The 2017-18 college football bowl schedule features 40 games between FBS teams, which culminates with the College Football Playoff championship game on Jan. 8 in Atlanta. This year’s semifinals will be played on Jan. 1 for the first time since 2014 at the Rose and Sugar bowls.
Sporting News will have bowl projections every week until we get there, and our preseason College Football Playoff picks have already seen a few changes. Alabama, Penn State, Clemson and Oklahoma remain the playoff field heading into Week 5. We have the Crimson Tide and the Nittany Lions in the Sugar Bowl, and the Sooners and Tigers in the Rose Bowl Game.
MORE: Week 5 College Football Playoff picture
Sporting News has preseason projections for every bowl game, and a few familiar teams are back in the semifinals — with a new matchup in the national title game.
Week 5 Bowl Projections
| DATE | BOWL GAME | PROJECTED TEAMS |
| Dec. 16 | R+L Carrier New Orleans Bowl | Appalachian State vs. Old Dominion |
| Dec. 16 | AutoNation Cure Bowl | Northern Illinois* vs. Arkansas State |
| Dec. 16 | Las Vegas Bowl | Oregon vs. Boise State |
| Dec. 16 | Gildan New Mexico Bowl | Air Force vs. UTSA |
| Dec. 16 | Raycom Media Camellia Bowl | Central Michigan vs. Virginia |
| Dec. 19 | Boca Raton Bowl | Tulsa vs. Western Kentucky |
| Dec. 20 | Frisco Bowl | Memphis vs. Eastern Michigan |
| Dec. 21 | Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl | South Florida vs. Southern Miss |
| Dec. 22 | Popeyes Bahamas Bowl | Ohio vs. Marshall |
| Dec. 22 | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | Toledo vs. San Diego State |
| Dec. 23 | Birmingham Bowl | SMU vs. Vanderbilt |
| Dec. 23 | Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl | Kentucky vs. Army |
| Dec. 23 | Dollar General Bowl | Miami, Ohio vs. Idaho |
| Dec. 24 | Hawaii Bowl | Houston vs. New Mexico |
| Dec. 26 | Cactus Bowl | Kansas State vs. Colorado |
| Dec. 26 | Quick Lane Bowl | Indiana vs. Duke |
| Dec. 26 | Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl | Iowa State vs. Louisiana Tech |
| Dec. 27 | Independence Bowl | Georgia Tech vs. BYU |
| Dec. 27 | New Era Pinstripe Bowl | Maryland vs. Notre Dame |
| Dec. 27 | Texas Bowl | Texas Tech vs. Tennessee |
| Dec. 27 | Foster Farms Bowl | UCLA vs. Purdue |
| Dec. 28 | Military Bowl by Northrop Grunman | Navy vs. N.C. State |
| Dec. 28 | Camping World Bowl | Oklahoma State vs. Louisville |
| Dec. 28 | Valero Alamo Bowl | West Virginia vs. Washington State |
| Dec. 28 | SDCCU Holiday Bowl | Stanford vs. Michigan State |
| Dec. 29 | Belk Bowl | Wake Forest vs. South Carolina |
| Dec. 29 | Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl | Minnesota vs. Texas A&M |
| Dec. 29 | Goodyear Cotton Bowl | TCU vs. Washington |
| Dec. 30 | TaxSlayer Bowl | Iowa vs. LSU |
| Dec. 30 | AutoZone Liberty Bowl | Texas vs. Florida |
| Dec. 30 | Hyundai Sun Bowl | Utah vs. Florida State |
| Dec. 30 | Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl | Colorado State vs. Troy |
| Dec. 30 | PlayStation Fiesta Bowl | USC vs. Michigan |
| Dec. 30 | Capital One Orange Bowl | Miami, Fla. vs. Ohio State |
| Jan. 1 | Outback Bowl | Wisconsin vs. Mississippi State |
| Jan. 1 | Citrus Bowl | Virginia Tech vs. Auburn |
| Jan. 1 | Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl | Central Florida vs. Georgia |
College Football Playoff
| DATE | BOWL GAME | PROJECTED TEAMS |
| Jan. 1 | Rose Bowl Game (Playoff semifinal) | Oklahoma vs. Clemson |
| Jan. 1 | Allstate Sugar Bowl (Playoff semifinal) | Penn State vs. Alabama |
| Jan. 8 | College Football Championship Game | Alabama vs. Clemson |
