A Few Changes Since Our Last Update
Hello friends and welcome to our Updated 2024 Championship Week bowl projections. The selection committee unveiled its latest rankings on Tuesday it caused no issues or complaints on social media. Just kidding, it’s been pretty much non-stop with each several conference leaders asking why teams were where they were. A lot of the discussion focused on the placement of Alabama and Miami.
Back to the games and projections, which is why you are here and we thank you. There are three title games on Friday night, American, Conference USA, and the big one, Mountain West. It looks like whoever wins between Boise State and UNLV takes the Group Of Five bid as both are several spots ahead of Army. The biggest question is what happens if UNLV wins since Boise is a top-four seed.
That’s what makes the next 48 hours so exciting as a fan, and nerve-racking for someone trying to project the games. With all of the preliminaries out of the way let’s get to our picks. As always, if you’d like to see what changed click here.
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- As we talked about most of the discussion since Saturday focused on why a three-loss Crimson Tide team was ahead of a two-loss Hurricane squad. 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 Broncos knocked off Oregon State as Ashton Jeanty continues to put up huge numbers. As we mentioned earlier as long as Boise wins things should proceed as normal. If the Rebels win then we may get some chaos.
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. If the Mustangs lose committee chair Warde Manual said they could “potentially” drop below Alabama in the rankings. So in theory SMU could go from a three seed to out with a loss.
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 the 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
If you’ve been following along this year then you know the former Pac-12 schools can be used to fill slots from the league’s old bowl tie-ins. In addition, 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. One thing you’ll notice is a number of SEC teams are in new games now.
As of this writing, we have four matchups set. We’ll show you which ones and who’s playing as we go along. An * means the team has accepted a bid. The + meansa replacement for a league without enough bowl-eligible teams.
Games Around The New Year
TransPerfect Music City Bowl- December 30th Big Ten vs. SEC- Iowa vs. Missouri- The Hawkeyes just played in Nashville two years ago. However if Michigan ends up in Tampa then look for Iowa to play here.
Reliaquest Bowl- December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- Florida vs. Michigan- Based on how strong both teams finished there’s a lot of discussion for this matchup in Tampa.
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Georgia Tech vs. Washington
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. Under Bret Bielema the Illini won nine games in the regular season for the first time since 2001.
Texas Bowl- December 31st- Big 12 vs. SEC- LSU vs. Kansas State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- January 2nd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Ole Miss 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. Buffalo *- Both teams have accepted bids to this game.
Continuing with our Updated 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. Coastal Carolina
76 Birmingham Bowl- December 27th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool- Arkansas vs. Arkansas State
AutoZone Liberty Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Oklahoma vs. TCU
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl- December 27th- Pool vs. Pool- Baylor vs. Navy
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl- December 27th- SEC vs. Pac-12- Texas A&M vs. USC
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- Green Wave coach Jon Sumrall is a hot name once again. This time North Carolina is reportedly very interested in bringing him to Chapel Hill.
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. North Texas
Pop-Tarts Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- Iowa State vs. Miami (Florida)- We speculated the Hurricanes would be left out of the playoff following their loss to Syracuse. The committee echoed our thoughts.
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl- December 28th- MAC vs. Mountain West- Colorado State vs. Bowling Green
Go Bowling Military Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Duke vs. East Carolina
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. Texas State
Let’s finish our Updated 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- South Alabama* vs. Western Michigan*- This is the former Camellia Bowl. Both teams have accepted bids to play in Mobile.
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- Memphis* vs. West Virginia*- The Mountaineers fired Neal Brown after six seasons in Morgantown. This is another contest where the teams have accepted bids.
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. Connecticut- What better early Christmas present than sending two northern teams to Orlando for a bowl.
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl- December 20th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool– Vanderbilt 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- Fresno State vs. Northern Illinois
Hawai’i Bowl- December 24th- American vs. Mountain West- South Florida* vs. San Jose State*- Both teams have accepted bids to head to Hawai’i. In the case of the Spartans, it’s their second straight appearance.
Thanks for checking out our Updated 2024 Championship Week Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football. We’ll have a final update on Sunday.
