2020 Bowl Projections: Revised College Football Playoff, New Year's Day Six predictions

Bill Bender

2020 Bowl Projections: Revised College Football Playoff, New Year's Day Six predictions image

Sporting News released its College Football Playoff picks along with predictions for all 43 bowl games earlier this summer.  

There is a problem with that. A total of 54 of the 130 FBS schools are not playing football this fall — meaning the 76 remaining teams cannot fill those 86 spots. The bowl lineup likely will go under some serious reconstruction as a result, and SN will adjust those picks accordingly.  

MORE: SN's Preseason Top 25

We can still pick the College Football Playoff, which will go on as scheduled. This season’s semifinals are Jan. 1 at the Rose Bowl Game and Allstate Sugar Bowl. The CFP championship game will be Jan. 11 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.  

With that in mind, here are Sporting News' picks for the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Day Six. Our playoff features the usual suspects. Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and Georgia have combined for 15 of the past 24 playoff appearances — and those four teams made up the playoff in 2017-18. 

College Football New Year's Day Six predictions 

DATE BOWL TEAMS
Dec. 30 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Texas vs. Notre Dame
Jan. 1 Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl Auburn vs. Oklahoma State
Jan. 2 PlayStation Fiesta Bowl Cincinnati vs. LSU
Jan. 2 Capital One Orange Bowl North Carolina vs. Florida
Jan. 1 Rose Bowl Game (semifinal) Clemson vs. Georgia
Jan. 1 Allstate Sugar Bowl (semifinal) Alabama vs. Oklahoma

College Football Playoff championship prediction

DATE BOWL TEAMS
Jan. 11 CFP Championship Game Alabama vs. Clemson

Bill Bender

Bill Bender Photo

Bill Bender graduated from Ohio University in 2002 and started at The Sporting News as a fantasy football writer in 2007. He has covered the College Football Playoff, NBA Finals and World Series for SN. Bender enjoys story-telling, awesomely-bad 80s movies and coaching youth sports.