A Shakeup In The Playoffs This Week
Hello everyone, and welcome back to our Bowl Projections After Week Ten here at Last Word On College Football. We’ve reached November, and that means we’ll hear from the selection committee for the first time this week. In fact, by the time you are reading this, we’ll know how the committee sees the top squads in college football. For our purposes, you can see how our picks match up with theirs.
It was another crazy week on the gridiron as two of our playoff teams and a third that was just on the outside all lost. As a result, we’ve got a couple of new teams this week, including a new ACC champ. Due to Georgia Tech’s ugly loss, that league is now totally wide open with several teams having a chance. That craziness opens up things for other leagues like the Big 12. Off the field, another coach joined the Fired Coaches Club. Auburn let Hugh Freeze go after losing to a Kentucky team that hadn’t won a league game in over a year. In the process, it bought Mark Stoops some more time in Lexington.
One final thing, we are up to 51 bowl-eligible teams, including ten from the Big Ten and nine from the SEC. With the preliminaries out of the way, let’s get to this week’s projections. As always, if you’d like to see how things changed from last week, click here.
College Football Playoff First Round
Friday, December 19th – (12) Memphis at (5) Georgia. The Tigers took care of Rice 38-14 and remain our Group of Five team. They still have games with Tulane and Navy; however, both are at home. On the other side of the ball, the Bulldogs pulled out another one late in beating Florida. They move up one spot this week.
Saturday, December 20th- (11) Notre Dame at (6) Oregon. The Fighting Irish had some trouble with Boston College before winning 25-12. They host Navy this week. Dan Lanning’s Ducks travel to Iowa on Saturday is which could be a sleeper good game.
Saturday, December 20th- (10) BYU at (7) Ole Miss. The first of our two new teams this week is the Cougars. They are one of four remaining unbeaten squads. They travel to Lubbock for a battle with Texas Tech in the weekend’s biggest game. The Rebels took care of South Carolina and moved up a spot.
Saturday, December 20th- (9)- Virginia at (8) Texas Tech. As a result of Georgia Tech’s loss, the Cavaliers are our new projected ACC champion. Tony Elliott has Virginia 8-1 for the first time since 1990. The Red Raiders handled Kansas State, and as we mentioned, host BYU.
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals-
Goodyear Cotton Bowl: Wednesday, December 31st- (5) Georgia vs. (4) Texas A&M– Despite being unbeaten, we think Mike Elko’s club is going to stumble once down the stretch. These two clubs don’t play in the regular season, so we’re setting up an epic battle in Texas.
Capital One Orange Bowl: Thursday, January 1st- (6) Oregon vs. (3) Indiana- Again, the ACC champion isn’t slotted to the Orange Bowl. Instead, we’re sending the Hoosiers to Miami for a rematch with the Ducks.
Rose Bowl Game: Thursday, January 1st– (8) Texas Tech vs. (1) Ohio State– The Buckeyes pulled away to beat Penn State and remain our top seed. OSU leads the all-time series 2-0. However, they haven’t played since 2002.
Allstate Sugar Bowl: Thursday, January 1st- (7) Ole Miss vs. (2) Alabama- The Crimson Tide remains our projected SEC champion, and much like the Cotton Bowl, these two teams don’t play in the regular season.
Semi-Finals and Final-
VRBO Fiesta Bowl: Thursday, January 8th- (4) Texas A&M vs. (1) Ohio State- The Buckeyes are 4-0 all-time against the Aggies, with the last meeting coming in the 1999 Sugar Bowl.
Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl: Friday, January 9th- (3) Indiana vs. (2) Alabama- These two schools have never met on the gridiron.
College Football National Championship: Monday, January 19th- (2) Alabama vs. (1) Ohio State- We’re going out on a limb with the top two teams making the final.
That’s your breakdown of the playoff for this week. Continuing with our 2025 Bowl Projections After Week Ten, 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.
In addition, 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.
One other thing to note, we’ve now got three fewer SEC bowl-eligible teams than bowls. Such is the life of playing in that league.
Games Around The New Year
Music City Bowl: December 30th- Big Ten vs. SEC- Northwestern vs. LSU
Valero Alamo Bowl: December 30th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Arizona State vs. USC+–The Trojans go to San Antonio as a legacy Pac-12 member.
