Yahoo Finance Post Week 13 bowl projections: Utah jumps into the College Football Playoff ... for now
The door is open for Utah to make the College Football Playoff. Or Oklahoma. Or even Baylor.
Oregon’s loss on Saturday at Arizona State dropped the Ducks from our playoff projection. And might have kicked them out of the New Year’s Six entirely. Unless Oregon beats Utah (or USC) in the Pac-12 Championship Game, the Ducks seem destined for the Alamo Bowl.
With Utah sitting at No. 6 in Tuesday’s CFP rankings, we think they have the edge for the final playoff spot assuming LSU beats Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. But Oklahoma, at No. 7 isn’t far behind. Neither is No. 9 Baylor, who jumped up five spots after beating Texas on Saturday.
Oklahoma and Baylor will meet in the Big 12 Championship Game. If the Big 12 champ ends the season with an identical 12-1 record to Utah and the No. 4 spot in the playoff is open, the CFP committee will have a dilemma on its hands.
We think Utah is the solution to that potential dilemma. For now, anyway. Things could change quite a bit over the next couple weeks.
A 5-7 team in a bowl game?
The news that Missouri is still banned from a bowl game opened up a spot for another team on Tuesday. And depending on how the 12 remaining games for teams fighting for bowl eligibility pan out, there could be more bowl spots than teams at 6-6 or better at the end of the season.
Those open spots would go to teams with a 5-7 record based on their Academic Progress Rate. Duke (4-7) and Boston College (5-6) are in a good position there, though the Blue Devils need to beat Miami on Saturday to be considered.
We don’t have a 5-7 team in our bowl projections below. We’re trying to be confident. But ESPN and bowl organizers will have to do a lot of juggling to fill the spots. The SEC has nine teams eligible for 10 bowl spots, though four of those nine teams could end up in New Year’s Six bowls. With ESPN having more leeway to create better matchups, we can be a little creative with our bowl projections. It also makes those projections a bit harder to make. But we’re going to be dreaming about intra-state matchups in both the Quick Lane and Gasparilla Bowls anyway.
Here are our best pre-Thanksgiving guesses. Have a wonderful week. Make sure you take some time for family. And football. Definitely some football.
College Football Playoff
Peach Bowl
Ohio State vs. Utah
Fiesta Bowl
LSU vs. Clemson
New Year’s Six Bowls
Cotton Bowl
Memphis vs. Georgia
Orange Bowl
Virginia vs. Florida
Sugar Bowl
Alabama vs. Oklahoma
Rose Bowl
Oregon vs. Penn State
Other bowls
Bahamas Bowl, Dec. 20
Florida Atlantic vs. Western Michigan
Frisco Bowl, Dec. 20
SMU vs. App State
New Mexico Bowl, Dec. 21
Marshall vs. Hawaii
Cure Bowl, Dec. 21
Arkansas State vs. Florida International
Boca Raton Bowl, Dec. 21
Cincinnati vs. Central Michigan
Camellia Bowl, Dec. 21
Buffalo vs. Georgia State
Las Vegas Bowl, Dec. 21
Boise State vs. Washington State
New Orleans Bowl, Dec. 21
Louisiana Tech vs. Louisiana
Gasparilla Bowl, Dec. 23
UCF vs. Florida State
Hawaii Bowl, Dec. 24
Navy vs. BYU
Independence Bowl, Dec. 26
Southern Miss vs. Liberty
Quick Lane Bowl, Dec. 26
Michigan State vs. Eastern Michigan
Military Bowl, Dec. 27
Temple vs. North Carolina
Pinstripe Bowl, Dec. 27
Pitt vs. Illinois
Texas Bowl, Dec. 27
Oklahoma State vs. Mississippi State
Holiday Bowl, Dec. 27
Indiana vs. Washington
Cheez-It Bowl, Dec. 27
Kansas State vs. Wyoming
Camping World Bowl, Dec. 28
Virginia Tech vs. Iowa State
First Responder Bowl, Dec. 30
TCU vs. San Diego State
Music City Bowl, Dec. 30
Louisville vs. UAB
Redbox Bowl, Dec. 30
Iowa vs. Cal
Belk Bowl, Dec. 31
Wake Forest vs. Kentucky
Sun Bowl, Dec. 31
Miami vs. Arizona State
Liberty Bowl, Dec. 31
Texas vs. Tennessee
Arizona Bowl, Dec. 31
Utah State vs. Charlotte
Alamo Bowl, Dec. 31
Baylor vs. USC
Citrus Bowl, Jan. 1
Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame
Outback Bowl, Jan. 1
Minnesota vs. Auburn
Birmingham Bowl, Jan. 2
Tulane vs. Nevada
TaxSlayer Bowl, Jan. 2
Michigan vs. Texas A&M
Potato Bowl, Jan. 3
Toledo vs. Air Force
Armed Forces Bowl, Jan. 4
Ohio vs. Western Kentucky
Mobile Bowl, Jan. 6
Miami, Ohio vs. Georgia Southern
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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