College football bowl projections for Week 9: Georgia, Ohio State in championship matchup

Bill Bender

College football bowl projections for Week 9: Georgia, Ohio State in championship matchup image

There are seven weeks left until the College Football Playoff committee will pick the four playoff teams on Dec. 5.

Sporting News will have bowl projections each week leading up to the event. This year’s bowl season with a schedule that includes 42 bowl 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: Who would be in Playoff if Selection Sunday were today?

We still believe Georgia will beat Alabama in the SEC championship game, which would open the door for Cincinnati to slip into the College Football Playoff. The question is who is the Bulldogs' best challenger? Ohio State and Oklahoma would meet in the other CFP semifinal, and we trust the Buckeyes a little more in that matchup of high-scoring offenses. 

MORE: Week 9 picks against the spread | Heisman race

That would set up a championship game between the best defense and best offense in the FBS to this point. 

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

College football bowl projections for Week 9 

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

*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. Iowa
Jan. 1 Allstate Sugar Bowl Oklahoma State 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.