College Football Playoff First Round<\/h3>\n
Saturday<\/strong>, December 21st- (12) Arizona State at (5) Notre Dame-<\/strong> The Sun Devils and Iowa State made it through to the Big 12 Championship game. We\u2019re 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?<\/p>\n Saturday, December 20th- (9) Tennessee at (8) Ohio State- <\/strong>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.<\/p>\n Saturday, December 21st- (11) Alabama at (6) Penn State- <\/strong>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\u2019s loss meet Oregon for the Big Ten crown.<\/p>\n Saturday, December 21st- (10) Indiana at (7) Georgia<\/strong>\u2013 It took eight overtimes but the Bulldogs finally got past Georgia Tech <\/a>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.<\/p>\n VRBO Fiesta Bowl- Tuesday, December 31st- (5) Notre Dame vs. (4) Boise State \u2013 <\/strong>The Broncos knocked off Oregon State as Ashton Jeanty<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (6) Penn State vs. (3) SMU-<\/strong> With Miami\u2019s loss the Mustangs are now our projected ACC champion. Of course, they\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n Rose Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- <\/strong>(8) Ohio State vs. (1) Oregon- <\/strong>Dillon Gabriel<\/a> and the Ducks had no trouble with Washington Saturday night. We\u2019ll get the rematch from the classic earlier this year that isn\u2019t happening in the Big Ten title game.<\/p>\n Allstate Sugar Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (7) Georgia vs. (2) Texas-<\/strong> It\u2019s not ideal to have these two clubs meet a month after playing in the SEC title game. However, that\u2019s the way we are seeing it this week.<\/p>\n Capital One Orange Bowl- Thursday, January 9th- (6) Penn State vs (2) Texas- <\/strong>We\u2019re picking the Nittany Lions to beat SMU and set up a battle with the Longhorns.<\/p>\n Goodyear Cotton Bowl- Friday, January 10th-<\/strong> (5)<\/strong> Notre Dame vs (1) Oregon-<\/strong> The two schools last met in 1992 ending in a 13-13 tie.<\/p>\n College Football National Championship- Monday, January 20th- (2) Texas vs. (1) Oregon-<\/strong> We\u2019re going with chalk and having the top two teams meet in the final.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a lot to digest but there\u2019s still plenty more to come as we proceed with our 2024 Championship Week Bowl Projections.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0 replacement for a league without enough bowl-eligible teams.<\/p>\n TransPerfect Music City Bowl- December 30th Big Ten vs. SEC- Iowa vs. Missouri- <\/strong>The Hawkeyes just played in Nashville two years ago. However if Michigan ends up in Tampa then look for Iowa to play here.\u00a0 Reliaquest Bowl- December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- Florida vs. Michigan- <\/strong>Based on how strong both teams finished there’s a lot of discussion for this matchup in Tampa.<\/p>\n Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- ACC\/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Georgia Tech vs. Washington<\/strong><\/p>\n Cheez-It Citrus Bowl- December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- South Carolina vs. Illinois- <\/strong>With Alabama\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Texas Bowl- December 31st- Big 12 vs. SEC- LSU vs. Kansas State<\/strong><\/p>\n TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- January 2nd- ACC\/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Ole Miss vs. Syracuse-<\/strong> 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<\/strong><\/p>\n Duke\u2019s Mayo Bowl- January 3rd- ACC\/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Louisville vs. Minnesota<\/strong><\/p>\n Bahamas Bowl- January 4th- Conference USA vs. MAC- Liberty* vs. Buffalo *- <\/strong>Both teams have accepted bids to this game.<\/p>\n Continuing with our Updated 2024 Championship Week Bowl Projections let\u2019s move to the contests held just after Christmas.<\/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
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\n<\/strong><\/p>\nAfter Christmas Bowl Games<\/h3>\n
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