Surprise Saturday Shakes Up The Entire Playoff
Hello everyone and welcome to our 2024 Week 13 Bowl Projections. Every season at least once or twice you get a weekend that shakes everything up like an Etch-A-Sketch from back in the day. That week was this past Saturday. The biggest shockers came in the SEC where three highly ranked teams including two of our playoff teams were upset. On another front, the Big 12 is wide open where four teams could win. There’s a lot to break down this week so let’s get right to it.
How The Process Works
The playoff expanded to 12 teams this year. The process goes as follows; the winners of the four major conferences are supposed to be seeded 1-4 by the committee. However, as we learned last week, if the top Group of Five squad ranks higher then they get one of the top four bids. That leaves seven teams fighting for the other spots.
The top four teams get a first-round bye while the other eight meet in matchups at the higher seed. Due to existing bowl deals the SEC champ will play its quarterfinal game in the Sugar Bowl. The ACC champ plays in the Peach Bowl, Big 12 in the Fiesta and Big Ten in the Rose. Unless the Group of Five team is higher then they get that game.
Alabama, Colorado, and Ole Miss are out this week and the big winners were the ACC and another SEC school we’ll reveal shortly.
College Football Playoff First Round
Friday, December 20th- (9) Indiana at (8) Notre Dame- Yes the Hoosiers lost at Ohio State. However, assuming they handle Purdue they’ll still be in the playoffs. The Fighting Irish completed blowouts of the military schools with a 49-14 win over Army. These two schools haven’t met since 1991.
Saturday, December 21st- (12) Arizona State at (5) Ohio State- As we mentioned earlier four teams, BYU, Colorado, Iowa State, and the Sun Devils are all 6-2. If everyone wins this week ASU would meet the Cyclones. We’re going with Arizona State to win it now. The Buckeyes handled Indiana in the weekend’s biggest game.
Saturday, December 21st- (11) SMU at (6) Georgia- The Mustangs are another big winner this week jumping into our top 12. Kirby Smart‘s Bulldogs clinched a spot in the SEC title game due to all the madness of the weekend.
Saturday, December 21st- (10) Tennessee at (7) Penn State– The other big winners of the SEC upsets were the Volunteers who are back in. Minnesota nearly knocked the Nittany Lions out of the playoff but held on by one.
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
VRBO Fiesta Bowl- Tuesday, December 31st- (5) Ohio State vs. (4) BYU- Last week the committee surprised many by putting the Broncos over the Big 12 champ. They got all they could handle against Wyoming before winning 17-13.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (6) Georgia vs. (3) Miami- We’re still projecting the “U” as our ACC champion.
Rose Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (8) Notre Dame vs. (1) Oregon- After an off week Dillon Gabriel and the Ducks host Washington Saturday night. These schools have met twice with the last coming in 1982. The Fighting Irish won once and they tied in the other.
Allstate Sugar Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (10) Tennessee vs. (2) Texas- They don’t play during the regular season but a meeting in New Orleans would be one of the hottest tickets in a long time.
College Football Semi-Finals And Final
Capital One Orange Bowl- Thursday, January 9th- (6) Georgia vs (2) Texas- A potential rematch of the SEC title game in the semi-finals. That’s what we are thinking.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl- Friday, January 10th- (5) Ohio State vs (1) Oregon- A possible winner-take-all third meeting is on the horizon if our projections play out.
College Football National Championship- Monday, January 20th- (2) Texas vs. (5) Ohio State- We’ve got a change this week as we are projecting the Buckeyes to beat the Ducks and advance to the playoff.
That’s a lot to digest but we’ve still got a lot more to come. Let’s move on with the 2024 Week 13 Bowl Projections.
Filling The Void
A few things to consider as we go through the remainder of the games. Many of the old teams from the Pac-12 are eligible to fill those bowl slots. Those are the Alamo, Holiday Independence, L.A., 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.
Currently, we have 77 bowl-eligible teams for 82 slots. However, there are 12 squads with five wins. How many of them win is up for debate. It’s certainly possible we have more eligible teams than spots. If that happens the committee could bring back the Frisco Football Classic or something similar like they did in 2021. We’ll look at that next week. It’s also possible some teams get left out.
