More Changes At The Top
Hello everyone and welcome back to our 2024 Week Four Bowl Projections. This past weekend featured several contests between ranked teams. In addition, we almost changed around some teams at the very top of the ratings. However, we’re going to let it ride for another week. Throw in the fact a few of the Group of Five teams in contention for that bid lost. As a result, we have a returning team in that slot. As always if you’d like to see how things changed from week to week click here.
How The Process Works
If you haven’t been following along the playoff is expanding to 12 teams this year. The winners of the major conferences will be seeded 1-4 by the committee. The top Group Of Five squad gets a berth, leaving seven teams fighting for the other spots. Champions of the Power Four get a first-round bye while the other eight meet in games played at the higher seed. In addition, many of the New Year’s Six games are now playoff games. With all the backstory out of the way let’s get to our picks.
College Football Playoff First Round
Friday, December 20th- (12) Boise State at (5) Texas- Memphis’ stint as the Group Of Five team lasted a week after losing to Navy. As a result of several other teams losing Boise State is our pick again. The Arch Manning hype train is in full effect as he threw for 257 yards and two scores in a 51-3 rout of Louisiana-Monroe.
Saturday, December 21st- (9) Penn State at (8) Tennessee- Following USC’s loss to Michigan the Nittany Lions are up two spots this week. They had no trouble with Kent State. Tennessee picked up one of the biggest wins of the weekend beating Oklahoma in Norman 25-15.
Saturday, December 21st- (11) Clemson at (6) Alabama- Guess who’s back, back again. The Tigers look nothing like the team who lost 34-3 to Georgia in week one. Jalen Milroe and the Tide play the biggest game of the weekend when they host Georgia.
Saturday, December 21st- (10) Oregon vs. (7) Ole Miss– Another week and another blowout for the Rebels. This time it was 52-13 over Georgia Southern.
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
VRBO Fiesta Bowl- Tuesday, December 31st- (5) Texas at (4) Utah- Playing without quarterback Cam Rising the Utes went into Stillwater and beat Oklahoma State. Couple that with Kansas State’s loss and Utah’s back as our Big 12 team.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (6) Alabama vs. (3) Miami (Florida)- These two schools have met 18 times in history with ‘Bama holding a 15-3 lead.
Rose Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (7) Ole Miss vs. (2) Ohio State- We’re trying to keep some tradition by sending the Big Ten Champ to Pasadena.
Allstate Sugar Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (8) Tennessee vs. (1) Georgia- If form holds true then New Orleans will be insane for this one.
College Football Semi-Finals And Final
Capital One Orange Bowl- Thursday, January 9th- (5) Texas vs. (1) Georgia– The Longhorns get past Kansas State setting up a battle versus the Bulldogs.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl- Friday, January 10th- (3) Miami vs. (2) Ohio State- The schools have met four times with each winning twice.
College Football National Championship- Atlanta, Georgia- Monday, January 20th- (2) Ohio State vs. (1) Georgia- This would be the third all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and Buckeyes with Georgia leading 2-0.
Well, that’s a lot to digest but we’ve still got a lot more to come. Let’s move on with the 2024 Week Four Bowl Projections.
Filling The Void
A few things to consider as we go through the remainder of the games. With the end of the Pac-12, many of the old teams from the league are eligible to fill those bowl slots. Those are the Alamo, Holiday Independence, LA, Las Vegas, and Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl. While Oregon State and Washington State are of course eligible don’t be surprised to see former Pac-12 schools as well.
In addition, bowls try to avoid teams playing in the same game in back-to-back years. However, with all the conference swapping madness duplicates are a definite possibility. One other thing you’ll notice is with five SEC schools in the playoff we had more games with league tie-ins than we had teams.
Let’s check out our next set of games with our 2024 Week Four Bowl Projections.
Games Around The New Year
TransPerfect Music City Bowl- December 30th Big Ten vs. SEC- Illinois vs. South Carolina- The fighting Illini are 4-0 for the first time since 2011. They take Nebraska’s spot who they beat Friday night.
Reliaquest Bowl- December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- Oklahoma vs. Iowa
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Boston College vs. California- This is an interesting one with Cal representing its old conference against its new one. However, these two don’t play during the season so why not?
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl- December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- Missouri vs. Michigan– The Tigers got all they could handle before beating Vanderbilt in double overtime.
Texas Bowl- December 31st- Big 12 vs. SEC- Iowa State vs. Auburn
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- January 2nd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- LSU vs. Louisville
ServPro First Responder Bowl- January 3rd- American/ACC/Big 12- Texas Tech vs. Sam Houston State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- January 3rd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Pittsburgh vs. Indiana- The SEC and Big Ten alternate every other year in this contest and 2024 it’s the Big Ten’s turn.
