Week 11 Bowl Projections: Michigan Moves Into Position to Be Alabama's First CFP Challenger
The nation’s best teams showed no signs of a late-season fade in the first weekend of November. Alabama dominated LSU, Clemson blew the doors off Louisville and Michigan mauled Penn State to round out a top four that still includes unbeaten Notre Dame. Having passed their final test before the season finale at Ohio State, the Wolverines deserve to slip into the coveted No. 4 spot in these unofficial rankings for now.
It was a day of upheaval for the teams just outside the current playoff mix: Seven of the 11 teams ranked between No. 9 and No. 20 lost, meaning we should see some new faces on the fringe of New Year’s Six bowl consideration when the new rankings come out on Tuesday night. (Mississippi State? Syracuse? Utah State?) As a result, the losers of Week 10’s de facto SEC division title games (LSU and Kentucky) did not fall out of the New Year’s Six bowl slate even though they both dropped to 8–2: LSU gets a matchup with Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl after the Sooners were overtaken by Michigan, while Kentucky heads west to play UCF, still the Group of Five’s presumed representative, in the Fiesta Bowl.
Below, a look at all 39 projected bowl matchups and the updated College Football Playoff field through six weeks of the 2018 season. An asterisk (*) denotes that an at-large team is filling a spot left vacant by the conference under contract with that bowl. For a rankings-format look at the nation’s best teams, check out Andy Staples’s post–Week 10 Top 10.
Dec. 15
New Mexico Bowl, Albuquerque (2 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Mountain West vs. Conference USA
Nevada vs. Florida Atlantic
AutoNation Cure Bowl, Orlando (2:30 p.m. ET, CBSSN)
American vs. Sun Belt
Tulane vs. Georgia Southern
Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
Pac-12 vs. Mountain West
USC vs. Fresno State
Raycom Media Camellia Bowl, Montgomery, Ala. (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Sun Belt vs. MAC
Troy vs. Ohio
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (9 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Sun Belt vs. Conference USA
Louisiana-Monroe vs. Louisiana Tech
Dec. 18
Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
American vs. Conference USA
Toledo* vs. Middle Tennessee
Dec. 19
Frisco Bowl (8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
American vs. MAC/at-large
Temple vs. Marshall
Dec. 20
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl, Tampa (8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
American vs. ACC/Conference USA
USF vs. Miami
Dec. 21
Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl, Nassau (12:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Conference USA vs. MAC
Florida International vs. Northern Illinois
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Boise (4 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Mountain West vs. MAC
Utah State vs. Buffalo
Dec. 22
Birmingham Bowl (Noon ET, ESPN)
SEC vs. American
Army* vs. Memphis
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, Fort Worth, Texas (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. American
Oregon* vs. Houston
Dollar General Bowl, Mobile, Ala. (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
MAC vs. Sun Belt
Western Michigan vs. Arkansas State
Hawai'i Bowl, Honolulu (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Mountain West vs. Conference USA
Hawai’i vs. UAB
Dec. 26
SERVPRO First Responders Bowl, Dallas (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big Ten vs. Conference USA
Boise State* vs. North Texas
Quick Lane Bowl, Detroit (5:15 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big Ten vs. ACC
Maryland vs. Georgia Tech
Cheez-It Bowl, Phoenix (9 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. Pac-12
Baylor vs. Arizona
Dec. 27
Walk-On's Independence Bowl, Shreveport, La. (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
SEC vs. ACC
Cal* vs. Virginia
New Era Pinstripe Bowl, New York (5:15 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big Ten vs. ACC
Wisconsin vs. Pitt
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl, Houston (9 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. SEC
Texas Tech vs. Texas A&M
Dec. 28
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl, Nashville (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten
Vanderbilt vs. Syracuse
Camping World Bowl, Orlando (5:15 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. ACC
Iowa State vs. NC State
Valero Alamo Bowl, San Antonio (9 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. Pac-12
Texas vs. Washington
Dec. 29
Belk Bowl, Charlotte, N.C. (Noon ET, ABC)
SEC vs. ACC
South Carolina vs. Duke
NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl, Tucson (1:15 p.m. ET, CBSSN)
Mountain West vs. Sun Belt
San Diego State vs. Appalachian State
Dec. 31
Redbox Bowl, Santa Clara, Calif. (3 p.m. ET, Fox)
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Northwestern vs. Stanford
Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman, Annapolis, Md. (Noon ET, ESPN)
ACC vs. American
Virginia Tech vs. Cincinnati
AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Memphis (3:45 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. SEC
Oklahoma State vs. Missouri
San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl, San Diego (7 p.m. ET, FS1)
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Purdue vs. Arizona State
TaxSlayer Bowl, Jacksonville, Fla. (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten
Florida vs. Iowa
Hyundai Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas (2 p.m. ET, CBS)
ACC vs. Pac-12
Boston College vs. Utah
Jan. 1
Outback Bowl, Tampa, Fla. (Noon ET, ESPN2)
Big Ten vs. SEC
Michigan State vs. Mississippi State
Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Fla. (1 p.m. ET, ABC)
SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten
Auburn vs. Penn State
New Year's Six Bowls
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Atlanta (Dec. 29, Noon ET, ESPN)
At-large vs. At-large
Oklahoma vs. LSU
PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Ariz. (Jan. 1, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN)
At-large vs. At-large
Kentucky vs. UCF
Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual, Pasadena, Calif. (Jan. 1, 5 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Ohio State vs. Washington State
Allstate Sugar Bowl, New Orleans (Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m. ET, ESPN)
SEC vs. Big 12
Georgia vs. West Virginia
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Arlington, Texas (Dec. 29, 4 p.m. or 8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
CFP semifinalist vs. CFP semifinalist
Alabama vs. Michigan
Capital One Orange Bowl, Miami Gardens, Fla. (Dec. 29, 4 p.m. or 8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
CFP semifinalist vs. CFP semifinalist
Clemson vs. Notre Dame
College Football Playoff National Championship, Santa Clara (Jan. 7, 8 p.m., ESPN)
CFP semifinal winner vs. CFP semifinal winner
