A Shakeup In Our Top Teams
Hello everyone and welcome to our 2024 Championship Week Bowl Projections. It’s hard to believe we’re already at the end of the regular season. Seems like yesterday 2024 season was kicking off. A couple of losses in “Rivalry Week” resulted in major changes to our top teams. As a result two of our top four teams have changed from last week. With all that out of the way let’s get to our picks.
How The Process Works
The playoff expanded to 12 teams this year. Winners of the four major conferences are seeded 1-4 by the committee. However, 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.
College Football Playoff First Round
Saturday, December 21st- (12) Arizona State at (5) Notre Dame- The Sun Devils and Iowa State made it through to the Big 12 Championship game. We’re picking ASU to win on Saturday. On the other side the Fighting Irish are rolling heading into the playoff. Is this the year they finally get a win?
Saturday, December 20th- (9) Tennessee at (8) Ohio State- The Buckeyes shocking home loss to Michigan dropped them from the top four. However we still have them hosting a playoff game, probably the noon start. The Volunteers fell behind early before rallying to win at Vanderbilt.
Saturday, December 21st- (11) Alabama at (6) Penn State- Guess who’s back, back again. That’s right we have the Crimson Tide back in the playoff. The Nittany Lions had no trouble with Maryland and due to Ohio State’s loss meet Oregon for the Big Ten crown.
Saturday, December 21st- (10) Indiana at (7) Georgia– It took eight overtimes but the Bulldogs finally got past Georgia Tech in an epic contest. With the win they likely clinched a playoff berth no matter what happens on Saturday. The Hoosiers blasted Purdue 66-0 and head to Athens. These two schools have never met.
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
VRBO Fiesta Bowl- Tuesday, December 31st- (5) Notre Dame vs. (4) Boise State – The Cougars knocked off Oregon State as Ashton Jeanty continues to put up huge numbers. They face UNLV for the Mountain West championship.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (6) Penn State vs. (3) SMU- With Miami’s loss the Mustangs are now our projected ACC champion. Of course, they’ll have to get past Clemson in Charlotte on Saturday.
Rose Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (8) Ohio State vs. (1) Oregon- Dillon Gabriel and the Ducks had no trouble with Washington Saturday night. We’ll get the rematch from the classic earlier this year that isn’t happening in the Big Ten title game.
Allstate Sugar Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (7) Georgia vs. (2) Texas- It’s not ideal to have these two clubs meet a month after playing in the SEC title game. However, that’s the way we are seeing it this week.
College Football Semi-Finals And Final
Capital One Orange Bowl- Thursday, January 9th- (6) Penn State vs (2) Texas- We’re picking the Nittany Lions to beat SMU and set up a battle with the Longhorns.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl- Friday, January 10th- (5) Notre Dame vs (1) Oregon- The two schools last met in 1992 ending in a 13-13 tie.
College Football National Championship- Monday, January 20th- (2) Texas vs. (1) Oregon- We’re going with chalk and having the top two teams meet in final.
That’s a lot to digest but there’s still plenty more to come as we proceed with our 2024 Championship Week 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. Washington State is also eligible but don’t be surprised to see former Pac-12 schools as well.
As it turned out things couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. When New Mexico lost at Hawaii we ended up with 82 bowl-eligible teams for 82 spots. That means no 5-7 squads this year and no adding another bowl. Maybe in the 2025 Frisco Football Classic.
Games Around The New Year
TransPerfect Music City Bowl- December 30th Big Ten vs. SEC- Michigan vs. LSU- The Wolverines may have played themselves into a bigger bowl. However, we’re keeping them in Nashville for now.
Reliaquest Bowl- December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- Texas A&M vs. Iowa
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Georgia Tech vs. USC
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl- December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- South Carolina vs. Illinois- With Alabama’s ascension back to the playoff South Carolina now heads to Orlando. Bret Bielema’s squad was one of the quietest 9-3 teams in recent memory.
Texas Bowl- December 31st- Big 12 vs. SEC- Arkansas vs. Kansas State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- January 2nd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Missouri vs. Syracuse- Since Clemson played here last year we are slotting the Orange.
ServPro First Responder Bowl- January 3rd- American/ACC/Big 12- Texas San-Antonio 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- Liberty vs. Western Michigan
Continuing with our 2024 Championship Week 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- North Carolina* vs. Toledo- With no Big Ten team available we’re sending the Tar Heels to Detroit. In some of the week’s biggest news, the school parted ways with Mack Brown.
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- Oklahoma vs. Memphis
AutoZone Liberty Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Vanderbilt vs. TCU
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl- December 27th- Pool vs. Pool- Baylor vs. North Texas
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl- December 27th- SEC vs. Pac-12- Ole Miss vs. Washington
DirecTV Holiday Bowl- December 27th- ACC vs. Pac-12- Clemson vs. Washington State- If the Tigers beat SMU then they are in the playoff. For now, we’re sending them to San Diego.
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- Pittsburgh 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- Georgia Southern vs. San Jose State
Pop-Tarts Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- Iowa State vs. Miami (Florida)- With the loss to Syracuse we’re projecting the Hurricanes to be left out of the playoff.
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- Duke 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 Mountaineers fired Neal Brown after six seasons in Morgantown.
Let’s finish our 2024 Championship Week 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- Coastal Carolina 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- Western Kentucky 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- Jacksonville State vs. Marshall
Staff DNA Cure Bowl- December 20th- Pool vs. Pool- Boston College vs. South Florida
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl- December 20th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool– Florida vs. North Carolina State
Myrtle Beach Bowl- December 23rd- Pool vs. Pool- Miami (Ohio) vs. James Madison
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl- December 23rd- MAC vs. Mountain West- South Alabama* vs. Buffalo- With no Mountain West school available we are sending the Jaguars to Boise.
Hawai’i Bowl- December 24th- American vs. Mountain West- East Carolina vs. Colorado State
Thanks for checking out our 2024 Championship Week Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football. We should start getting word of teams accepting the early season games. If we get quite a few we’ll do an update on Thursday. Otherwise, check back this Sunday morning for our final projections.
