College football Week 10 bowl projections: Illinois, North Carolina move into New Year's Day Six

Bill Bender

College football Week 10 bowl projections: Illinois, North Carolina move into New Year's Day Six image

Three surprise one-loss teams moved into the New Year’s Day Six in our Week 10 bowl projections. 

We’re not talking about No. 2 Tennessee. The Volunteers remain in our projected College Football Playoff picks along with No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 5 Clemson. 

Who are the surprise teams? No. 14 Illinois and No. 17 North Carolina are our surprise picks to reach the Orange Bowl. Bret Bielema has a physical team led by SN Midseason All-American Chase Brown, and Mack Brown has the Tar Heels rolling with quarterback Drake Maye. Both teams are good bets to make their respective conference championship games. 

MORE: College Football Playoff picture | Heisman Trophy race

No. 19 Tulane also moved into our Cotton Bowl projection. The Green Wave have November tests against No. 25 UCF and Cincinnati. 

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.

MORE: Ranking CFB's top 25 quarterbacks at midseason

Week 10 College Football Bowl Projections

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

College football New Year's Day Six picks 

DATE BOWL MATCHUP
Dec. 30 Capital One Orange Bowl Illinois vs. North Carolina
Dec. 31 Allstate Sugar Bowl TCU vs. Alabama
Jan. 2 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Tulane vs. USC
Jan. 2 Rose Bowl Game Michigan vs. Oregon
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 Ohio State vs. Georgia

 

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.