College football Week 13 bowl projections: USC controls playoff destiny

Bill Bender

College football Week 13 bowl projections: USC controls playoff destiny image

No. 5 USC will make the College Football Playoff if it beats No. 13 Notre Dame and wins the Pac-12 championship. 

That is the door that opened when South Carolina beat No. 5 Tennessee 63-38 in Week 12. Now, first-year coach Lincoln Riley – who led Oklahoma to the CFP three times – has a chance to lead the Trojans to a remarkable turnaround after one season. It does not hurt to have transfer portal gems Caleb Williams and Jordan Addison, among others. 

MORE: Five CFP scenarios worth watching

USC also will benefit from the loser of the matchup between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan falling from the ranks of the unbeaten teams. The loser of The Game still might have a backdoor into the CFP, but it likely will take a Trojans’ loss or a loss from No. 4 TCU.

Sporting News has No. 1 Georgia meeting USC in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and Ohio State and TCU meeting in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. No. 7 Clemson and No. 19 Tulane moved back into our CFP projections.

The College Football Playoff semifinals will be on Dec. 31 this season. Those semifinals will be played at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. The College Football Playoff championship game is on Jan. 9 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.

Week 13 College Football Bowl Projections

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Dec. 16 Bahamas Bowl North Texas vs. Bowling Green
Dec. 16 Cure Bowl South Alabama vs. Rice
Dec. 17 Wasabi Fenway Bowl Cincinnati vs. Syracuse
Dec. 17 New Mexico Bowl BYU vs. Air Force
Dec. 17 Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl Boise State vs. Houston
Dec. 17 Lending Tree Bowl Buffalo vs. Southern Miss
Dec. 17 Las Vegas Bowl Washington State vs. Missouri
Dec. 17 Frisco Bowl Middle Tennessee State vs. East Carolina
Dec. 19 Myrtle Beach Bowl UAB vs. Troy 
Dec. 20 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Miami, Ohio vs. Fresno State
Dec. 20 Boca Raton Bowl UCF vs. UTSA
Dec. 21 New Orleans Bowl Western Kentucky vs. Appalachian State
Dec. 22 Armed Forces Bowl Texas Tech vs. Liberty
Dec. 23 Independence Bowl Marshall* vs. UConn
Dec. 23 Gasparilla Bowl Louisiana vs San Diego State
Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl FAU vs. San Jose State
Dec. 26 Quick Lane Bowl Ohio vs. Wisconsin
Dec. 27 Camellia Bowl Toledo vs. Coastal Carolina
Dec. 27 First Responder Bowl Duke vs. Oregon State
Dec. 27 Birmingham Bowl Memphis vs. Utah State
Dec. 27 Guaranteed Rate Bowl Kansas vs. Maryland
Dec. 28 Military Bowl NC State vs. SMU
Dec. 28 Liberty Bowl Baylor vs. Arkansas
Dec. 28 Holiday Bowl  Washington vs. Pitt
Dec. 28 Texas Bowl Oklahoma vs. Florida
Dec. 29 Pinstripe Bowl Minnesota vs. Wake Forest
Dec. 29 Cheez-It Bowl Oklahoma State vs. North Carolina
Dec. 29 Alamo Bowl Texas vs. UCLA
Dec. 30 Duke's Mayo Bowl Illinois vs. Florida State
Dec. 30 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl Utah vs. Louisville
Dec. 30 Gator Bowl Notre Dame vs. Kentucky
Dec. 30 Arizona Bowl Eastern Michigan vs. Wyoming
Dec. 31 Music City Bowl Iowa vs. South Carolina
Jan. 2 ReliaQuest Bowl Purdue vs. Mississippi State
Jan. 2 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl Penn State vs. Ole Miss

College football New Year's Day Six picks 

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Dec. 30 Capital One Orange Bowl Clemson vs. Alabama
Dec. 31 Allstate Sugar Bowl Kansas State vs. LSU
Jan. 2 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Tulane vs. Tennessee
Jan. 2 Rose Bowl Game Michigan vs. Oregon
Dec. 31 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (semifinal) Georgia vs. USC
Dec. 31 Fiesta Bowl (semifinal) Ohio State vs. TCU

College Football Playoff championship pick 

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Jan. 11 CFP championship game Ohio State vs. Georgia

 

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.