College Football Bowl Projections: Oklahoma, Northwest Vaulted In Major Games After First 25 Wins

Week 12 of the college football season is on the books, and we’ve got two new teams in the Six Bowl New Years screenings. There hasn’t been any change in college football playoff projections for a few weeks now, mainly because these teams haven’t played or served by winning games.

Let’s go back to those six New Years screenings. There was Bedlam where Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State 41-13 to shake up the Big 12 race even further. Iowa State remains in first place by a full game after beating Kansas State. , 45-0. The Cyclones will play in Texas next week, and a win would secure a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game. A loss could create as much as a tie at four at the top of the league standings.

The call here regarding the automatic spot for the Big 12 champion in the New Years Six is ​​Oklahoma. The Sooners rebounded well after a rocky start, which included a loss to Iowa State. Oklahoma is now playing like the team many of us thought we had a shot at making the college football playoffs. It’s too late for that now, but I believe the Sooners will take revenge on the Cyclones in the Big 12 Championship game and head to the Cotton Bowl.

Purple reigns supreme in the Big Ten West as Northwestern closed Wisconsin 17-7 on Saturday night. The Wildcats are the last undefeated team in the Big Ten West and have faced the other contenders in the division before. The record for the remaining teams on Northwestern’s schedule is 5-9. As such, the Wildcats replaced Wisconsin in the Fiesta Bowl screening this week.

In the Big Ten East, Ohio state had to delay a late Indiana rally to win, 42-35. Ohio State and Northwestern are now on track to meet for the Big Ten Championship in a matter of weeks if nothing unforeseen happens.

Indiana is yet to travel to Wisconsin on December 5 in a battle that could eventually decide a third New Year’s berth for the Big Ten, although I am not predicting that at this time.

The two Pac-12 favorites are still unbeaten at the start of the season. Oregon held off UCLA, 38-35, while USC won in Utah, 33-17, breaking a three-game losing streak for the Trojans in Salt Lake City.

I’m curious to know how the CFP selection committee will see these Pac-12 teams in their first ranking, which will be published on Tuesday evening. Will they feel they have seen enough to fully assess them? I wouldn’t be surprised to see these teams lower in the top rankings but able to climb quickly as they play more games and, of course, register more wins.

Aside from the state of Ohio and Oregon, the only other projected CFP team in action was the first team Alabama, which crushed Kentucky, 63-3. Clemson saw his game against Florida State postponed hours before kickoff on Saturday.

College football playoffs

New Year’s Six Bowl Sets

Since the Pac-12 announced last week that they would not be waiving the league’s requirement for teams needing a .500 or better winning percentage to play in a bowl game, I’m at short of a team for the Pac-12 bowl places. I have Houston taking that extra spot for the Pac-12 at the Los Angeles Bowl.

Of course, this problem could go away if the Las Vegas Bowl is not scheduled. A few weeks ago when the full bowl schedule was announced, this game didn’t show up. However, both Pac-12 and Bowl said they still expect it to be played and are trying to find a place on the TV show. This still has not happened and time is running out.

Check out the full projections of Jerry Palm’s 2020 Bowl.