Who’s The Odd Team Out?
Hello everyone and welcome to our 2023 Week 10 Bowl Projections. The big news of the past week was the release of the first selection committee rankings. In case you missed it Ohio State was number one followed by Georgia, Michigan, Florida State, and Washington.
As it stands right now there are five teams for four playoff spots. Of course, there’s still a lot of football to be played. Let’s get going with how we think things will play out. If you’d like to see how things changed from last week click here.
College Football Playoff
Rose Bowl: January 1st- (2)- Michigan vs. (3)- Florida State- Connor Stalions resigned from the Wolverine staff but the investigation remains. On the field, it was another blowout, this time over Purdue. Business picks up this week when they travel to Penn State. The Seminoles got an ugly win over Pittsburgh and clinched their first ACC title game berth since 2014.
Sugar Bowl: January 1st- (1)- Georgia vs. (4)- Washington- The Bulldogs had all they could handle from Missouri before winning by nine. Michael Penix and the Huskies outgunned USC 52-42 on the road in a very entertaining game. They host always dangerous Utah this week.
College Football National Championship: January 8th- (1)- Georgia vs. (2)- Michigan- Our title game remains the same as the last few weeks.
Heading into our next set of matchups ups there are all kinds of changes as three of our teams lost. As a result, all three are pretty much out of contention now.
Selection Committee Games
Goodyear Cotton Bowl: December 29th- Ole Miss vs. Texas- With Notre Dame and Oklahoma both losing Lane Kiffin’s Rebels move into a New Year’s Six game. If the Longhorns win it’s going to be tough keeping them out of the playoff.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: December 30th- Alabama vs. Penn State- Jalen Milroe put on a show in the Crimson Tide’s 42-28 win over LSU. After a week out the Nittany Lions are back in and can cement their place with a win over Michigan.
Capital One Orange Bowl: December 30th- Louisville vs. Ohio State– This is the only game that didn’t change from last week. Jeff Brohm’s squad had no trouble with Virginia Tech while the Buckeyes struggled with Rutgers before eventually winning by 19.
VRBO Fiesta Bowl: January 1st- Oregon vs. Tulane- As a result of Air Force losing to Army the Green Wave has returned as our Group Of Five team. Bo Nix and the Ducks blew out California and a rematch with Washington in the Pac-12 title game is an almost certainty.
Continuing with our 2023 Week 10 Bowl Projections let’s roll through the games by date. One thing to note there are no games on December 24th or 31st so as to not go up against the NFL schedule.
Currently, there are 51 bowl-eligible teams and with James Madison and Jacksonville State included we are up to 53. That leaves 29 spots left which means most likely they’re going to be some 5-7 teams. Going on APR ratings Northwestern, Wake Forest, Iowa State, Rice, and Mississippi State are the top schools. However, they need to get to five wins. You’ll see most of them sprinkled in this week.
Games Around the New Year
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl: January 1st- Big 10 vs. SEC- Tennessee vs. Iowa- Brian Ferentz is out as Hawkeye offensive coordinator at the end of the year. Even with their issues Iowa is in control of the Big 10 west and returns to Orlando.
ReliaQuest Bowl: January 1st- SEC vs. Big 10- LSU vs. Notre Dame- As a result of the Fighting Irish’s loss to Clemson we’re going back to the “Brian Kelly” bowl matchup.
TransPerfect Music City Bowl: December 30th- SEC vs. Big 10- Auburn vs. Nebraska
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl: December 30th- MAC vs. MWC– UNLV vs. Toledo
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl: December 29th- SEC vs. Big 10 or ACC/Notre Dame- North Carolina vs. Missouri
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl: December 29th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Miami (Florida) vs. USC
AutoZone Liberty Bowl: December 29th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Kentucky vs. Kansas State- The Wildcats are bowl eligible for a school-record eighth straight year after beating Mississippi State.
