More Changes At The Top This Week
Hello everyone, and welcome back to our 2025 Bowl Projections After Week Seven. This past week certainly was an eventful one as Indiana went into Eugene and pulled off one of the season’s biggest wins. How far did that move them up in our rankings? You’ll need to stay tuned to find out. There were more coaching changes, with the biggest coming as Penn State parted ways with James Franklin. Three straight losses, including two straight as more than a 20-point favorite, will do that. It’s a shocking turn of events as the Nittany Lions were in the College Football Playoff semi-finals last year. As if that wasn’t enough, the school announced quarterback Drew Allar is out for the season due to a leg injury.
Elsewhere, on the field, we now have 10 teams that have reached six wins and are bowl eligible. That number will grow even more as the weeks go by. One team we’re closely monitoring is Wake Forest. Had they held on against Georgia Tech, they’d definitely be in our picks. We’ll keep an eye on them as the weeks go on. With all of our preliminaries out of the way, let’s get to this week’s projections. As always, you can see how things changed from last week by clicking here.
College Football Playoff First Round
Friday, December 19th – (12) South Florida at (5) Texas Tech. We really like this matchup as we have it again this week. Behind quarterback Byrum Brown the Bulls broke open a tie game at halftime to hand North Texas their first loss of the year, 63-36. In the process, they again staked a claim to the Group of Five bid. On the other side of the ball, all Joey McGuire and the Red Raiders do is win. This time, it was a 25-point victory over Kansas. They travel to Arizona State on Saturday.
Saturday, December 20th- (11) Notre Dame at (6) Alabama. We talked about last week, and this week it happened as the Fighting Irish are back in the playoff picture. They host USC in one of the biggest games of the weekend. Ty Simpson and the Crimson Tide got a huge road win at Missouri.
Saturday, December 20th- (10) Georgia Tech at (7) Ole Miss. The Yellow Jackets moved up a spot this week and travel to Duke on Saturday. Lane Kiffin’s squad nearly lost at home to Washington State. As a result, they drop a couple of places.
Saturday, December 20th- (9)- Georgia at (8) Oregon. Dan Lanning’s Ducks fall a few spots after their surprising loss to Indiana. The Bulldogs got past Auburn and host Ole Miss on Saturday.
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals-
Goodyear Cotton Bowl: Wednesday, December 31st- (5) Texas Tech vs. (4) Texas A&M– Mike Elko’s Aggies keep on winning, getting past Florida 34-17. However, business really picks up as they play their next three on the road, starting with Arkansas.
Capital One Orange Bowl: Thursday, January 1st- (8) Oregon vs. (1) Miami (Florida)- Following their bye week, the Hurricanes host Louisville Friday night.
Rose Bowl Game: Thursday, January 1st– (7) Ole Miss vs. (2) Ohio State– The Buckeyes picked up a nice road win over Illinois this weekend and head to Wisconsin on Saturday. The Buckeyes and Rebels have never played.
Allstate Sugar Bowl: Thursday, January 1st- (6) Alabama vs. (3) Indiana- As a result of their big win over Oregon, the Hoosiers jump to third in our rankings this week. This is another battle of two teams who’ve never met on the gridiron.
Semi-Finals and Final-
VRBO Fiesta Bowl: Thursday, January 8th- (3) Indiana vs. (2) Ohio State- We’re projecting a likely Big Ten Championship rematch in the semi-finals.
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl: Friday, January 9th- (5) Texas Tech vs. (1) Miami (Florida)- The Hurricanes led the all-time series 4-1. However, they haven’t played since 1990.
College Football National Championship: Monday, January 19th- (2) Ohio State vs. (1) Miami (Florida)- We’re going out on a limb and picking the top two teams to make the final.
That’s your breakdown of the playoff for this week. Continuing with our 2025 Bowl Projections After Week Seven, let’s move to the games around the New Year.
Filling The Void
Once again, this season, legacy Pac-12 teams can be slotted to games featuring that league. However, that goes away next year when the conference starts fresh with new teams. As always, we’ll try not to pair them with teams they’ve already played.
Furthermore, with it being 2025, the SEC plays in the Mayo Bowl while the Big Ten goes to the Las Vegas Bowl. Furthermore, for the second time in three years, the Bahamas Bowl won’t be played there. No word yet on what a replacement game might be called.
Music City Bowl: December 30th- Big Ten vs. SEC- Illinois vs. Texas
Valero Alamo Bowl: December 30th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Iowa State vs. USC+–The Trojans go to San Antonio as a legacy Pac-12 member. However, if they knock off Notre Dame, they’ll likely be in the playoff next week.
