Greetings college football fans. We now know the wishes of the playoff committee: Georgia (13-0/1) will play Ohio St (11-1/3) in the Peach Bowl while Michigan (13-0/2) takes on TCU (12-1/4). If you saw my post this morning, this is not a surprise at all. I was at lunch when the announcement came (yes, I rudely was watching on my phone, but it’s COLLEGE FOOTBALL, so it was ok), rushed home and watched the rest of the reveal while bowl announcements were being made. I’ve put together all the games in date/time order below for reference. For the rest of this season, I will post the predictions of the games on the day of each game with (in the background) updated calculations.
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In the table below, I have the current record and ranking for each team as usual. What’s different is the coding after the Conference for each team. For example, AAC (1)* would indicate the team (Tulane in this case) has the best GCR ranking in its conference (the American in this case) and the asterisk shows the won their conference championship. In a few conferences, the teams with 6+ wins were not always ranked higher than teams with fewer wins. For example, Missouri is the 13th ranked SEC team in the GCR but one of 11 that qualified for bowls. A few oddities this year. App St was 6-6 but had 2 scheduled teams against FCS schools (they won them both), but only 1 could count toward bowl eligibility so they are out. Army is 5-6 with a game against Navy next week, but even if they win, they also had 2 FCS teams on the schedule, so they are out. New Mexico St is a weird case that may have cost Auburn an invitation. They were 5-6 with a canceled game at San Jose St (who finished 7-4). The game was stopped because of a death on the SJST team and not rescheduled. So, New Mexico St was looking for a 12th game. That’s harder than it looks as the rules limit the number of games a team can play (12 unless you play a game at Hawaii then 13). They didn’t find any takers, so they played Valparaiso (an FCS school) last week and won. VAL was the second FCS school on their schedule, but the NCAA cut them a break since it wasn’t planned. They are going bowling. Auburn is impacted because there were, before NMST was given a spot, 2 spots available for 5-7 teams. The first went to Rice who had the highest APR among 5-7 teams (and they are going bowling). Auburn was tied for 2nd and every rumor had them going somewhere (probably the Birmingham Bowl). One more note: I added the only FCS bowl game. 12/17 Jackson St and NC Central will play the Celebration Bowl as the winners of the SWAC and MEAC conferences, respectively.
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Here are all 42 for your reading and planning enjoyment. More analysis coming soon, G
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| Time | (Sponsor) BOWL | Location | Team | Conf | Team | Conf |
| Friday, December 16 | ||||||
| 11:30 | (HomeTown Lenders) BAHAMAS | Nassau | Miami OH (6-6/127) | MAC (9) | UAB (6-6/97) | CUSA (4) |
| 3:00 | (Duluth Trading) CURE | Orlando | UTSA (11-2/21) | CUSA (1)* | Troy (11-2/16) | Sun (1)* |
| Saturday, December 17 | ||||||
| 11:00 | (Wasabi) FENWAY | Boston | Cincinnati (9-3/36) | AAC (2) | Louisville (7-5/34) | ACC (6) |
| 12:00 | (Cricket) CELEBRATION | Atlanta | Jackson St (12-0/85) | SWAC | NC Central (9-2/138) | MEAC |
| 2:15 | NEW MEXICO | Albuquerque | SMU (7-5/70) | AAC (4) | BYU (7-5/78) | IND (3) |
| 3:30 | (Jimmy Kimmel) LA (presented by Stimel) | Inglewood | Washington St (7-5/58) | P12 (9) | Fresno St (9-4/47) | MWC (2)* |
| 5:45 | LENDINGTREE | Mobile | Rice (5-7/111) | CUSA (6) | Southern Miss (6-6/91) | Sun (6) |
| 7:30 | (SRS Distribution) LAS VEGAS | Las Vegas | Florida (6-6/46) | SEC (10) | Oregon St (9-3/12) | P12 (3) |
| 9:15 | FRISCO | Frisco, TX | North Texas (7-6/93) | CUSA (3) | Boise St (9-4/49) | MWC (3) |
| Monday, December 19 | ||||||
