Our panelists preview and predict all of the New Year’s Six bowl matchups including the playoff semifinals Alabama vs Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, and Notre Dame vs Clemson in the Cotton Bowl.<\/p>\n
Steen Kirby:\u00a0 Two unblemished teams with quasi ACC member Notre Dame facing off with the ACC champions Clemson. The Tigers had a couple of close calls early in the season but dominated their competition overall in a way that Notre Dame simply did not. The suspensions won’t help the Tigers but they are still the favored side here, with Notre Dame boasting a puncher’s chance. Clemson<\/strong> 38, Notre Dame 28<\/p>\n John Bava: Clemson has been a fixture in the CFP. That much is certain considering they\u2019re making their fourth straight appearance. In fact, the only time they haven\u2019t made the college football final four was in the inaugural edition back in 2014. And it\u2019s that experience which makes them a fairly sizable favorite against Notre Dame. It\u2019s worth noting that this is the first ever CFP matchup between two unbeaten teams.<\/p>\n The Irish are making their first appearance in the CFP and with a win can play for a national title for the first time since 2012. Back then, they were an overmatched bunch against an Alabama side boasting plenty of NFL caliber players. But this ND team is different. Brian Kelly has done a tremendous job recruiting elite talent on both sides of the ball. It includes quarterback Ian Book who\u2019s amazingly accurate throwing the ball down the field. Couple that with the suspensions to a few Clemson players including defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence and you have the recipe for an upset. Notre Dame<\/strong> 27, Clemson 24<\/p>\n Yesh: Clemson is without some top players including Dexter Lawrence for this game, and that’s going to be an additional challenge. The Notre Dame offense is very underrated and might be able to get some work done if the Clemson D-Line ins’t whole. Similarly, Notre Dame’s defense can shut down just about anyone. If Notre Dame comes out at its absolute best, this game might be close. Clemson<\/strong> 37, Notre Dame 28<\/p>\n Mike Loveall:\u00a0Even with Clemson\u2019s suspensions, the Tigers are just too good on defense. Notre Dame is deserving, but the last half of the season they\u2019ve shown no indication of being a serious threat to the favorites. Clemson<\/strong> 41, Notre Dame 27.<\/p>\n Steen: These two blueblood programs remain at the top of their respective conferences and both expect to win the National Championship this season. Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray is an incredible player, the type of player needed to beat Alabama (Cam Newton, Deshaun Watson, Johnny Manziel, Tim Tebow), but the Oklahoma defense is pedestrian at best. The Tide are a more complete team regardless of which QB is under center and I expect them to (eventually) run away from the Sooners in a shootout. Alabama<\/strong> 59, Oklahoma 42<\/p>\n John: Nick Saban has built a near invincible juggernaut in Tuscaloosa. His Alabama side has appeared in all five editions of the CFP, winning it all on two occasions. Overall, Saban has five national titles with the Crimson Tide and six overall. With one more, he\u2019ll pass the legendary Bear Bryant for the most by any college football coach in the AP poll era. It\u2019s certainly a distinct possibility with this Bama team as complete as ever.<\/p>\n The first opponent standing in their way is an Oklahoma squad boasting an explosive offense led by current Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray. He\u2019s as dynamic a big play weapon as there is in college football. He currently leads the nation in yards per pass and is second in completion percentage. Meanwhile, questions abound at quarterback for Bama with Tua Tagovailoa possibly not at 100 percent due to a high ankle sprain. Still, Jalen Hurts is as capable a second option there is. Add in the Sooners\u2019 defensive issues and the Tide should prevail in South Florida. Alabama<\/strong> 45, Oklahoma 34<\/p>\n Yesh:\u00a0I want this to be a close game. I really, really do. Alabama has never faced an offense like this, so maybe the Sooners have some magic in them. At the end of the day, though, this is still Alabama, and the Sooners don’t have the defense to get stops against either Tua Tagovailoa or Jalen Hurts. The Crimson Tide wide receivers are going to have a track meet in this one. Alabama<\/strong> 63, Oklahoma 42<\/p>\n Mike:\u00a0This could be an instant classic. Oklahoma\u2019s offense and Kyler Murray are legitimate threats to