2014: Post Week Seven Bowl Projections

Minnesota. That is all.

By Mike Jones Oct 14, 2014, 7:00am CDT

If you don't want any problems it's best that you stay as far away from the state of Mississippi. Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State are perfect on the season and have wins over [insert supposedly really good SEC team here]. The only remaining tests for Ole Miss are a trip to Death Valley (sure LSU is down but it's still Death Valley), Auburn and obviously, the Egg Bowl. The Bulldogs still have Alabama on the schedule and have to play in Oxford, so they've arguably got the more difficult slate. As Ole Miss has already beaten Alabama and gets MSU at home, they're my SEC Champion and clinch a playoff seed.

Florida State also makes it in as they're the undefeated ACC champion, Baylor makes it as the Big 12 champion...and then there's Oregon. Oregon is currently 9th in the AP, just behind Michigan State, despite beating them earlier in the year. Ask yourself this question: if Oregon and Michigan State run the table who do you think makes the playoff? Oregon, for obvious reasons. I didn't think Oregon would bounce back so definitely but hey, there we go. Actually, Oregon getting their mandatory embarrassing loss early in the year is probably the best thing that could've happened.

That leaves Michigan State on the outside looking in along with Notre Dame (loses to FSU), Mississippi State (loses to Ole Miss), Alabama (lost to Ole Miss) etc.

Despite Sparty "falling" to a New Year's Bowl I've still got the Buckeyes joining them as their only losses will be to Virginia Tech and Michigan State. That leaves the question of remaining top three bowls: Citrus, Outback and Holiday. Usually, the loser of the Big 10 Championship game would head to the Citrus but considering it's looking like it could be Wisconsin or Nebraska again, I'm not sure how excited the selection committee will be. If Nebraska goes Citrus, [MYSTERY TEAM] will head to the Outback where they haven't been for a while and Iowa gets the Holiday Bowl. After that...see below.

The Rules:

Four teams are chosen for the College Football Playoff.
Six bowls rotate for the semifinals: Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach.
The bowls hosting the semifinals this year are the Rose and Sugar.
If the Big Ten Champion is eligible for a non-playoff bowl when the Rose and Sugar Bowls are hosting the semifinals, as they are this year, the Big Ten Champion will appear in the Fiesta, Peach or Cotton Bowl, but NOT the Orange Bowl.
The highest ranked champion from the Group of Five mid-majors (AAC, C-USA, MAC, MWC, Sun Belt) is guaranteed a spot in the non-playoff bowls if they fail to make the playoff.

More rules/information appear below. Here's a look at the bowls themselves:

College Football Playoffs:

Bowl	Location	Date	Opponents
Championship	Arlington, TX	1/12/15	Semi Winner v. Semi Winner
Rose	Pasadena, CA	1/1/15	No. 2 v. No. 3
Sugar	New Orleans, LA	1/1/15	No. 1 v. No. 4

New Year's Bowls (Non-Playoff Bowls):

Bowl	Location	Date	Opponents
Cotton	Arlington, TX	1/1/15	At-Large
Fiesta	Glendale, AZ	12/31/14	At-Large
Orange	Miami, FL	12/31/14	ACC vs. Big Ten/Notre Dame
Peach	Atlanta, GA	12/31/14	At-Large

Big Ten Bowls:

Bowl	Location	Opponent	Last 5
Rose Bowl or Playoff	Pasadena, CA or Playoff Site	Pac-12 or Playoff Team	MSU, UW, UW, UW, OSU
Citrus Bowl or Orange Bowl*	Orlando, FL or Miami, FL	SEC or ACC	UW, NU, NU, MSU, PSU
Outback Bowl	Tampa, FL	SEC	IA, UM, MSU, PSU, NW
Holiday Bowl	San Diego, CA	Pac-12	New
Music City or TaxSlayer Bowl**	Nashville, TN or Jacksonville, FL	SEC	NU, NW, OSU, UM, NU
San Francisco Bowl	San Francisco, CA	Pac-12	New
Pinstripe Bowl	New York City, NY	ACC	New
Quick Lane Bowl	Detroit, MI	ACC	New
Heart of Dallas or Armed Forces Bowl****	Fort Worth, TX or Dallas, TX	C-USA	PU, PSU, NW

* - The Big Ten, along with the SEC, will be eligible to face the ACC representative in the Orange Bowl at least three out of the eight seasons that it does not host a semifinal for the Playoff over a 12-year span. Notre Dame will be chosen the other two years if eligible. (It's from Wikipedia so it must be true). Also note that if the Big Ten is chosen for the Orange Bowl they give up their spot in the Citrus Bowl.

** - The Big Ten and ACC will switch between the Music City and Gator Bowl (now simply known as the TaxSlayer Bowl) on alternate years. In 2014 the Big Ten has the TaxSlayer Bowl.

*** - The San Francisco Bowl was the Fight Hunger Bowl and the Quick Lane Bowl is the new Detroit bowl game.

**** - The Big Ten and Big 12 will rotate these bowls in alternating years. In 2014 the Big Ten has the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

Now for the projections.

Bowl Projections:

Bowl	Matchup	Why
Rose Bowl	Ole Miss v. Baylor	SEC Champ v. Big 12 Champ
Sugar Bowl	Florida State v. Oregon	Undefeated FSU v. Pac 12 Champ
Cotton Bowl	TCU v. Michigan State	TCU or OU, I'll say TCU
Fiesta Bowl	Alabama v. Ohio State	2/3 SEC v. #2 Big Ten
Orange Bowl	Clemson v. Notre Dame	ACC runner-up v. One loss ND
Peach Bowl	Mississippi State v. ECU	ECU is the best of the G5
Citrus Bowl	Nebraska v. Auburn	Big 10 runner up v. the next best SEC
Outback Bowl	Minnesota v. Georgia	THE WORLD HAS GONE CRAZY
Holiday Bowl	Iowa v. USC	Remember the Orange Bowl!
TaxSlayer Bowl	Wisconsin v. Texas A&M	Aggies dropping fast
San Francisco Bowl	Penn State v. ASU	FIXED
Pinstripe Bowl	Maryland v. Virginia Tech	Because Rutgers can't play in New York anymore
Quick Lane Bowl	Rutgers v. Boston College	Why not?
Heart of Dallas Bowl	Northwestern v. UAB	Team #MEEPMEEP is dead :(

Queso Bowl Participants:

via content.dollargeneral.com

No. 1 Seed in the Ro-Tel Queso Bowl: Illinois
No. 2 Seed in the Ro-Tel Queso Bowl: Indiana
No. 3 Seed in the Ro-Tel Queso Bowl: Purdue
No. 4 Seed in the Ro-Tel Queso Bowl: Michigan

The injury to Nate Sudfeld puts Indiana as a firm #2 seed in the Queso Bowl. Purdue is showing signs of life as a football team but until they actual pull out a win, they're stuck behind Michigan. Speaking of, Michigan needs to win a few more football games or something.