Bahamas Bowl- January 4th- Conference USA vs. MAC- New Mexico State vs. Bowling Green– The game is back in its normal home this year. In addition, it’s moving from the first weekend to the last non-playoff bowl.
Continuing with our 2024 Week Four Bowl Projections let’s move to the contests held just after Christmas.
After Christmas Bowl Games
Detroit Bowl- December 26th- Big Ten vs. MAC- Rutgers vs. Northern Illinois- The Huskies loss to Buffalo put a major dent in their Group Of Five chances.
Guaranteed Rate Bowl- December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big Ten- West Virginia vs. Wisconsin
68 Ventures Bowl- December 26th- Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Ohio vs. Texas State
76 Birmingham Bowl- December 27th- ACC/SEC/American- Syracuse vs. East Carolina
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. Pool- South Alabama vs. BYU- The Cougars looked very impressive beating Kansas State. On the other sideline, the Jaguars followed up scoring 87 with a very impressive win at Appalachian State.
AutoZone Liberty Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Kentucky vs. Central Florida- The Cats got back on track with a big win over Ohio. They get another chance to shock the world by beating Ole Miss on Saturday.
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl- December 27th- SEC vs. Pac-12- Texas A&M vs. Washington State- With the Big Ten playing in the Mayo Bowl it’s the SEC’s turn to head to Las Vegas.
DirecTV Holiday Bowl- December 27th- ACC vs. Pac-12- Boston College vs. Arizona
The biggest date as far as the number of games is December 28th with eight bowls total. Let’s go through each of them with our 2024 Week Four Bowl Projections.
A Huge Day Of Games
Wasabi Fenway Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Virginia Tech vs. South Florida
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- North Carolina vs. Nebraska
Isleta New Mexico Bowl- December 28th- Mountain West vs. American/Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Louisiana-Monroe vs. San Jose State
Pop-Tarts Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big 12- Oklahoma State vs. Notre Dame
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl- December 28th- MAC vs. Mountain West- Utah State vs. Western Michigan
Go Bowling Military Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- SMU vs. Navy- The Mustangs represent their new conference (ACC) vs. their old one (American)
Valero Alamo Bowl- December 28th- Big 12 vs. Pac-12- Kansas State vs. USC
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl- December 28th- Army/ American vs. Pac-12- Army vs. Arizona State
You’ll notice we have both Army and Navy in our picks. Right now they both have three wins. However, they’ll both need to get to six before they meet on December 14th. The reason is final bowl selections are the Sunday before.
Let’s finish up our 2024 Week Four Bowl Projections with a look at the first slate of contests.
Early Season Bowl Games
Cricket Celebration Bowl- December 14th- MEAC vs. SWAC- Jackson State vs. Howard
Camellia Bowl- December 14th- MAC vs. Sun Belt- Louisiana vs. Texas San-Antonio
Boca Raton Bowl- December 17th- American/Conference USA/MAC/Mountain West/Sun Belt- Georgia Southern vs. Western Kentucky
Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl- December 17th- American/Conference USA/MAC/Mountain West/Sun Belt- Georgia Tech vs. Cincinnati
LA Bowl Presented By Gronk- December 18th- Pac-12 vs. Mountain West- UNLV vs. Oregon State- We looked at the Rebels as our Group Of Five team. Although, Boise State was our choice.
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl- December 19th- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt- Coastal Carolina vs. Liberty
Staff DNA Cure Bowl- December 20th American/Conference USA/MAC/Mountain West/Sun Belt- James Madison vs. North Texas- The Dukes had arguably the most impressive game of the weekend running up 70 on North Carolina.
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl- December 20th- American vs. ACC/SEC– Memphis vs. Michigan State *
Myrtle Beach Bowl- December 23rd- American/MAC/Sun Belt- Appalachian State vs. Toledo
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl- December 23rd- MAC vs. Mountain West- Colorado State vs. Buffalo
Hawai’i Bowl- December 24th- Conference USA vs. Mountain West- Fresno State vs. Tulane
*Denotes a replacement team for a conference without enough bowl-eligible teams.
Games We Are Watching This Weekend
Of course, the big one is in Tuscaloosa with Georgia and Alabama. In addition, a couple of others to watch are Louisville at Notre Dame, Oklahoma State at Kansas State, and Illinois at Penn State.
That does it for our 2024 Week Four Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football. Don’t see your favorite team? Don’t worry, it’s still early in the season. We’ll be back in seven days with another round of bowl projections.