With Ole Miss moving into the Selection Committee games it makes for an interesting situation with the SEC. As it stands right now there won’t be enough teams to fill all the available bowl slots. That helps leagues like the Big 10 and Sun Belt who have more teams eligible than slots.
Post Christmas Games
Quick Lane Bowl: December 26th- Big 10 vs. MAC- Northwestern vs. Ohio
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: December 26th- American/ACC/Big 12/ SEC- Air Force* vs. Rice
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big 10- West Virginia vs. Minnesota
DirecTV Holiday Bowl: December 27th- ACC vs. Pac-12- Clemson vs. Oregon State- Sometimes these things write themselves. The new sponsor of the game in San Diego featuring a Pac-12 team is a television provider that doesn’t carry the Pac-12 Network.
Military Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Georgia Tech vs. Navy
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Duke vs. Florida
TaxAct Texas Bowl: December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M- The final “Bedlam” game was certainly that as the Sooners suffered a second straight loss. Most likely we would have slotted them for the Pop-Tarts Bowl. However, they played Florida State in that game a year ago.
Wasabi Fenway Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Syracuse vs. Memphis
Bad Boy Motors Pinstripe Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 10- Virginia Tech vs. Rutgers
Pop Tarts Bowl- December 28th: ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- North Carolina State vs. Kansas
Valero Alamo Bowl: December 28th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Oklahoma State vs. Utah
As we roll on with our 2023 Week 10 Bowl Projections let’s move to the set of games just before Christmas. That includes a whopping seven games on December 23rd.
Games Right Before Christmas
TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl December 23rd: American vs. SEC- Wake Forest* vs. Mississippi State- As a result of their APR scores we’re projecting two 5-7 schools to meet in Birmingham.
Camellia Bowl- December 23rd: MAC vs. Sun Belt- Bowling Green vs. Coastal Carolina
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: December 23rd- Big 12 vs. Pool- Maryland* vs. *James Madison
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: December 23rd- MAC vs. MWC- Miami (Ohio) vs. San Jose State
68 Ventures Bowl: December 23rd- Pool vs. Sun Belt- Georgia Southern vs. Florida Atlantic
RS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl: December 23rd- Big 10 vs. Pac-12- Wisconsin vs. Arizona
Easy Post Hawai’i Bowl: December 23rd- Conference USA/MWC/American- SMU vs. Wyoming
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl: December 22nd- American/ACC/Notre Dame/SEC- South Florida vs. South Alabama*
RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl: December 21st- Group Of Five vs. Group Of Five- Appalachian State vs. New Mexico State
We wrap up our 2023 Week 10 Bowl Projections with the first set of bowls on the schedule. That includes a massive seven-game slate on December 16th alone.
First Weekend Games
HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl: December 16th- Conference USA vs. MAC- Central Michigan vs. Marshall- The Bahamas Bowl…played in Charlotte doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?
Cricket Celebration Bowl: December 16th- MEAC vs. SWAC- Florida A&M vs. North Carolina Central
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: December 16th- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt- Georgia State vs. Liberty- The Flames are likely going undefeated and you could make the case for them being the group of five selection over a one-loss Tulane.
Duluth Trading Cure Bowl: December 16th- Group Of Five vs. Group Of Five- Jacksonville State vs. Louisiana
Isleta New Mexico Bowl: December 16th- C-USA vs. MWC- Boise State vs. Western Kentucky
LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk: December 16th- Pac-12 vs. Mountain West- UCLA vs. Fresno State- In case you hadn’t heard Rob Gronkowski is now the title sponsor of the game replacing Jimmy Kimmel.
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl: December 16th-Big 12 vs. Pac-12- BYU vs. Washington State
Myrtle Beach Bowl: American/MAC/Sun Belt- December 18th- Northern Illinois vs. Troy
Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl: December 19th-Group of Five vs. Group Of Five- Texas San-Antonio vs. Texas State
*Denotes a replacement team.
Thanks for checking out our Week 10 2023 Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football.
