College football bowl projections for Week 6: Penn State, Oklahoma can bolster playoff case

Bill Bender

College football bowl projections for Week 6: Penn State, Oklahoma can bolster playoff case image

Sporting News will have bowl projections each week from now until the CFP Selection Show on Dec. 5.

Bowl season returns in 2021-22 with a schedule that includes 42 bowl games between FBS teams. This year's 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.

These matchups are projections of how SN sees the regular season shaking out. This differs from our weekly College Football Playoff Picture, which is based on how the playoff field would look if bids were handed out after each week. SN's projected playoff bowl picks heading into Week 6 include two SEC teams in Alabama and Georgia. It’s a race for the other two spots, with Oklahoma and Penn State holding those spots for now. The Sooners and Nittany Lions can bolster those cases this week. Oklahoma faces rival Texas in the Red River Showdown, and the Nittany Lions have a top-five Big Ten showcase game at Iowa. 

Cincinnati, which beat Notre Dame 24-13 in Week 5, remains a strong contender out of the American Athletic Conference.

MORE: Winners and losers from Week 5 | Bearcats need to start rooting for Notre Dame

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

College football bowl projections for Week 6 

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

*Denotes not tied to bowl game

College Football New Year's Six projections

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Dec. 30 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest
Jan. 1 PlayStation Fiesta Bowl Cincinnati vs. Ohio State
Jan. 1 Rose Bowl Game Oregon vs. Iowa
Jan. 1 Allstate Sugar Bowl Oklahoma State vs. Arkansas
Dec. 31 Capital One Orange Bowl (semifinal) Oklahoma vs. Alabama
Dec. 31 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (semifinal) Penn State vs. Georgia

College Football Playoff championship projection

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Jan. 10 College Football Playoff championship Alabama 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.