College football bowl projections: The committee has spoken, and Alabama, not Miami, makes Playoff

Posted by author December 6, 2024 Football

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The committee has spoken. Based on Tuesday night’s newest College Football Playoff rankings, Alabama, not Miami, is in line for the final Playoff at-large berth and No. 11 seed that comes with it. That is, unless Clemson wins the ACC Championship Game on Saturday and steals the last slot. For our purposes, though, we’re assuming SMU beats the Tigers.

The result: A first-round game between No. 6 seed Notre Dame and No. 11 seed Alabama in South Bend. Pretty cool.

GO DEEPER

Ding dong, Miami’s dead, but did Ole Miss deserve the CFP rankings nod over Alabama?

It’s difficult to say how conference title game results will impact the final seedings. The losers could stay where they are or fall a bit, depending on how they perform. We are predicting Texas loses a close game to Georgia and only drops from No. 2 to No. 3 in the rankings, while Penn State gets blown out by Oregon and falls from No. 3 to No. 6, one spot below Ohio State due to a head-to-head loss.

Their seedings would then be:

No. 5 Texas

No. 6 Notre Dame

No. 7 Ohio State

No. 8 Penn State

Friendly reminders: 1) Most non-CFP bowls do not have to select teams in order of conference standings. 2) Legacy Pac-12 teams will participate in the league’s bowl lineup this year and in 2025, not the lineups of their current leagues.

Teams shaded in blue in the tables indicate the official matchup.

College Football Playoff

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

Remaining Bowls

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

Notes: (ESPN) indicates an ESPN Events bowl. Teams can be moved between them. An asterisk (*) 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)