A Big Change At The Top
Hello everyone and welcome to our 2024 Week Seven Bowl Projections. It was another crazy and exciting weekend in college football. A thriller on the West Coast caused a change in our top four. In addition, we have some shuffling around with the rest of our playoff teams. As always if you want to see how things changed from last week click here.
College Football Playoff First Round
Friday, December 20th- (12) Boise State at (5) Penn State- Ashton Jeanty ran for 217 yards and a score as the Broncos beat Hawaii 41-17. He continues as a legit Heisman threat. They remain our Group Of Five Team. The Nittany Lions rallied from 10 down late to beat USC on the road. With Ohio State losing they move up to the fifth spot.
Saturday, December 21st- (9) Clemson at (8) Iowa State- The Cyclones easily passed a road test at West Virginia winning by 12. Dabo’s Tigers keep winning and move up a spot each week.
Saturday, December 21st- (11) Texas A&M at (6) Ohio State- As we mentioned earlier the Buckeyes fell at Oregon and out of our top four. Most likely OSU and Oregon will meet again in the Big Ten title game. The Aggies had the week off and remain at number 11.
Saturday, December 21st- (10) Georgia at (7) Alabama– A rematch of arguably the greatest game of the year in the playoff? Sign us up.
College Football Playoff Quarterfinals
VRBO Fiesta Bowl- Tuesday, December 31st- (5) Penn State vs. (4) BYU- The Cougars remain our Big 12 Champion after having no trouble with Arizona. Penn State holds a 2-1 lead all-time. However, they haven’t played since 1992.
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (6) Ohio State vs. (3) Miami (Florida)- Cam Ward and the Hurricanes had the week off to face a tough one at Louisville on Saturday.
Rose Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (7) Alabama vs. (2) Oregon- The Ducks get to play close to home as the Big Ten champ.
Allstate Sugar Bowl- Wednesday, January 1st- (9) Clemson vs. (1) Texas- Quinn Ewers shook off some rust in his return before the Longhorns easily handled Oklahoma 34-3.
College Football Semi-Finals And Final
Capital One Orange Bowl- Thursday, January 9th- (5) Penn State vs (1) Texas- The Nittany Lions lead the all-time series 3-2. However, they haven’t played since the 1997 Fiesta Bowl.
Goodyear Cotton Bowl- Friday, January 10th- (6) Ohio State vs. (2) Oregon- Can the Ducks beat the Buckeye three times? We could potentially find out at “Jerry Word.”
College Football National Championship- Atlanta, Georgia- Monday, January 20th- (2) Oregon vs. (1) Texas- The Longhorns hold a 4-2 lead all-time. However, the Ducks have won the last two.
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 Seven 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.
Let’s check out our next set of games with our 2024 Week Seven Bowl Projections.
Games Around The New Year
TransPerfect Music City Bowl- December 30th Big Ten vs. SEC- Illinois vs. Missouri
Reliaquest Bowl- December 31st- SEC vs. Big Ten- LSU vs. Michigan- The Tigers still have an outside shot of making the playoff.
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl- December 31st- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Pac-12- Louisville vs. Colorado- The Buffaloes let one slip away on Saturday against Kansas State. Going forward the injury status of Travis Hunter is something to pay attention to.
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl- December 31st- Big Ten vs. SEC- Tennessee vs. Indiana- Tennessee survived a scare against Florida and could be back in the playoff if they beat Alabama on Saturday. Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers have a legitimate chance at being 10-0 when they face Ohio State on November 23rd.
Texas Bowl- December 31st- Big 12 vs. SEC- Arkansas vs. Oklahoma State
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl- January 2nd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. SEC- Ole Miss vs. Syracuse- The Rebels hopes for the playoff likely ended in an overtime loss at LSU.
ServPro First Responder Bowl- January 3rd- American/ACC/Big 12- TCU vs. Sam Houston State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl- January 3rd- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Pittsburgh vs. Nebraska- 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- Jacksonville State vs. Western Michigan
Continuing with our 2024 Week Seven Bowl Projections let’s move to the contests held just after Christmas.
After Christmas Bowl Games
Detroit Bowl- December 26th- Big Ten vs. MAC- Wisconsin vs. Toledo
Guaranteed Rate Bowl- December 26th- Big 12 vs. Big Ten- West Virginia vs. Rutgers
68 Ventures Bowl- December 26th- Conference USA/MAC/Sun Belt- Ohio vs. Texas State
76 Birmingham Bowl- December 27th- ACC/SEC vs. Pool- Virginia vs. Kentucky- Let’s be honest here. Kentucky’s bowl hopes are hanging by the smallest of threads. A self-destructing loss to Vanderbilt means they have to win against Florida and Auburn in the next two weeks.
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. Pool- Arizona vs. Connecticut
AutoZone Liberty Bowl- December 27th- Big 12 vs. SEC- Vanderbilt vs. Cincinnati- As we just mentioned the Commodores followed up the win over Alabama by beating Kentucky. Clark Lea’s club hosts Ball State on Saturday and should be just one win from bowl eligibility. It would be their first bowl since 2018.
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl- December 27th- SEC vs. Pac-12- Oklahoma 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- SMU vs. Utah
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 Seven Bowl Projections.
A Huge Day Of Games
Wasabi Fenway Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten- Duke vs. Iowa
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- Texas Tech vs. Notre Dame
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl- December 28th- MAC vs. Mountain West- Utah State vs. Central Michigan
Go Bowling Military Bowl- December 28th- ACC/Notre Dame vs. American- Georgia Tech vs. Navy
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. Oregon State
Army is already bowl eligible and Navy isn’t far behind. Is it too early to imagine a scenario where the schools play in back-to-back weeks? First to decide the AAC title and then their regularly scheduled game the next week.
Let’s finish up our 2024 Week Seven 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. North Carolina Central
Camellia Bowl- December 14th- MAC vs. Sun Belt- Coastal Carolina vs. Charlotte
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- Pool vs. Pool- Minnesota vs. Northern Illinois
LA Bowl Presented By Gronk- December 18th- Pac-12 vs. Mountain West- UNLV vs. Arizona State
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl- December 19th- Conference USA vs. Sun Belt- Louisiana vs. Liberty
Staff DNA Cure Bowl- December 20th American/Conference USA/MAC/Mountain West/Sun Belt- James Madison vs. North Texas
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl- December 20th- American vs. ACC/SEC– Memphis vs. Boston College
Myrtle Beach Bowl- December 23rd- American/MAC/Sun Belt- Marshall vs. Eastern Michigan
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
The third weekend in October could go down as one of the best in recent memory. It’s headlined by a couple of mammoth SEC tilts. Texas hosts Georgia while Alabama heads to Tennessee. In addition, Miami travels to Louisville, Indiana hosts Nebraska and Michigan travels to Illinois. Thanks for checking out our 2024 Week Seven Bowl Projections here at Last Word On College Football.
