MARLER: One last round of bowl projections

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