Alabama\u2019s reign. Mobile quarterbacks are Nick Saban\u2019s kryptonite. And Murray is nothing if not mobile. Alabama can get a few stops, however, and that\u2019ll make all the difference. Alabama<\/strong> 38, Oklahoma 31<\/p>\n Steen: Florida has had some close calls this season but they did enough to secure a fourth spot for the SEC in the NY6 bowl games. Michigan looks to be the better football team though, their only defeats came at the hands of elite teams (Notre Dame and Ohio State) and I don’t see Florida punching above their weight in Atlanta, especially against the Wolverine defense. Michigan<\/strong> 27, Florida 17<\/p>\n John: This is the fifth meeting between these two programs and the fourth that\u2019s occurred in a bowl game. It\u2019s also the third straight year they\u2019ve faced one another. All in all, Michigan is undefeated in this series. They come into this game hoping to recover from a blowout loss to archrival Ohio State, their seventh straight loss to the Buckeyes.<\/p>\n This one should be a defensive slugfest with both quarterbacks expected to have issues throwing the ball. The Wolverines are number two nationally defending the pass while the Gators rank 10th. But the Maize and Blue will be missing running back Karan Higdon who\u2019s sitting out the bowl game to focus on the NFL Draft. Add in the motivation factor with Michigan missing their opportunity to make the CFP and there\u2019s definitely the possibility for an upset here. Florida<\/strong> 23, Michigan 20<\/p>\n Yesh:\u00a0Will Michigan be motivated? The Wolverines are more talented and have the better coach. They also have a defense that should keep Florida bottled up all game. The Gators will want revenge for two losses in the past two years, but they won’t get it. Michigan is too solid. Michigan<\/strong> 31, Florida 17<\/p>\n Mike:\u00a0Michigan is the more complete team, particularly on defense. The sit-outs and constant drama in Ann Arbor is concerning, but the Wolverines still get it done. Michigan<\/strong> 24, Florida 13<\/p>\n Steen: LSU has been shaky far more often this season than UCF, and the Golden Knights have more to play for. Even without their best QB I expect UCF to send a message here, securing a second straight NY6 bowl win, and doing enough to claim a second straight national title. UCF<\/strong> 35, LSU 21<\/p>\n John: For the second straight season, UCF finds itself in a New Year\u2019s Six bowl as the highest ranked Group of Five school. And once again, they\u2019re hoping to prove the doubters wrong by knocking off an SEC team. The Knights might be in for a bigger challenge than last year with McKenzie Milton done for the year.<\/p>\n Expect UCF to rely heavily on their rushing attack. They certainly did so in the AAC title game with Greg McRae rushing for 206 yards in their win over Memphis. LSU will probably do the same via senior running back Nick Brossette who\u2019s taken the reins rather well from Derrius Guice. Both sides have combined for 29 interceptions in 2018 so there should be plenty of defensive playmaking. Ultimately, the Tigers prevail narrowly. LSU<\/strong> 31, UCF 27<\/p>\n Yesh:\u00a0This line is crazy. No, UCF isn’t as good as last year. No, there’s no Mackenzie Milton. But LSU has been pretty overrated all year. The offense is inconsistent, and the defense can definitely have holes in the middle. UCF is going to go undefeated for a second straight season. UCF<\/strong> 41, LSU 28<\/p>\n Mike:\u00a0Until someone beats them, I\u2019m going with UCF. LSU will be without a few key players and the Knights are getting used to this. LSU will make the same mistakes Auburn did last year and a mobile quarterback spells doom. UCF<\/strong> 31, LSU 27<\/p>\n Steen: I don’t expect this game to go well for the PAC-12 champions. Chris Peterson did well to rally his team to win their conference but the talent gap on both sides of the ball is pretty wide between these teams. Ohio State is one bad loss away from potentially being the national champions, and they’ll want to send Urban Meyer off on a high note. Ohio State<\/strong> 38, Washington 10<\/p>\n John: This year\u2019s \u201cGranddaddy of Them All\u201d reverts back to the traditional Big Ten vs. Pac-12 matchup with Ohio State facing Washington. Something has to give with the Buckeyes boasting a potent offense while the Huskies are stacked with elite defensive talent. The latter has been apparent during the previous two games with Washington holding Gardner Minshew and Washington State to 15 points in the Apple Cup and followed that up by giving up just 3 to Utah in the Pac-12 title game.