One Week Before The First Selection Committee Picks
Hello everyone and welcome to our 2024 Week Nine Bowl Projections. It was a mostly normal week in college football this past weekend, or as much as there can be. Because of that, our top four remained unchanged for the first time in a while. However, there are some changes in our top 12.
As we mentioned at the top in a week we’ll hear from the selection committee for the first time. They will give us a better idea of how they see things. Until then let’s give you our picks and as always if you want to see how things changed from last week click here.
How The Process Works
If you haven’t been following along the playoff is expanding 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. In addition, many of the New Year’s Six games are now playoff games. With all the backstory out of the way let’s get to our picks.
College Football Playoff First Round
Friday, December 20th- (12) Boise State at (5) Penn State- We’ve been telling you for weeks that Ashton Jeanty is the top Heisman candidate. However, the rest of the college football world just now seems to be catching on. The Broncos won at UNLV and are still our Group Of Five Team. The Nittany Lions won at Wisconsin and host Ohio State next week.
Saturday, December 21st- (9) Notre Dame at (8) Clemson- Yes we know the playoff history of the Fighting Irish. Even so, it’s hard imagining 11-1 Notre Dame not being in, especially after the way they handled previously unbeaten Navy. Clemson had an off week and hosts Louisville.
Saturday, December 21st- (11) Indiana at (6) Texas- The Hoosiers beat Washington without starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke. They are 8-0 and the only team not to trail at any point so far in 2024. Texas withstood a Vanderbilt rally before winning by three.
Saturday, December 21st- (10) Texas A&M at (7) Ohio State– Trailing by 10 Mike Elko benched Conner Weigman for Marcel Reed and he led them to a comeback victory over LSU. OSU got all they could handle before beating Nebraska.
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
VRBO Fiesta Bowl- Tuesday, December 31st- (5) Penn State vs. (4) BYU- The Cougars took care of business against Central Florida. They remain our Big 12 Champion. Penn State holds a 2-1 lead all-time. However, they haven’t played since 1992.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (6) Texas vs. (3) Miami (Florida)- Cam Ward and the Hurricanes had no trouble with Florida State on Saturday night.
Rose Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (7) Ohio State vs. (2) Oregon- If things hold we could get a Big Ten title game rematch in Pasadena.
Allstate Sugar Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (8) Clemson vs. (1) Georgia- We’ll see how much Dabo’s Tigers have improved since they met in week one.
College Football Semi-Finals And Final
Capital One Orange Bowl- Thursday, January 9th- (5) Penn State vs (1) Georgia- The schools have met twice with each team winning once.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl- Friday, January 10th- (3) Miami vs. (2) Oregon- These two teams played once back in 1958. The Hurricanes won by the score of 2-0.
College Football National Championship- Monday, January 20th- (2) Oregon vs. (1) Georgia- The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 2-0.
Yes, that’s four Big Ten teams in the playoff but 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 Nine Bowl Projections.
Filling The Void
A few things to consider as we go through the remainder of the games. With the end of the Pac-12, many of the old teams from the league are eligible to fill those bowl slots. Those are the Alamo, Holiday Independence, LA, 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.
Let’s check out our next set of games with our 2024 Week Nine Bowl Projections.
Games Around The New Year
TransPerfect Music City Bowl- December 30th Big Ten vs. SEC- Michigan vs. Missouri
Reliaquest Bowl- December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- Tennessee vs. Iowa- Since the Vols played in the Citrus Bowl last year we’re sending them to Tampa.
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Louisville vs. Arizona State
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl- December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- Alabama vs. Illinois- Could a two-loss Crimson Tide club still make the playoff? Stay tuned on that one.
Texas Bowl- December 31st- Big 12 vs. SEC- Arkansas vs. Texas Tech
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- January 2nd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- LSU vs. SMU
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- Syracuse vs. Nebraska- The SEC and Big Ten alternate every other year in this contest and in 2024 it’s the Big Ten’s turn.
Bahamas Bowl- January 4th- Conference USA vs. MAC- Jacksonville State vs. Western Michigan
Continuing with our 2024 Week Nine Bowl Projections let’s move to the contests held just after Christmas.
After Christmas Bowl Games
Detroit Bowl- December 26th- Big Ten vs. MAC- Michigan State vs. Toledo
Rate Bowl- December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big Ten- TCU vs. Wisconsin- We got a name change in this game. The lending and financial services company Guaranteed Rate is now simply known as Rate.
68 Ventures Bowl- December 26th- Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Ohio vs. Texas State
76 Birmingham Bowl- December 27th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool- South Carolina vs. West Virginia
AutoZone Liberty Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Vanderbilt vs. Cincinnati- The Commodores go for their sixth win against Auburn on Saturday.
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl- December 27th- SEC vs. Pac-12- Ole Miss vs. Colorado- What a game this one could potentially be assuming everyone on both teams plays.
DirecTV Holiday Bowl- December 27th- ACC vs. Pac-12- Duke vs. Utah
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 Nine Bowl Projections.
A Huge Day Of Games
Wasabi Fenway Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Virginia Tech vs. Memphis
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- North Carolina vs. Minnesota
Isleta New Mexico Bowl- December 28th- Mountain West vs. American/Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Louisiana-Monroe vs. San Jose State
Pop-Tarts Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- Iowa State vs. Pittsburgh- The Cyclones were the odd team out this week in the playoff. Is it time to start looking at the Panthers as a playoff team? It certainly appears that way after their blowout of Syracuse. However, they must travel to SMU this weekend. Either way, we get one heck of a game in Orlando.
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl- December 28th- MAC vs. Mountain West- San Diego State vs. Central Michigan
Go Bowling Military Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Georgia Tech vs. Navy
Valero Alamo Bowl- December 28th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Kansas State vs. Washington State
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl- December 28th- American vs. Pac-12- Army vs. Oregon State- In case you missed it the American conference entered into an agreement to send a team here. Previously Army was slotted to play here if eligible. For this week we are leaving them in Shreveport.
Let’s finish up our 2024 Week Eight 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. North Carolina Central
IS4S Salute To Veterans Bowl- December 14th- MAC vs. Sun Belt- Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois –The former Camiella 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. Western Kentucky
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. USC
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl- December 19th- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt- Louisiana vs. Liberty
Staff DNA Cure Bowl- December 20th- Pool vs. Pool- James Madison vs. Tulane
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl- December 20th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool– South Alabama 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- Colorado State vs. Buffalo
Hawai’i Bowl- December 24th- Conference USA vs. Mountain West- Fresno State vs. North Texas
Games We Are Watching This Weekend
Of course, the big game is Penn State hosting Ohio State. The Buckeyes have won the last seven in the series. In addition, Oregon travels to Michigan, Pittsburgh plays at SMU and Clemson hosts Louisville.
Thanks for checking out our 2024 Week Nine Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football.
