How This Works<\/h3>\n
If you haven’t been following along the playoff is expanding to 12 teams this year. The process goes as follows; the winners of the four major conferences will be seeded 1-4 by the committee. The top Group Of Five squad gets a berth, leaving seven teams fighting for the other spots. Champions of the Power Four get a first-round bye while the other eight meet in matchups at the higher seed. In addition, many of the New Year\u2019s Six games are now playoff games.<\/p>\n
With all the backstory out of the way let\u2019s get to our picks.<\/p>\n
College Football Playoff First Round<\/h3>\n
Friday, December 20th- (12) Boise State at (5) Texas-<\/strong> The Longhorns had the biggest win of the weekend going into Ann Arbor dominating Michigan 31-12. Despite another huge performance from Ashton Jeanty<\/a> and a last-second loss to Oregon, the Broncos remain our Group Of Five Team.<\/p>\n Saturday, December 21st- (9)Penn State at (8) Tennessee-<\/strong> The Nittany Lions barely pulled one out over Bowling Green. Following their 51-10 win over North Carolina State the Volunteers rocket into our playoff projections.<\/p>\n Saturday, December 21st- (11) Kansas State at (6) Ole Miss- <\/strong>Another week and another big performance from Jaxson Dart<\/a> and the Rebels. They move up a couple of spots. With Michigan losing we looked at a dozen teams for this final berth. For this week we went with K-State.<\/p>\n Saturday, December 21st- (10) Oregon vs. (7) Alabama<\/strong>\u2013 Both teams got all they could handle in their respective games. As mentioned earlier the Ducks won at the buzzer against Boise State. For a second straight year, the Crimson Tide struggled with South Florida before outscoring them 28-3 in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n VRBO Fiesta Bowl- Tuesday, December 31st- (5) Texas at (4) Utah-<\/strong>\u00a0Cam Rising<\/a> left the win over Baylor with an injured hand. That’s something to watch going forward.<\/p>\n Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (6) Ole Miss vs. (3) Miami (Florida)-<\/strong> Two high-powered offenses meeting in south Florida. Sign us up for that one.<\/p>\n Rose Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (7) Alabama vs. (2) Ohio State-<\/strong> The Buckeyes had no trouble <\/a>with Western Michigan.\u00a0We\u2019re trying to keep some tradition by sending the Big Ten Champ to Pasadena.<\/p>\n Allstate Sugar Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (8) Tennesse vs. (1) Georgia-<\/strong> An All-SEC quarterfinal in New Orleans between these two schools would be one of the hottest tickets ever.<\/p>\n Capital One Orange Bowl- Thursday, January 9th- (5) Texas vs. (1) Georgia<\/strong>\u2013 The Longhorns get past Utah setting up a battle versus the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n Goodyear Cotton Bowl- Friday, January 10th-<\/strong> (3) Miami vs. (2) Ohio State-<\/strong> The schools have met four times with each winning twice.<\/p>\n College Football National Championship- Atlanta, Georgia- Monday, January 20th- (2) Ohio State vs. (1) Georgia-<\/strong> The two best teams all year in college football meet in the title game.<\/p>\n Well, that\u2019s a lot to digest but we\u2019ve still got a lot more to come. Let\u2019s move on with the 2024 Week Two Bowl Projections.<\/p>\n A few things to consider as we go through the remainder of the games. With the end of the Pac-12, many of the old teams from the league are eligible to fill those bowl slots. Those are the Alamo, Holiday Independence, LA, Las Vegas, and Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl. While Oregon State and Washington State are of course eligible don\u2019t be surprised to see former Pac-12 schools as well. In addition, bowls try to avoid teams playing in the same game in back-to-back years. However, with all the conference swapping madness duplicates are a definite possibility. One other thing you’ll notice is with five SEC schools in the playoff we had more games with league tie-ins than we had teams.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s check out our next set of games with our 2024 Week Two Bowl Projections.<\/p>\n TransPerfect Music City Bowl- December 30th Big Ten vs. SEC- Nebraska vs. South Carolina<\/strong>\u2013 As a result of their huge win at Kentucky the Gamecocks roll into our projections. Matt Ruhle’s Cornhuskers looked very impressive in a 28-10 win over Colorado.<\/a><\/p>\n Reliaquest Bowl- December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- Oklahoma vs. Iowa-\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- ACC\/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Boston College vs. California- <\/strong>This is an interesting one with Cal representing its old conference against its new one. However, these two don\u2019t play during the season so why not?<\/p>\n Cheez-It Citrus Bowl- December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- Missouri vs. Michigan<\/strong>\u2013 The Tigers were one of those dozen teams we looked at for the final playoff spot.<\/p>\n Texas Bowl- December 31st- Big 12 vs. SEC- BYU vs. Auburn<\/strong><\/p>\n TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- January 2nd- ACC\/Notre Dame vs. SEC- LSU vs. Florida State- <\/strong>The Seminoles last played in the Gator Bowl in 2010.<\/p>\n ServPro First Responder Bowl- January 3rd- American\/ACC\/Big 12- Texas Tech vs. Sam Houston State<\/strong><\/p>\n Duke\u2019s Mayo Bowl- January 3rd- ACC\/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Louisville vs. Indiana-<\/strong> The SEC and Big Ten alternate every other year in this contest and 2024 it\u2019s the Big Ten\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n Bahamas Bowl- January 4th- Conference USA vs. MAC- New Mexico State vs. Bowling Green<\/strong>\u2013 The game is back in its normal home this year. In addition, it\u2019s moving from the first weekend to the last non-playoff bowl.<\/p>\n Continuing with our 2024 Week Two Bowl Projections let\u2019s move to the contests held just after Christmas.<\/p>\n Detroit Bowl- December 26th- Big Ten vs. MAC- Rutgers vs. Northern Illinois- <\/strong>Could the Huskies end up as the Group of Five team? That’s certainly something worth watching going forward.<\/p>\nCollege Football Playoff Quarterfinals<\/h3>\n
College Football Semi-Finals And Final<\/h3>\n
Filling The Void<\/h3>\n
Games Around The New Year<\/h3>\n
After Christmas Bowl Games<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/09\/USATSI_22249940_168400542_lowres-300x200.jpg\")