West Champ and head to Orlando.
ReliaQuest Bowl- January 2nd- Big 10/ACC vs. SEC- Iowa vs. Ole Miss– A few weeks ago the Rebels were on the cusp of a New Year’s Six games. However, three straight losses knocked them out of major bowl consideration.
Music City Bowl- December 31st- Big 10 vs. SEC- Kentucky vs. Illinois- The Wildcats picked up their fourth straight win over Louisville. Last week we talked about how this game is happening at the same time as the UK-UL basketball game and the school didn’t want to split the fan base. However, those close to the program say that won’t matter so we’re sending UK to Nashville.
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl- December 30th- Mountain West vs. Mid-American- Fresno State vs. Toledo
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- December 30th- ACC vs. Big 10- Minnesota vs. North Carolina State
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 30th- ACC vs. Pac 12- Louisville vs. Oregon State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- December 30th- ACC vs. SEC- Notre Dame vs. South Carolina– Spencer Rattler and the Gamecocks are on quite the roll right now after ending both Tennessee and Clemson’s playoff hopes. Should they jump LSU in the final rankings you can be assured we’re putting the Tigers in this game.
Post-Christmas Day Games
Quick Lane Bowl- December 26th–Big 10 vs. Mid-American- #Connecticut vs. Ohio- With no Big 10 team available we’re sending the Huskies to Detroit as a replacement.
Birmingham Bowl- December 27th- Pool vs. AAC/ACC/SEC- Memphis vs. Missouri
Camellia Bowl- December 27th– MAC vs. Sun Belt/Conference USA/Pool– UNLV vs. South Alabama
First Responder Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. Pool- Kansas vs. San Jose State
Guaranteed Rate Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. Big 10- Maryland vs. Texas Tech
Holiday Bowl- December 28th- ACC vs. Pac 12- Florida State vs. Utah
Liberty Bowl- December 28th-Big 12 vs. SEC- Baylor vs. Florida
Military Bowl- December 28th-ACC vs. American- Cincinnati vs. Wake Forest- The Demon Deacons end of the season slide continued in a 34-31 loss to Duke. UC is searching for a new coach after Luke Fickell left for Wisconsin.
Texas Bowl- December 28th- SEC vs. Big 12- Arkansas vs. Oklahoma
Alamo Bowl- December 29th- Big 12 vs. Pac 12- Oregon vs. Texas
Cheez-It Bowl- December 29th- ACC vs. Big 12- North Carolina vs. Oklahoma State- As much fun as the Mack Brown bowl would be we think the Longhorns will now end up in the Alamo Bowl.
Pinstripe Bowl- December 29th- ACC vs. Big 10- Pittsburgh vs. Wisconsin
As we go through the final sets of games in our 2022 Week 13 Bowl Projections there are a couple of changes from last week.
Games Around Christmas
Myrtle Beach Bowl- December 19th- Pool vs. Pool- Rice vs. Southern Mississippi
Boca Raton Bowl- December 20th- Pool vs. Pool- Buffalo vs. Western Kentucky
Idaho Potato Bowl- December 20th-Mid-American vs. Mountain West-
Bowling Green vs. Wyoming
New Orleans Bowl- December 21st- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt
Coastal Carolina vs. Texas San-Antonio
Armed Forces Bowl- December 22nd-American vs. Pool- Air Force vs. BYU
Gasparilla Bowl- December 23rd- ACC/SEC vs. Pool
Duke vs. Houston
Independence Bowl- December 23rd- American vs. Army- Central Florida vs. Louisiana
Hawai’i Bowl- December 24th- Mountain West vs. Conference USA
Middle Tennessee vs. San Diego State
Time to wrap our 2022 Week 13 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- Conference USA vs. Mid-American- *Miami (Ohio) vs. *UAB- The Redhawks became the first team to accept a bid after beating Ball State last Tuesday. The Blazers knocked off Louisiana Tech to become bowl eligible and have accepted a bid to this game.
Cure Bowl- December 16th- Pool vs. Pool- New Mexico State vs. Marshall- We took out App State from previous projections. The NCAA turned down their waiver as a 6-6 team with two wins over FCS opponents. Only one is allowed to count toward bowl eligibility. NMSU also needs a waiver as a 5-6 team that had San Jose State cancel a game on them. We believe they are likely to get it.
Celebration Bowl- December 17th- MEAC vs. SWAC- Jackson State vs. North Carolina Central
Fenway Bowl- December 17th- ACC vs. American- East Carolina vs. Syracuse
Frisco Bowl- December 17th- Pool vs. Pool- Georgia Southern vs. SMU
Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl– December 17th- Mountain West vs. Pac-12- Boise State vs. Washington State
Las Vegas Bowl- December 17th- SEC vs. Pac-12- Mississippi State vs. UCLA- A different match up than what we’ve had previously. Will Rogers versus Dorian Thompson-Robinson we’ll take it.
Lending Tree Bowl- December 17th- Pool vs. Sun Belt- Eastern Michigan vs. Troy
New Mexico Bowl- December 17th- Conference USA vs. Mountain West- North Texas vs. Utah State
Thanks for checking out our 2022 Week 13 Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football. If there are enough teams who accept bids this week we’ll do a mid-week update. Otherwise, we’ll be back Sunday morning with our final picks.