| 2:30 | MYRTLE BEACH | Conway, SC | Marshall (8-4/62) | Sun (5) | UCONN (6-6/95) | IND (4) |
| Tuesday, December 20 | ||||||
| 3:30 | FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO | Boise | E Michigan (8-4/84) | MAC (3) | San Jose St (7-4/80) | MWC (4) |
| 7:30 | (RoofClaim.com) BOCA RATON | Boca Raton | Liberty (8-4/72) | IND (2) | Toledo (8-5/76) | MAC (2)* |
| Wednesday, December 21 | ||||||
| 9:00 | (R+L Carriers) NEW ORLEANS | New Orleans | W Kentucky (8-5/87) | CUSA (2) | South Alabama (10-2/22) | Sun (2) |
| Thursday, December 22 | ||||||
| 7:30 | (Lockheed Martin) ARMED FORCES | Ft Worth | Baylor (6-6/61) | B12 (8) | Air Force (9-3/37) | MWC (1) |
| Friday, December 23 | ||||||
| 3:00 | (Radiance Technologies) INDEPENDENCE | Shreveport | Louisiana (6-6/92) | Sun (7) | Houston (7-5/73) | AAC (5) |
| 6:30 | (Union Home Mortgage) GASPARILLA | Tampa | Wake Forest (7-5/35) | ACC (7) | Missouri (6-6/59) | SEC (13) |
| Saturday, December 24 | ||||||
| 8:00 | (EasyPost) HAWAII | Honolulu | Middle Tennessee (7-5/100) | CUSA (5) | San Diego St (7-5/86) | MWC (5) |
| Monday, December 26 | ||||||
| 2:30 | QUICK LANE | Detroit | New Mexico St (6-6/137) | IND (7) | Bowling Green (6-6/101) | MAC (6) |
| Tuesday, December 27 | ||||||
| 12:00 | CAMELLIA | Montgomery | Ga Southern (6-6/108) | Sun (10) | Buffalo (6-6/99) | MAC (5) |
| 3:15 | (SERVPRO) FIRST RESPONDER | University Park, TX | Memphis (6-6/105) | AAC (7) | Utah St (6-6/103) | MWC (7) |
| 6:45 | (TicketSmarter) BIRMINGHAM | Birmingham | Coastal Carolina (9-3/51) | Sun (4) | East Carolina (7-5/81) | AAC (6) |
| 10:15 | GUARANTEED RATE | Phoenix | Wisconsin (6-6/68) | B1G (11) | Oklahoma St (7-5/48) | B12 (5) |
| Wednesday, December 28 | ||||||
| 2:00 | MILITARY (presented by Peraton) | Annapolis | UCF (9-4/52) | AAC (3) | Duke (8-4/43) | ACC (9) |
| 5:30 | (AutoZone) LIBERTY | Memphis | Kansas (6-6/54) | B12 (6) | Arkansas (6-6/55) | SEC (11) |
| 8:00 | (San Diego County Credit Union) HOLIDAY | San Diego | Oregon (9-3/19) | P12 (6) | UNC (9-4/26) | ACC (3) |
| 9:00 | (TaxAct) TEXAS | Houston | Texas Tech (7-5/40) | B12 (4) | Mississippi (8-4/29) | SEC (7) |
| Thursday, December 29 | ||||||
| 2:00 | (Bad Boy Mowers) PINSTRIPE | Bronx | Syracuse (7-5/42) | ACC (8) | Minnesota (8-4/30) | B1G (5) |
| 5:30 | CHEEZ-IT | Orlando | Oklahoma (6-6/60) | B12 (7) | Florida St (9-3/13) | ACC (2) |
| 9:00 | (Valero) ALAMO | San Antonio | Texas (8-4/20) | B12 (3) | Washington (10-2/11) | P12 (2) |
| Friday, December 30 | ||||||
| 12:00 | DUKE’S MAYO | Charlotte | Maryland (7-5/38) | B1G (7) | NC St (8-4/28) | ACC (4) |
| 2:00 | (Tony the Tiger) SUN | El Paso | Pittsburgh (8-4/31) | ACC (5) | UCLA (9-3/17) | P12 (5) |
| 3:30 | (TaxSlayer) GATOR | Jacksonville | Notre Dame (8-4/24) | IND (1) | South Carolina (8-4/27) | SEC (6) |
| 4:30 | (Barstool Sports) ARIZONA | Tucson | Ohio (9-4/65) | MAC (1) | Wyoming (7-5/89) | MWC (6) |
| 8:00 | (Capital One) ORANGE | Miami | Tennessee (10-2/5) | SEC (2) | Clemson (11-2/7) | ACC (1)* |
| Saturday, December 31 | ||||||
| 12:00 | (Allstate) SUGAR | New Orleans | Alabama (10-2/6) | SEC (3) | Kansas St (10-3/10) | B12 (2)* |
| 12:00 | (TransPerfect) MUSIC CITY | Nashville | Iowa (7-5/39) | B1G (8) | Kentucky (7-5/32) | SEC (8) |
| 4:00 | (CFP Semifinal at the VRBO) FIESTA | Glendale | TCU (12-1/4) | B12 (1) | Michigan (13-0/2) | B1G (1)* |
| 8:00 | CFP Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A) PEACH | Atlanta | Ohio St (11-1/3) | B1G (2) | Georgia (13-0/1) | SEC (1)* |
| Monday, January 2 | ||||||
| 12:00 | RELIAQUEST | Tampa | Mississippi St (8-4/23) | SEC (5) | Illinois (8-4/25) | B1G (4) |
| 1:00 | (Goodyear) COTTON | Arlington | Tulane (11-2/14) | AAC (1)* | Southern Cal (11-2/9) | P12 (1) |
| 1:00 | (Cheez-It) CITRUS | Orlando | LSU (9-4/18) | SEC (4) | Purdue (8-5/33) | B1G (6) |
| 5:00 | ROSE | Pasadena | Penn St (10-2/8) | B1G (3) | Utah (10-3/15) | P12 (4)* |
