A New Team In The Playoff
Hello everyone and welcome to our 2023 Week Six Bowl Projections. It was another crazy and exciting weekend of college football. The “Red River Showdown” lived up to the hype and many other games went down to the wire. As a result, we’ve got a new team in the playoff this week and the selection committee games have shuffled quite a bit. Let’s get to this week’s picks and as always if you’d like to see how things changed from last week click here.
College Football Playoff
Rose Bowl: January 1st- (2)- Michigan vs. (3)- Florida State- Jim Harbaugh’s squad had no trouble with Minnesota winning 52-10. The Seminoles easily handled Virginia Tech and moved up a spot with Texas losing.
Sugar Bowl: January 1st- (1)- Georgia vs. (4)- Ohio State- The Bulldogs looked like the Georgia of old Saturday in a 51-13 demolition of previously undefeated Kentucky. OSU pulled away from Maryland in the second half. As a result, we have a rematch of last year’s semi-final.
College Football National Championship: January 8th- (1)- Georgia vs. (2)- Michigan- Our title game remains the same as the last few weeks.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl: December 29th- Washington vs. Texas- The Huskies have the week off and face Oregon in the week’s biggest game. Following their loss to Oklahoma, the Longhorns drop from the playoff.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: December 30th- Alabama vs. Tulane–Nick Saban’s squad rallied from a halftime deficit to beat Texas A&M yet again. With Fresno State’s loss to Wyoming, the Green Wave are our Group Of Five team.
Capital One Orange Bowl: December 30th- North Carolina vs. Penn State– The Tar Heels got Tez Walker back making a strong offense even stronger. The Nittany Lions had the week off before facing Massachusetts with Ohio State waiting in two weeks.
VRBO Fiesta Bowl: January 1st- Oklahoma vs. USC- We thought about a rematch with Tulane here. However, the opportunity to match Lincoln Riley against his former team is too good to pass up. Dillon Gabriel was outstanding in the Sooners’ to a win over Texas.
Continuing with our 2023 Week Six Bowl Projections let’s roll through the games by date. One thing to note there are no games on December 24th or 31st so as to not go up against the NFL schedule.
Games Around the New Year
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl: January 1st-Big 10 vs. SEC- Tennessee vs. Wisconsin
ReliaQuest Bowl: January 1st- SEC vs. Big 10- Ole Miss vs. Maryland
TransPerfect Music City Bowl: December 30th- SEC vs. Big 10- Florida vs. Rutgers
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl: December 30th- MAC vs. MWC– UNLV vs. Toldeo
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl: December 29th- SEC vs. Big 10 or ACC/Notre Dame- Louisville vs. LSU- Jeff Brohm’s squad moved to 6-0 with an impressive win over Notre Dame. If they get past Pittsburgh this weekend they’ve got a great shot at being 10-0 heading into their last two games.
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl: December 29th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Duke vs. Utah
AutoZone Liberty Bowl: December 29th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Kentucky vs. Kansas State- The SEC Wildcats dropped their first game in a blowout loss to Georgia. The Big 12 Wildcats knocked Kentucky out of the NCAA tourney back in March, now UK goes for a measure of revenge.
Post Christmas Games
Quick Lane Bowl: December 26th- Big 10 vs. MAC- Minnesota vs. Ohio
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: December 26th- American/ACC/Big 12/ SEC- Iowa State vs. Tulsa
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big 10- TCU vs. Nebraska
Holiday Bowl: ACC vs. Pac-12- Clemson vs. Oregon State
Military Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- SMU vs. Wake Forest
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Missouri vs. Miami (Florida)
TaxAct Texas Bowl: December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M
Wasabi Fenway Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- North Carolina State vs. South Florida
Bad Boy Motors Pinstripe Bowl: December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 10- Syracuse vs. Northwestern
Pop Tarts Bowl- December 28th: ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12-Notre Dame vs. West Virginia
Valero Alamo Bowl: December 28th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Kansas vs. Oregon
As we roll on with our 2023 Week Six Bowl Projections let’s move to the set of games just before Christmas. That includes a whopping seven games on December 23rd.
Last week we talked about the Sun Belt Conference and specifically James Madison. As you are probably aware their bowl waiver was denied by the NCAA. However, they can make it if there aren’t enough eligible teams. Currently, we don’t have enough bowl-eligible teams from both Conference USA and the Mid-American. Because of that the Dukes are in our projections for the first time this week.
Games Right Before Christmas
TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl December 23rd: American vs. SEC- Auburn vs. Memphis
Camellia Bowl- December 23rd: MAC vs. Sun Belt- Eastern Michigan vs. Coastal Carolina
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: December 23rd- American vs. C-USA- James Madison* vs. Texas San-Antonio
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: December 23rd- MAC vs. MWC- Miami (Ohio) vs. Fresno State- The Bulldogs’ chances for the Group of Five representatives likely ended with their loss to Wyoming.
68 Ventures Bowl: December 23rd- MAC vs. Sun Belt- Georgia Southern vs. North Texas
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl: December 23rd- Big 10 vs. Pac-12- Iowa vs. Washington State
Easy Post Hawai’i Bowl: December 23rd- Conference USA/MWC/American- Tulsa vs. Wyoming
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl: December 22nd- American/ACC/Notre Dame/SEC- South Carolina vs. Georgia Tech
RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl: December 21st- Group Of Five vs. Group Of Five- Appalachian State vs. Utah State
Frisco Bowl: December 19th-Group of Five vs. Group Of Five- Texas Tech vs. Texas State
First Weekend Games
HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl: December 16th- Conference USA vs. MAC- Central Michigan vs. Marshall
Cricket Celebration Bowl: December 16th- MEAC vs. SWAC- Florida A&M vs. North Carolina Central
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: December 16th- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt- Georgia State vs. Western Kentucky
Duluth Trading Cure Bowl: December 16th- Group Of Five vs. Group Of Five- Colorado vs. Arkansas State
Isleta New Mexico Bowl: December 16th- C-USA vs. MWC- Boise State vs. Louisiana Tech
Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl: December 16th- Pac-12 vs. Mountain West- Air Force vs. UCLA
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl: December 16th-Big 12 vs. Pac-12- BYU vs. Arizona
Myrtle Beach Bowl: American/MAC/Sun Belt- December 18th- Rice vs. Troy
*Denotes a replacement team.
Thanks for checking out our Week Six 2023 Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football.
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