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.
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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 |
