College football bowl projections: How Tennessee could end up in Las Vegas

Posted by Admin November 12, 2024 Football

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We’ll be publishing full bowl projections every Tuesday the rest of the way, incorporating Stewart’s latest mock Playoff bracket.

His latest edition on Sunday had a projected 10-2 Tennessee team as the first team out. As if that’s not cruel enough, we have the Vols slipping all the way to the Las Vegas Bowl against Arizona State. The Citrus Bowl is out because they just played there last year, where they faced Iowa, which we have as the Big Ten rep in the ReliaQuest (formerly Outback) Bowl.

With LSU, Texas A&M and South Carolina all projected to finish 9-3, we have the Citrus selecting the Gamecocks because they’d be going in with the most momentum and would likely sell a ton of tickets.

We also pivoted from BYU to Colorado as our projected Big 12 champ this week, which has an interesting ripple effect. If the Cougars drop one regular-season game (and they’ve been playing with fire of late), we could get 11-1 Washington State vs. 11-2 BYU in the Alamo Bowl.

As of this week, we’re projecting 71 eligible teams for the 70 non-CFP bowl slots. Sorry, Eastern Michigan.

A friendly reminder: Most non-CFP bowls do not have to select teams in order of conference standings.

College Football Playoff

Bowl/Playoff	Date	Location	Team	Team	Time (ET)	Network
Playoff	Dec. 20	Athens, Ga.	7. Georgia	10. Indiana	8 p.m.	ABC/ESPN
Playoff	Dec. 21	State College, Pa.	6. Penn State	11. Ole Miss	Noon	TNT
Playoff	Dec. 21	Eugene, Ore.	5. Oregon	12. Boise State (G5 champ)	3:30 p.m.	TNT
Playoff	Dec. 21	Austin, Texas	8. Texas	9. Notre Dame	8 p.m.	ABC/ESPN
Fiesta	Dec. 31	Glendale, Ariz.	4. Colorado (Big 12 champ)	Oregon-Boise State winner	7:30 p.m.	ESPN
Peach	Jan. 1	Atlanta	3. Miami (ACC champ)	Penn State-Ole Miss winner	Noon	ESPN
Rose	Jan. 1	Pasadena, Calif.	1. Ohio State (Big Ten champ)	Texas-Notre Dame winner	5 p.m.	ESPN
Sugar	Jan. 1	New Orleans	2. Alabama (SEC champ)	Georgia-Indiana winner	8:45 p.m.	ESPN
Orange	Jan. 9	Miami	Quarterfinal winner	Quarterfinal winner	7:30 p.m.	ESPN
Cotton	Jan. 10	Arlington, Texas	Quarterfinal winner	Quarterfinal winner	7:30 p.m.	ESPN
Championship	Jan. 20	Atlanta	Semifinal winner	Semifinal winner	7:30 p.m.	ESPN

