College football bowl projections for Week 7: Cincinnati, Ohio State move into playoff

Bill Bender

College football bowl projections for Week 7: Cincinnati, Ohio State move into playoff 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 projections are for how we think the rest of the regular season will play out. 

For now, Alabama is out of the College Football Playoff. The Crimson Tide could work their way back, of course, but that would require winning out and beating Georgia in the SEC championship game. We project the Dawgs as the SEC champs. 

In the Big Ten, we like Ohio State. Sure, Iowa is ranked No. 2 and unbeaten. But we believe the Buckeyes will win the Big Ten championship game in Indy and slide into the CFP again. 

All of this, of course, benefits Cincinnati, which needs help to break into the field. The Alabama loss was a start. 

MORE: Winners and losers from Week 6 | Week 7 picks against spread | Week 6's wonderous chaos

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

College football bowl projections for Week 7 

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

*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 Ole Miss vs. Michigan
Jan. 1 Rose Bowl Game Oregon vs. Iowa
Jan. 1 Allstate Sugar Bowl Oklahoma State vs. Alabama
Dec. 31 Capital One Orange Bowl (semifinal) Georgia vs. Cincinnati
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.