Furthermore, we now have 13 bowl-eligible SEC teams. Even with three in the playoff, there are more teams (10) than tie-ins (9.) As a result our lowest-seeded team will head to a non-league bowl. Let’s check out our next set of games.
2024 Week 13 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- South Carolina vs. Iowa- The Gamecocks remain one of the hottest teams in football.
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Pittsburgh vs. USC
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl- December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- Alabama vs. Illinois- South Carolina is also a possibility here but if the Crimson Tide are available odds are they’ll be the choice.
Texas Bowl- December 31st- Big 12 vs. SEC- LSU vs. Kansas State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- January 2nd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Texas A&M vs. Duke
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- Louisville vs. Minnesota
Bahamas Bowl- January 4th- Conference USA vs. MAC- Jacksonville State vs. Western Michigan
Continuing with our 2024 Week 13 Bowl Projections let’s move to the contests held just after Christmas.
After Christmas Bowl Games
GameAbove Sports Bowl- December 26th- Big Ten vs. MAC- Michigan State vs. Toledo- Assuming the Spartans beat Rutgers the thought is they want to play in Detroit.
Rate Bowl- December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big Ten- Texas Tech vs. Nebraska- The Cornhuskers are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2016.
68 Ventures Bowl- December 26th- Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Ohio vs. Texas State
76 Birmingham Bowl- December 27th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool- Vanderbilt vs. East Carolina
AutoZone Liberty Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Arkansas vs. TCU
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl- December 27th- SEC vs. Pac-12- Ole Miss vs. Washington
DirecTV Holiday Bowl- December 27th- ACC vs. Pac-12- Pittsburgh vs. Washington State
The biggest date as far as the number of games is December 28th with eight bowls total. Let’s go through each of them.
A Huge Day Of Games
Wasabi Fenway Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Georgia Tech vs. Tulane
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Virginia Tech vs. Rutgers
Isleta New Mexico Bowl- December 28th- Mountain West vs. American/Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- South Alabama vs. San Jose State
Pop-Tarts Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- Iowa State vs. Clemson- The Tigers need some help but could make the ACC title game.
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl- December 28th- MAC vs. Mountain West- Fresno State vs. Bowling Green
Go Bowling Military Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- North Carolina vs. Navy
Valero Alamo Bowl- December 28th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- BYU vs. Colorado- The Buffaloes go to San Antonio as a legacy Pac-12 team. Even though they are both in the Big 12 they didn’t meet this year so let’s make it happen.
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl- December 28th- American vs. Pac-12- Army vs. West Virginia- The loss to Notre Dame effectively ended Army’s Group of Five bid chances.
Let’s finish our 2024 Week 13 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. South Carolina State
IS4S Salute To Veterans Bowl- December 14th- MAC vs. Sun Belt- Texas San-Antonio vs. Northern Illinois –The former Camellia 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. Louisiana
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. California
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl- December 19th- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt- Liberty vs. Western Kentucky
Staff DNA Cure Bowl- December 20th- Pool vs. Pool- James Madison vs. Oklahoma- The Sooners’ upset of Alabama made them the 13th bowl-eligible team from the SEC. With all the existing league tie-ins taken, we’re sending them to Orlando to face the Dukes.
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl- December 20th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool– Florida vs. South Florida
Myrtle Beach Bowl- December 23rd- Pool vs. Pool- Marshall vs. Boston College
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl- December 23rd- MAC vs. Mountain West- New Mexico vs. Buffalo
Hawai’i Bowl- December 24th- American vs. Mountain West- Memphis vs. Colorado State
Games We Are Watching This Week
If we’re being honest there’s too many to list this week. However, all the games involving the top of the Big 12, plus the ACC-SEC rivalry games. In addition, Wisconsin must beat Rutgers to get to six wins and if Kansas beats Baylor they’ll go from 2-6 to bowl eligible. Thanks for checking out our 2024 Week 13 bowl projections here at Last Word On College Football.