Radience Technologies Independence Bowl: December 30th- Big 12 vs. Conference USA- Kansas vs. Jacksonville State
Reliaquest Bowl: December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- Oklahoma vs. Nebraska- The Sooners fall out of the playoff this week after their loss to Texas. However, who wouldn’t want to see this classic matchup in a bowl?
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl: December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- SMU vs. Washington State– We have a current Pac-12 squad in the game this week.
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl: December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- Michigan vs. Tennessee
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl: December 31st- Big Ten vs. Pac-12- Penn State vs. Arizona State+– The Sun Devils go to Vegas as a legacy Pac-12 team.
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: January 2nd- Big 12 vs. American/Conference USA/Sun Belt- Army vs. Utah State
Autozone Liberty Bowl: January 2nd- Big 12 vs. SEC- Cincinnati vs. Auburn
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: January 2nd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Vanderbilt vs. Florida State
Holiday Bowl: January 2nd- ACC vs. Pac-12- Virginia vs. Arizona +– This will be the first time this game has ever been played in January. The Wildcats go as a legacy Pac-12 school.
Moving on with our 2025 Bowl Projections After Week Seven let’s look at the games right after the big holiday.
Post-Christmas Games
Game Above Sports Bowl: December 26th- Big Ten vs. MAC- Northwestern vs. Buffalo- As a result of their big win over Michigan State the Wildcats enter our projections for the first time this year.
Rate Bowl- December 26th: Big Ten vs. Big 12- Minnesota vs. Houston
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: December 26th- AAC/ACC/Big 12- Baylor vs. California
Go Bowling Military Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Navy vs. Clemson
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Pittsburgh vs. Iowa
Wasabi Fenway Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Louisville vs. Tulane
Pop-Tarts Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- Florida State vs. BYU
Snoop Dog Arizona Bowl: December 27th- MAC vs. Mountain West- Western Michigan vs. Fresno State
Isleta New Mexico Bowl: December 27th- Mountain West vs. American/Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Boise State vs. Texas State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Duke vs. LSU
Kinder’s Texas Bowl: December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Missouri vs. TCU
JLab Birmingham Bowl: December 29th- American/ACC/SEC- Mississippi State vs. East Carolina- We now have a sponsor for this game. In case you are curious, JLab makes wireless earbuds, headphones, and office accessories.
Moving on with our 2025 Bowl Projections After Week Seven, let’s move to the season’s initial games.
First Weekend Games
Cricket Celebration Bowl- December 13th- MEAC vs. SWAC- North Carolina Central vs. Jackson State
LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk: December 13th- Mountain West vs. Pac-12- UNLV vs. Washington+- The Huskies go to LA as a legacy Pac-12 squad. In addition, we’re flipping our pick for the Mountain West to the Rebels.
IS4S Salute To Veterans Bowl: December 16th- Mid-American vs. Sun Belt- Central Michigan vs. Coastal Carolina
StaffDNA Cure Bowl: December 17th- American/Conference USA/Sun Belt- UCONN vs. Toledo
68 Ventures Bowl: December 17th- Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Southern Mississippi vs. Maryland
Myrtle Beach Bowl: December 19th- Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Marshall vs. Kennesaw State
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl: December 19th- American/ACC/Notre Dame/SEC- Memphis vs. South Carolina
Bowls Right Before Christmas
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: December 22nd- Mountain West vs. MAC- San Diego State vs. Ohio
Boca Raton Bowl: December 23rd- American/Conference USA/MAC/Mountain West/Sun Belt- James Madison vs. Louisiana Tech
New Orleans Bowl: December 23rd- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt– Western Kentucky vs. Louisiana Monroe
Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl: December 23rd- AAC/CUSA/MAC/MWC/SBC- North Texas vs. Old Dominion
Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl: December 24th- American vs. Mountain West- Temple vs. Hawaii
To Be Announced Bowl Game-
Former Bahamas Bowl: Conference USA vs. MAC – New Mexico State vs. Miami (Ohio). We don’t know the title or where the game will be played, but we have a matchup.
What We’re Watching-
It’s another huge weekend in the college football world. We’ve already talked about a few of the big games, including Ole Miss at Georgia and USC at Notre Dame. In addition, there are two more big games in the SEC with Tennessee visiting Alabama and Vanderbilt hosting LSU. Lastly, we can’t forget about the “Holy War” with BYU and Utah. As a result, our picks will most likely see a great deal of change. Thanks for checking out our 2025 Bowl Projections after week seven here at Last Word On College Football.
Main Image: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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