Radience Technologies Independence Bowl: December 30th- Big 12 vs. Conference USA- Kansas State vs. Kennesaw State- A huge shout out to the Owls, who are bowl eligible for the first time ever.
Reliaquest Bowl: December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- Tennessee vs. Nebraska
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl: December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- California vs. Washington State- We have an honest-to-goodness Pac-12 squad heading to El Paso this week.
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl: December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- Michigan vs. Texas- The Longhorns got out to a big lead, then held on to beat Vanderbilt. We have them just outside the playoff this week.
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl: December 31st- Big Ten vs. Pac-12- Illinois vs. Iowa State *– With no legacy Pac-12 team available, we are sending the Cyclones to Vegas.
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: January 2nd- Big 12 vs. American/Conference USA/Sun Belt- Army vs. New Mexico
Autozone Liberty Bowl: January 2nd- Big 12 vs. SEC- Houston vs. SMU*- With no SEC team available, we are sending the Mustangs to Memphis.
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: January 2nd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Vanderbilt vs. Pittsburgh
Holiday Bowl: January 2nd- ACC vs. Pac-12- Miami (Florida) vs. Utah+– The Hurricanes lost to SMU and fell out of the playoffs, while the Utes go as a legacy Pac-12 school. This will be the first time this game has ever been played in January.
Moving on with our 2025 Bowl Projections after Week Ten, let’s look at the games right after the big holiday.
Post-Christmas Games
Game Above Sports Bowl: December 26th- Big Ten vs. MAC- Minnesota vs. Buffalo
Rate Bowl- December 26th: Big Ten vs. Big 12- Iowa vs. Baylor
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: December 26th- AAC/ACC/Big 12- Arizona vs. Kansas
Go Bowling Military Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Navy vs. North Carolina State
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Duke vs. Maryland
Wasabi Fenway Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Wake Forest vs. Temple
Pop-Tarts Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- Georgia Tech vs. Cincinnati
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. Arkansas State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl: December 27th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Louisville vs. Oklahoma
Kinder’s Texas Bowl: December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Missouri vs. TCU
JLab Birmingham Bowl: December 29th- American/ACC/SEC- Troy vs. East Carolina
Moving on with our 2025 Bowl Projections After Week Ten, let’s move to the season’s initial games.
First Weekend Games
Cricket Celebration Bowl- December 13th- MEAC vs. SWAC- Delaware State vs. Jackson State
LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk: December 13th- Mountain West vs. Pac-12- San Diego State vs. Washington+– The Aztecs are now our projected Mountain West Champion. On the other side of the ball, the Huskies go to LA as a legacy Pac-12 squad.
IS4S Salute To Veterans Bowl: December 16th- Mid-American vs. Sun Belt- Central Michigan vs. Coastal Carolina
68 Ventures Bowl: December 17th- Conference USA/Mid-American/Sun Belt- Toledo vs. Appalachian State
StaffDNA Cure Bowl: December 17th- American/Conference USA/Sun Belt- UCONN vs. North Texas- Keep An Eye on the Mean Green coming down the stretch. Following their win over previously undefeated Navy, they’ve got a shot at being the Group of Five team.
Myrtle Beach Bowl: December 19th- Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Marshall vs. Jacksonville State
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl: December 19th- American/ACC/Notre Dame/SEC- South Florida vs. Florida State– As a result of their big win over Wake Forest, the Seminoles are back on our bowl radar.
Bowls Right Before Christmas
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: December 22nd- Mountain West vs. MAC- UNLV 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. Southern Mississippi
Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl: December 23rd- AAC/CUSA/MAC/MWC/SBC- Texas San-Antonio vs. Old Dominion
Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl: December 24th- American vs. Mountain West- Tulane vs. Hawaii
To Be Announced Bowl Game-
Former Bahamas Bowl: Conference USA vs. MAC – Liberty 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
We’ve talked about several of the big games this weekend already. However, a couple of other games to watch include Texas A&M at Missouri and Notre Dame hosting Navy. Thanks for checking out our Bowl Projections after week 10. We’ll be back in seven days with another update.
Main Image: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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