College football Week 4 bowl projections: Why all-SEC, Big Ten playoff can happen

Bill Bender

College football Week 4 bowl projections: Why all-SEC, Big Ten playoff can happen image

Four leading College Football Playoff contenders have emerged through the first three weeks of the season. 

No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Alabama, last year's CFP championship game participants, hold the top two spots. No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan, the eternal Big Ten rivals, have the next two spots. 

MORE: College football playoff picture after Week 3

All four schools won in dominant fashion in Week 3. 

After all the offseason talk of the SEC and Big Ten pulling away from the rest of the Power 5, would it be possible for those two to monopolize the ninth installment of the CFP this season? The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide have played in two championship games, which shows that end of it is possible. Michigan and Ohio State would have to enter The Game with matching identical 11-0 records since they are in the same division. That hasn't happened since the legendary No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in 2006. 

BENDER: Week 3 overreactions - Bryan Harsin is done, ND won't make a bowl

Still, these are the four best teams right now, and that's how we have it in our Week 4 Bowl Projections. No. 5 Clemson, No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 USC also are in the mix as our picks to win those Power 5 conferences. 

The College Football Playoff semifinals will be on Dec. 31 this season. Those semifinals will be played at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. The College Football Playoff championship game is on Jan. 9 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. 

Here our our latest bowl projections: 

Week 4 College Football Bowl Projections

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Dec. 16 Bahamas Bowl North Texas vs. Miami, Ohio
Dec. 16 Cure Bowl Georgia State vs. Kent State
Dec. 17 Wasabi Fenway Bowl Cincinnati vs. Boston College
Dec. 17 New Mexico Bowl BYU vs. Air Force
Dec. 17 Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl Boise State vs. Arizona 
Dec. 17 Lending Tree Bowl Toledo vs. Marshall
Dec. 17 Las Vegas Bowl UCLA vs. South Carolina
Dec. 17 Frisco Bowl UTEP vs. Tulane
Dec. 19 Myrtle Beach Bowl FAU vs. Old Dominion
Dec. 20 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Western Michigan vs. Wyoming
Dec. 20 Boca Raton Bowl East Carolina vs. UAB
Dec. 21 New Orleans Bowl UTSA vs. Appalachian State
Dec. 22 Armed Forces Bowl Texas Tech vs. Liberty 
Dec. 23 Independence Bowl Army vs. UCF
Dec. 23 Gasparilla Bowl SMU vs. Fresno State
Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl WKU vs. San Diego State
Dec. 26 Quick Lane Bowl Central Michigan vs. Illinois 
Dec. 27 Camellia Bowl Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana
Dec. 27 First Responder Bowl Kansas State vs. Washington State
Dec. 27 Birmingham Bowl Memphis vs. Syracuse
Dec. 27 Guaranteed Rate Bowl TCU vs. Maryland
Dec. 28 Military Bowl Wake Forest vs. Cincinnati 
Dec. 28 Liberty Bowl Kansas vs. LSU 
Dec. 28 Holiday Bowl  Washington vs. North Carolina 
Dec. 28 Texas Bowl Iowa State vs. Florida 
Dec. 29 Pinstripe Bowl Purdue vs. Notre Dame 
Dec. 29 Cheez-It Bowl Texas vs. Miami, Fla. 
Dec. 29 Alamo Bowl Oklahoma State vs. Oregon 
Dec. 30 Duke's Mayo Bowl Iowa vs. NC State
Dec. 30 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl Oregon State vs. Florida State 
Dec. 30 Gator Bowl Pitt vs. Arkansas 
Dec. 30 Arizona Bowl Eastern Michigan vs. San Diego State
Dec. 31 Music City Bowl Michigan State vs. Kentucky 
Jan. 2 Tampa Bay Bowl Wisconsin vs. Texas A&M
Jan. 2 Citrus Bowl Minnesota vs. Ole Miss

College football New Year's Day Six picks 

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Dec. 30 Capital One Orange Bowl Clemson vs. Coastal Carolina
Dec. 31 Allstate Sugar Bowl Oklahoma vs. Tennessee
Jan. 2 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Utah vs. Baylor 
Jan. 2 Rose Bowl Game Penn State vs. USC
Dec. 31 Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl (semifinal) Georgia vs. Michigan 
Dec. 31 Fiesta Bowl (semifinal) Ohio State vs. Alabama

College Football Playoff championship pick 

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Jan. 11 CFP championship game Georgia vs. Alabama

 

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.