CFB: If The Season Ended Today...
Cotton Bowl (CFP): No. 1 Alabama (8-0) vs. No. 4 Notre Dame (8-0): The Crimson Tide earned the top spot in the College Football Playoff committee's first rankings of the year, and that would send them to the Cotton Bowl to play the fourth seed. As it stands now, Nick Saban's crew would face Notre Dame. However, this is undoubtedly going to change before the end of the season. Either way, though, this could be a matchup we see at some point before the season comes to a close. The last time these two teams faced off was in the 2012 BCS championship game, when Alabama absolutely knocked out previously undefeated Notre Dame, 42-12, to win their second title. Maybe the Fighting Irish could get a bit of revenge for that loss.
Orange Bowl (CFP): No. 2 Clemson (8-0) vs. No. 3 LSU (7-1): In the other CFP matchup, we have a battle of two Tigers. Clemson is still unbeaten and has looked unstoppable since their close 27-23 win over Syracuse, and they're going to be heavily favored in the rest of their ball games. Dabo Swinney's team is looking straight at a fourth straight CFP berth and another unbeaten regular season is very realistic. On the other side, LSU has one loss against Florida, but their wins (Miami, Auburn, Georgia, and Mississippi State) are unmatched. They have to face Alabama this upcoming weekend, so one of those teams will be knocked out of our projections by this time next week. Meanwhile, Clemson takes on lowly Louisville on November 3rd.
Rose Bowl (NY6): No. 5 Michigan (7-1) vs. No. 8 Washington State (7-1): Jim Harbaugh has Michigan on the verge of the playoff for the second time in three years. And being the fifth ranked team in the country is a great spot to be in. Like we previously mentioned, either Alabama or LSU will be out of the projected field in a few days, and that means Michigan will move up if they can handle Penn State this weekend. Washington State has their eye on potentially crashing the CFP for the first time and they're the only one-loss Pac-12 team left standing. The Cougars are coming off of big wins over Oregon and Stanford, and they're looking like the best team in the conference. This would pit a top five defense against a top five offense.
Sugar Bowl (NY6): No. 6 Georgia (7-1) vs. No. 7 Oklahoma (7-1): These two teams met up in the Rose Bowl last year, in what became one of the greatest games of all-time, as Georgia won 54-48 in double overtime. That matchup was for a spot in the national championship game. This one, though, wouldn't be nearly as important. It'd obviously still be a key game for both teams heading into 2019-20, but the stakes would be far different compared to last year. Each of these teams are still in play for a CFP appearance, as they both sit at 7-1, but they aren't in the driver seat this time around. The Bulldogs will take on Kentucky this weekend, and are currently nine point favorites. Oklahoma goes to Texas Tech. The Sooners are favored by 13.5 points.
Fiesta Bowl (NY6): No. 10 Ohio State (7-1) vs. No. 13 West Virginia (6-1): Ohio State has reached a New Year's Six Bowl in every year since it was implemented, going to the CFP in both 2014 and 2016, and it seems like they may return to a major bowl. Unfortunately, the playoff doesn't seem nearly as likely following their 49-20 loss to Purdue a couple of weeks ago. They could get back into the thick of things with a November 24th bout against Michigan pending. West Virginia still has just the one loss so in theory, they could run the table, win the Big 12, and have a real argument of getting into the field. That quest will begin this week against Texas, but according to the ESPN FPI, the Longhorns have a 50.9 percent chance to win.
Peach Bowl (NY6): No. 9 Kentucky (7-1) vs. No. 12 UCF (7-0): The final matchup of the New Year's Six games could currently put undefeated Central Florida against another SEC team. The Knights upset Auburn in this bowl last year, and they'd have a shot at taking down another talented team from down South. That could do a lot for recruiting and reputation going forward, and it'd likely be the cap to a second straight unbeaten year. Sadly for UCF, they have less than a 1.0 percent chance to reach the CFP according to the ESPN Playoff Predictor, so the Peach Bowl would be there consolation prize again. Kentucky, on the other hand, hasn't made a major bowl in forever and this would be a great way for them to end the year.
Photo Credit: Courier-Journal.