Remaining bowls

Bowl	Date	Location	Team	Team	Time (ET)	Network
Bahamas	Jan. 4	Nassau, Bahamas	Northern Illinois (MAC)	Liberty (CUSA)	11 a.m.	ESPN2
Duke’s Mayo	Jan. 3	Charlotte, N.C.	Minnesota (Big Ten 6)	Louisville (ACC 5-7)	7:30 p.m.	ESPN
First Responder	Jan. 3	University Park, Texas	Baylor (ESPN)	North Texas (ESPN)	4 p.m.	ESPN
Gator	Jan. 2	Jacksonville, Fla.	SMU (ACC 2-4)	LSU (SEC 3-8)	7:30 p.m.	ESPN
Texas	Dec. 31	Houston	Kansas State (Big 12 4)	Arkansas (SEC 3-8)	3:30 p.m.	ESPN
Citrus	Dec. 31	Orlando, Fla.	Illinois (Big Ten 2)	South Carolina (SEC 2)	3 p.m.	ABC
Sun	Dec. 31	El Paso, Texas	Syracuse (ACC 5-7)	UCLA (Pac-12 5)	2 p.m.	CBS
ReliaQuest	Dec. 31	Tampa, Fla.	Iowa (Big Ten 3)	Texas A&M (SEC 3-8)	Noon	ESPN
Music City	Dec. 30	Nashville, Tenn.	Nebraska (Big Ten 4)	Missouri (SEC 3-8)	2:30 p.m.	ABC
Independence	Dec. 28	Shreveport, La.	Army (AAC)	Cincinnati* (Pac-12 7)	9:15 p.m.	ESPN
Alamo	Dec. 28	San Antonio, Texas	BYU (Big 12 2)	Washington State (Pac-12 2)	9:15 p.m.	ABC
Military	Dec. 28	Annapolis, Md.	Navy (AAC)	Boston College (ACC 8-10)	5:45 p.m.	ESPN
Arizona	Dec. 30	Tucson, Ariz.	Colorado State (MWC)	Miami (Ohio) (MAC)	4:30 p.m.	CW
Pop-Tarts	Dec. 28	Orlando, Fla.	Iowa State (Big 12 3)	Pittsburgh (ACC 2-4)	3:30 p.m.	ABC
New Mexico	Dec. 28	Albuquerque, N.M.	San Jose State (MWC)	Texas State (ESPN)	2:15 p.m.	ESPN
Pinstripe	Dec. 28	Bronx, N.Y.	Michigan (Big Ten 5)	Duke (ACC 5-7)	Noon	ABC
Fenway	Dec. 28	Boston	Virginia Tech (ACC 8-10)	Memphis (AAC)	11 a.m.	ESPN
Vegas	Dec. 27	Las Vegas, Nev.	Arizona State (Pac-12 3)	Tennessee (SEC 3-8)	10:30 p.m.	ESPN
Holiday	Dec. 27	San Diego, Calif.	Clemson (ACC 2-4)	Washington (Pac-12 4)	8 p.m.	FOX
Liberty	Dec. 27	Memphis, Tenn.	West Virginia (Big 12 5)	Vanderbilt (SEC 3-8)	7 p.m.	ESPN
Birmingham	Dec. 27	Birmingham, Ala.	Georgia Tech (ESPN)	Tulane (ESPN)	12/3:30 p.m.	ESPN
Armed Forces	Dec. 27	Fort Worth, Texas	TCU (Big 12 7)	Rutgers (ESPN)	12/3:30 p.m.	ESPN
68 Ventures	Dec. 26	Mobile, Ala.	Georgia Southern (Sun Belt)	Western Kentucky (CUSA)	9 p.m.	ESPN
Rate	Dec. 26	Phoenix, Ariz.	Michigan State (Big Ten 7)	Texas Tech (Big 12 6)	5:45 p.m.	ESPN
GameAbove Sports	Dec. 26	Detroit	Wisconsin (Big Ten 8)	Ohio (MAC)	2 p.m.	ESPN
Hawaii	Dec. 24	Honolulu	Hawaii (MWC)	Jacksonville State (CUSA)	8 p.m.	ESPN
Idaho Potato	Dec. 23	Boise, Idaho	Fresno State (MWC)	Buffalo (MAC)	2:30 p.m.	ESPN
Myrtle Beach	Dec. 23	Myrtle Beach, S.C.	Arkansas State (ESPN)	East Carolina (ESPN)	11 a.m.	ESPN
Gasparilla	Dec. 20	Tampa, Fla.	North Carolina (ACC 8-10)	USF (ESPN)	3:30 p.m.	ESPN
Cure	Dec. 20	Orlando, Fla.	Bowling Green (ESPN)	Marshall (ESPN)	Noon	ESPN
New Orleans	Dec. 19	New Orleans	Louisiana-Monroe (Sun Belt)	Sam Houston (CUSA)	7 p.m.	ESPN2
LA Bowl	Dec. 18	Inglewood, Calif.	California (Pac-12 6)	UNLV (MWC 1)	9 p.m.	ABC
Frisco	Dec. 17	Frisco, Texas	Toledo (ESPN)	Louisiana (ESPN)	9 p.m.	ESPN
Boca Raton	Dec. 17	Boca Raton, Fla.	James Madison (ESPN)	UConn (ESPN)	5:30 p.m.	ESPN
Camellia	Dec. 14	Montgomery, Ala.	Coastal Carolina (ESPN)	Western Michigan (ESPN)	9 p.m.	ESPN

Notes: (ESPN) indicates an ESPN Events bowl. Teams can be moved between them. An * indicates a replacement team because a league was not able to fill all of its slots.

(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic, Photos: Don Juan Moore / Getty)