By Chris Marler
The regular season has officially come to an end, and the conference championships stand between us and bowl announcements. The latest College Football Playoff rankings have also been released, and the current field is projecting Alabama to once again back door their way into the field. A total of 13 teams from the conference are bowl eligible, so let me tell you how I see this playing out from the top down.
I understand what the current rankings for the CFP say with Alabama getting in, but that is also most likely dependent on SMU beating Clemson in the ACC Championship game. The path for Alabama relies heavily on Clemson not upsetting the Mustangs. Well, I don’t see that happening. Despite being a 2.5-point underdog I have a hard time believing that Clemson, the team who has won seven of the last nine ACC Championships and is playing a team with the No. 75 ranked strength of schedule and zero wins over ranked teams, is losing to SMU.
I think Clemson will win the automatic bid from the ACC and SMU will drop but not enough to allow Alabama in. That will drop Alabama out of the 12-team Playoff and into the other general bowl games as well. That would leave Georgia, Tennessee and Texas in the playoff field and 10 teams dispersed around the rest of the country for other traditional bowl games.
And when I say “traditional” I mean the Menieke Car Care Pop Tarts Bowl presented by Bad Boy Mowers just like the good Lord intended. With that being said, here are the last bowl projections of the season before the official bowl games are announced!
Gasparilla Bowl
Tampa, Fla – Dec. 20
Florida vs South Florida
Birmingham Bowl
Birmingham, Ala – Dec. 27
Arkansas vs UNC
Las Vegas Bowl
Las Vegas, Nev – Dec. 27
Ole Miss vs Southern Cal
Liberty Bowl
Memphis, Tenn – Dec. 27
Missouri vs. TCU
Independence Bowl
Shreveport, La – Dec. 27
Oklahoma vs Kansas St
Music City Bowl
Nashville, Tenn – Dec. 30
Missouri vs Michigan
Citrus Bowl
Orlando, Fla – Dec. 31
South Carolina vs Illinois
Reliaquest Bowl
Orlando, Fla – Dec. 31
Alabama vs Iowa
Texas Bowl
Houston, Tex – Dec. 31
LSU vs Baylor
Gator Bowl
Jacksonville, Fla – Jan. 2, 2025
Texas A&M vs Duke
College Football Playoff First Round
No. 5 Penn State vs No. 12 UNLV
No. 6 Notre Dame vs No. 11 Indiana
No. 7 Texas vs No. 10 SMU
No. 8 Ohio State vs No. 9 Tennessee
College Football Playoff First Round Byes
No.1 Oregon
No. 2 Georgia
No. 3 Arizona State
No. 4 Clemson