<\/p>\n Quarterback Dwayne Haskins is the focal point of the OSU offense. He currently leads the nation in both passing yards and touchdown passes while he\u2019s also one of just six FBS signal callers with a completion percentage above 70 percent. He\u2019ll face a challenge against a Washington defense that\u2019s allowed just nine touchdowns in 2018, tied for fourth-best in the nation. Haskins draft stock is rising and look for him to ensure that trend continues in Pasadena. Ohio State<\/strong> 34, Washington 23<\/p>\n Yesh:\u00a0Urban Meyer is going to ride off into the beautiful Pasadena sunset to end his career. Whether you like him or not, he’s been an incredible football coach. Chris Petersen is no slouch–and Meyer probably won’t run up the score out of respect–but the Buckeyes are winning Urban’s last game. Ohio State<\/strong> 38, Washington 24<\/p>\n Mike:\u00a0Ohio State always finishes well and that\u2019s no different this year. They\u2019re better at pretty much every position and look for the Buckeye faithful to make this all about sending Meyer out right. Ohio State<\/strong> 49, Washington 27<\/p>\n Steen: Texas is gunning for 10 wins, and a marquee bowl win to show their improvements under a new coaching regime. Georgia wants to remain in college football’s elite though and a win here would go a long way to ensuring they finish the season in the top 5. Texas defense is going to get exposed here. A lot of points will be scored, with Georgia putting up more in the end. Georgia<\/strong> 49, Texas 35<\/p>\n John: The New Year\u2019s Six concludes in the Big Easy with an intriguing SEC-Big XII showdown. This is just the fifth all-time meeting between Georgia and Texas and the first since the 1984 Cotton Bowl. That game was the Bulldogs only win in the series. This time around, they\u2019re a fairly hefty favorite. But give Longhorns head coach Tom Herman credit. He definitely seems to have the program headed in the right direction after some lean years following the departure of Mack Brown.<\/p>\n This is a matchup between two quarterbacks who don\u2019t make many mistakes with Georgia\u2019s Jake Fromm and Texas\u2019 Sam Ehlinger both having just five interceptions on the year. And neither of these defense are particularly adept at forcing picks out of opposing quarterbacks. What should tilt this game in the Dawgs\u2019 favor is their dynamic backfield partnership of DeAndre Swift and Elijah Holyfield who\u2019ve combined for 1,993 yards and 17 touchdowns. Georgia<\/strong> 33, Texas 27<\/p>\n Yesh:\u00a0Georgia has far more talent than Texas, but don’t sleep on what Tom Herman can do. Georgia hasn’t faced a quarterback this year as dynamic as Sam Ehlinger (well, they faced Jalen Hurts for about a quarter, and he saw how that ended). Texas will put up some points, but I doubt it will be enough. Georgia<\/strong> 45, Texas 35<\/p>\n Mike:\u00a0This might be the toughest of the NY6 to call with the spread. Take the money line here as Georgia is certainly in control, but by two touchdowns? It\u2019s hard finding a path for Longhorns to get more than two scores, and the Bulldogs can grind down a decent Texas defense. Pour a little Sugar on the Peach State team. Georgia<\/strong> 34, Texas 17<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our panelists preview and predict all of the New Year’s Six bowl matchups including the playoff semifinals Alabama vs Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, and Notre Dame vs Clemson in the Cotton Bowl. Cotton Bowl: #3 Notre Dame (12-0) vs #2 Clemson (13-0) (Saturday at 4:00) Line: Clemson by 12.5 Steen Kirby:\u00a0 Two unblemished teams […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1442,"featured_media":20016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7361,2],"tags":[1145,35626,40,4420,4419],"class_list":["post-20012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fbs","category-bowl-games","category-featured","tag-bowl-games","tag-bowl-predictions","tag-college-football-playoff","tag-college-football-playoff-prediction","tag-fiesta-bowl-prediction"],"modified_by":"Steen Kirby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Orange Bowl: #4 Oklahoma (12-1) vs #1 Alabama (13-0) (Saturday at 8:00)
\nLine: Alabama by 14<\/h3>\nPeach Bowl: #10 Florida (9-3) vs #7 Michigan (10-2) (Saturday at 12:00)
\nLine: Michigan by 6<\/h3>\nFiesta Bowl: #11 LSU (9-3) vs #8 UCF (12-0) (Tuesday at 1:00) Line: LSU by 7.5<\/h3>\n
Rose Bowl: #9 Washington (10-3) vs #6 Ohio State (12-1) Tuesday at 5:00 Line: Ohio State by 6.5<\/h3>\n
Sugar Bowl: #15 Texas (9-4) vs #5 Georgia (11-2) (Tuesday at 8:45) Line: Georgia by 13<\/h3>\n