{"id":3261,"date":"2016-11-02T20:46:19","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T00:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordoncollegefootball.com\/?p=3261"},"modified":"2021-12-30T17:30:48","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T22:30:48","slug":"lwos-bowl-projections-week-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2016\/11\/02\/lwos-bowl-projections-week-9\/","title":{"rendered":"LWOS Bowl Projections Week 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

The playoff picture is taking shape as the College Football Playoff<\/strong> Committee has unveiled its first rankings of the season. With five unbeaten teams remaining, here are the LWOS Bowl Projections Week 9.<\/p>\n

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
\n<\/strong>CFP Semifinal
\n#1 Alabama vs. #4 Washington<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fiesta Bowl
\n<\/strong>CFP Semifinal
\n#2 Michigan vs. #3 Clemson<\/strong><\/p>\n

National Championship Game<\/strong>
\n#1 Alabama vs. #2 Michigan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clemson survived a trip to Tallahassee<\/strong> with a 37 – 34 victory. With Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, <\/strong>and South Carolina<\/strong> left on the slate, the Tigers can wrap up an ACC Championship Game<\/strong> berth for a second consecutive year.<\/p>\n

Michigan staved off Michigan State<\/strong> in East Lansing <\/strong>32 \u2013 23.<\/strong> Sparty<\/strong> hung in with the Wolverines<\/strong> longer than most expected, and the 24.5 point spread was put to bed in the 4th<\/sup> quarter. Michigan gets Maryland, Iowa, <\/strong>and Indiana<\/strong> before the showdown with Ohio State<\/strong> in Columbus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Washington got its first true test on the road at Utah, <\/strong>which\u00a0they won. That\u00a0begs the question: how did they need overtime to beat\u00a0Arizona<\/strong>? Maybe that was Arizona\u2019s Super Bowl and the high point for the Wildcats.<\/p>\n

With the release of the initial College Football Playoff poll<\/a>, it appears the committee has similar questions about the Huskies. It will take an undefeated season to assure the Pac-12 a representative in the CFP.<\/p>\n

Utah had the Huskies on the ropes, all knotted up with 3:25 to go in the game, when Dante Pettis<\/strong> returned a punt for the game-winning touchdown. Washington has the easiest path to the playoff of the four teams projected above. The Apple Cup<\/strong> will be their final\u00a0test before the Pac-12 title game.<\/p>\n

New Years Six Bowls<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rose Bowl
\n<\/strong>Big Ten vs. Pac-12
\nOhio State vs. Washington State<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sugar Bowl
\n<\/strong>Big 12 vs. SEC
\nOklahoma vs. Texas A&M<\/strong><\/p>\n

Capital One Orange Bowl
\n<\/strong>ACC vs. Big Ten
\nLouisville vs. Wisconsin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
\n<\/strong>At Large vs. At Large
\nFlorida vs. Western Michigan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Explanation<\/strong>
\n<\/em>The Big 12 race is coming down to the winner of Bedlam<\/strong> in Week 14. Oklahoma State<\/strong> visits Norman<\/strong> on December 2 with a shot to force a tie atop the conference. The Pokes would take the head-to-head tie breaker and a berth in the Sugar Bowl.<\/p>\n

Baylor<\/strong> saw their undefeated season come to an end in Austin<\/strong>. With Texas\u2019<\/strong> victory over the Bears, I\u2019m sliding Oklahoma into the Big 12 spot for the Sugar Bowl. The Big 12\u2019s national title hopes took a shot when Oklahoma lost in Week 1 to Houston<\/strong>. That loss is no longer carrying the value it once did. The Cougars have fallen out of the Group of Five New Year\u2019s Six conversation.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to why Western Michigan is my new Group of Five choice. Boise State<\/strong> lost at Wyoming<\/strong> on a safety\u00a030 \u2013 28. Boise State had been flirting with a loss for weeks, and the Cowboys finally made them pay. Wyoming and San Diego State<\/strong> are setting up for a clash in the Mountain West Football Championship<\/strong>, while the Broncos may have cost themselves a New Year\u2019s spot.<\/p>\n

Florida is the only team in the SEC East that seems to realize there is football happening on Saturdays. For Cotton Bowl purposes, I have the Gators in as an at-large team to match up with the WMU Broncos. The Big Ten has two teams in the New Year\u2019s Six Bowls as is, and matching up a Group of Five team with an SEC squad would provide a nice narrative, and maybe a competitive game.<\/p>\n

Bowl Season Projections<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Outback Bowl
\n<\/strong>Big Ten vs. SEC
\nPenn State vs. Auburn<\/strong><\/p>\n

TaxSlayer Bowl
\n<\/strong>SEC vs. ACC\/Big Ten\/Notre Dame
\nArkansas vs. Miami (FL)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl
\n<\/strong>SEC vs. ACC\/Big Ten\/Notre Dame
\nTennessee vs. Nebraska<\/strong><\/p>\n

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl
\n<\/strong>ACC\/Big Ten vs. SEC
\nNorthwestern vs. Ole Miss<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hyundai Sun Bowl
\n<\/strong>ACC\/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12
\nFlorida State vs. USC<\/strong><\/p>\n

