College football bowl projections for Week 10: Cincinnati holds fourth playoff spot (for now)

Bill Bender

College football bowl projections for Week 10: Cincinnati holds fourth playoff spot (for now) image

The first set of College Football Playoff rankings will be unveiled Tuesday, and that will give the first hint as to who the four playoff teams will be.

It's still five weeks until the selection show, and there is a lot to play out. Sporting News will have bowl projections each week leading up to the final results. This year’s bowl season includes 42 games between FBS teams. The College Football Playoff championship game is Jan. 10 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The semifinals are Dec. 31 at the Capital One Orange Bowl and Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

Our bowl projection is for how we believe the rest of the season will play out.

MORE: Heisman race | Week 10 picks vs. spread | Coaching carousel

We maintained the same four teams heading into the first set of rankings. Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Cincinnati are our Playoff picks for now, and that's based on the belief that the Bulldogs will give the Crimson Tide their second loss in the SEC championship game. Oregon, of course, has to lose a second game to make this happen.

We also have Georgia meeting Ohio State in the CFP championship game for the second straight week. Baylor and Michigan State moved into our New Year's Day Six. Iowa and Oklahoma State moved out.

SN has projections for all 42 bowl games here, and they will be updated throughout the season:

College football bowl projections for Week 10 

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Dec. 17 Bahamas Bowl Toledo vs. FAU
Dec. 17 Cure Bowl Troy vs. East Carolina
Dec. 18 RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Nevada vs. Liberty*
Dec. 18 New Mexico Bowl San Diego State vs. UTEP
Dec. 18 Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl BYU vs. UTSA
Dec. 18 Lendingtree Bowl Northern Illinois vs. Coastal Carolina
Dec. 18 Los Angeles Bowl Fresno State vs. Utah
Dec. 18 R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl South Alabama vs. UAB
Dec. 20 Myrtle Beach Bowl Appalachian State vs. Western Michigan
Dec. 21 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Miami, Ohio vs. Boise State
Dec. 21 Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl Ball State vs. Utah State
Dec. 22 Armed Forces Bowl Army* vs. Marshall
Dec. 23 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl Washington State vs. Western Kentucky
Dec. 24 Hawai'i Bowl Air Force vs. UCF
Dec. 25 Camellia Bowl Kent State vs. Louisiana
Dec. 27 Quick Lane Bowl SMU vs. Rutgers
Dec. 27 Military Bowl Miami* vs. Washington*
Dec. 28 TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl Houston vs. Arkansas
Dec. 28 First Responder Bowl Texas Tech vs. Louisville
Dec. 28 AutoZone Liberty Bowl West Virginia vs. Mississippi State
Dec. 28 Holiday Bowl USC vs. North Carolina
Dec. 28 Guaranteed Rate Bowl Syracuse vs. Kansas State
Dec. 29 Fenway Bowl Memphis vs. Boston College
Dec. 29 Pinstripe Bowl Maryland vs. N.C. State
Dec. 29 Cheez-It Bowl Iowa State vs. Virginia
Dec. 29 Valero Alamo Bowl Arizona State vs. Oklahoma State
Dec. 30 Duke's Mayo Bowl Purdue vs. Clemson
Dec. 30 Transperfect Music City Bowl Iowa vs. Tennessee
Dec. 30 SRS Las Vegas Bowl UCLA vs. Wisconsin
Dec. 31 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Florida vs. Pitt
Dec. 31 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl Oregon State vs. Virginia Tech
Dec. 31 Arizona Bowl Central Michigan vs. San Jose State
Jan. 1 Outback Bowl Penn State vs. Ole Miss
Jan. 1 Vrbo Citrus Bowl Minnesota vs. Auburn
Jan. 4 Texas Bowl Texas vs. Kentucky

*Denotes not tied to bowl game

College Football New Year's Six projections

Dec. 30 Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest
Jan. 1 PlayStation Fiesta Bowl Texas A&M vs. Michigan
Jan. 1 Rose Bowl Game Oregon vs. Michigan State
Jan. 1 Allstate Sugar Bowl Baylor vs. Alabama
Dec. 31 Capital One Orange Bowl (semifinal) Cincinnati vs. Georgia
Dec. 31 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (semifinal) Oklahoma vs. Ohio State

College Football Playoff championship projection

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Jan. 10 College Football Playoff championship Georgia vs. Ohio State

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.