College football Week 8 bowl projections: Tennessee, Georgia and the new two-SEC team playoff

Bill Bender

College football Week 8 bowl projections: Tennessee, Georgia and the new two-SEC team playoff image

Sporting News' Week 8 bowl projections still have two SEC teams in the College Football Playoff. 

They are in the same division, too. There is room for No. 1 Georgia and No. 3 Tennessee right now. The Bulldogs and Volunteers meet on Nov. 5, and there is a good chance the loser of that match-up could back-door into the CFP depending on how the rest of the field shakes out. The Vols do have a trump card after Saturday's 52-49 victory against No. 6 Alabama. 

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Heading into Week 8, we have No. 5 Clemson vs. Georgia in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl semifinal in a rematch of last year's 10-3 slugfest. Then, we have Ohio State vs. Tennessee in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in a matchup of the top two scoring offenses in the FBS. That would be fun, too. 

Those were not the only shakeups in our New Year's Day Six picks. Oregon, Cincinnati and TCU moved in. Oklahoma State, Coastal Carolina and USC moved out. 

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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.

Week 8 College Football Bowl Projections

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

College football New Year's Day Six picks 

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Dec. 30 Capital One Orange Bowl Syracuse vs. Penn State
Dec. 31 Allstate Sugar Bowl TCU vs. Alabama
Jan. 2 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Cincinnati vs. Oregon
Jan. 2 Rose Bowl Game Michigan vs. UCLA
Dec. 31 Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl (semifinal) Georgia vs. Clemson
Dec. 31 Fiesta Bowl (semifinal) Ohio State vs. Tennessee

College Football Playoff championship pick 

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Jan. 11 CFP championship game 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.