AutoZone Liberty Bowl
\n<\/strong>Big 12 vs. SEC
\nTCU vs. Georgia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arizona Bowl
\n<\/strong>Mountain West vs. Sun Belt
\nNew Mexico vs. Idaho <\/strong><\/p>\n

Valero Alamo Bowl
\n<\/strong>Big 12 vs. Pac-12
\nOklahoma State vs. Utah<\/strong><\/p>\n

Belk Bowl
\n<\/strong>ACC vs. SEC
\nVirginia Tech vs. Kentucky<\/strong><\/p>\n

Birmingham Bowl
\n<\/strong>AAC vs. SEC
\nTulsa vs. South Carolina<\/strong><\/p>\n

AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl
\n<\/strong>Big 12 vs. SEC
\nBaylor vs. LSU<\/strong><\/p>\n

Foster Farms Bowl
\n<\/strong>Big Ten vs. Pac-12
\nIowa vs. California<\/strong><\/p>\n

Russell Athletic Bowl
\n<\/strong>ACC vs. Big 12
\nUNC vs. West Virginia<\/strong><\/p>\n

New Era Pinstripe Bowl
\n<\/strong>ACC\/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten
\nPitt vs. Maryland<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cactus Bowl
\n<\/strong>Big 12 vs. Pac-12
\nTexas vs. Stanford <\/strong><\/p>\n

Holiday Bowl
\n<\/strong>Big Ten vs. Pac-12
\nMinnesota vs. Colorado<\/strong><\/p>\n

Military Bowl
\n<\/strong>AAC vs. ACC
\nMemphis vs. Georgia Tech<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zaxby\u2019s Heart of Dallas Bowl
\n<\/strong>Big Ten vs. C-USA
\nTexas Tech * vs. North Texas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Camping World Independence Bowl
\n<\/strong>ACC vs. SEC
\nBoston College ** vs. Arkansas State *<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quick Lane Bowl
\n<\/strong>ACC vs. Big Ten
\nArmy ** vs. Indiana<\/strong><\/p>\n

St. Petersburg Bowl
\n<\/strong>AAC vs. ACC
\nUSF vs. Wake Forest<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hawai\u2019i Bowl
\n<\/strong>C-USA vs. Mountain West
\nOld Dominion vs. Colorado State<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dollar General Bowl
\n<\/strong>MAC vs. Sun Belt
\nAkron vs. Troy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
\n<\/strong>AAC vs. Big 12
\nNavy vs. Kansas State<\/strong><\/p>\n

Popeyes Bahamas Bowl
\n<\/strong>C-USA vs. MAC
\nSouthern Mississippi vs. Ohio<\/strong><\/p>\n

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
\n<\/strong>MAC vs. Mountain West
\nToledo vs. Wyoming<\/strong><\/p>\n

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
\n<\/strong>BYU vs. Mountain West
\nBYU vs. Air Force<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marmot Boca Raton Bowl
\n<\/strong>AAC vs. C-USA
\nTemple vs. Western Kentucky<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miami Beach Bowl
\n<\/strong>AAC vs. MAC
\nHouston vs. Eastern Michigan<\/strong><\/p>\n

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
\n<\/strong>C-USA vs. Sun Belt
\nMiddle Tennessee vs. Appalachian State<\/strong><\/p>\n

AutoNation Cure Bowl
\n<\/strong>AAC vs. Sun Belt
\nUCF vs. South Alabama<\/strong><\/p>\n

Raycom Media Camellia Bowl
\n<\/strong>MAC vs. Sun Belt
\nCentral Michigan vs. Georgia Southern<\/strong><\/p>\n

Las Vegas Bowl
\n<\/strong>Mountain West vs. Pac-12
\nSan Diego State vs. Arizona State<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gildan New Mexico Bowl
\n<\/strong>C-USA vs. Mountain West
\nLouisiana Tech vs. Boise State<\/strong><\/p>\n

Explanation<\/strong>
\n<\/em>Boston College and Army fill in as APR (Academic Progress Rate<\/strong>) teams. Army might finish 6-6 but with two FCS wins (Lafayette <\/strong>and Morgan State<\/strong>). This would leave them ineligible, but with a high APR, the NCAA could grant them a waiver.<\/p>\n

Army hasn\u2019t been bowling since 2010, and while this shouldn\u2019t sway the NCAA, West Point\u2019s best season in six years should be rewarded. If they can pull an upset versus Air Force, Notre Dame, or Navy, they won\u2019t have to worry about waivers.<\/p>\n

*<\/strong> = Replacement team<\/p>\n

**<\/strong> = APR waiver<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The playoff picture is taking shape as the College Football Playoff Committee has unveiled its first rankings of the season. With five unbeaten teams remaining, here are the LWOS Bowl Projections Week 9. Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl CFP Semifinal #1 Alabama vs. #4 Washington Fiesta Bowl CFP Semifinal #2 Michigan vs. #3 Clemson National Championship Game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1048,"featured_media":3295,"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":[2,8],"tags":[1145,536,140,388,299,387],"class_list":["post-3261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-fbs","tag-bowl-games","tag-bowl-season","tag-fbs","tag-group-of-five","tag-new-years-six","tag-power-five"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261","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\/1048"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}