Below are listed our most updated projections for the college football bowl games. This year, there are a total of 40 bowl games and teams must have a record of 6-6 or better to be eligible for a bowl game. If there are not enough teams that are eligible to qualify, teams that are 5-7 will be eligible based on which teams have the highest APR.
For our college football bowl projections, we place teams in the bowls using the same criteria that the bowl people use. For a full list of bowl affiliations, 2017-2018 College Football Bowl Tie-Ins For Each Conference is a great reference point. For all of our rankings on each of these teams, go to NCAA FBS Ratings.
It is important to note that these are forward looking projections of the current season. This means that the bowl projections are different than if the season ended today. We look ahead and project match ups in the future to help determine who is most likely to lock in the different bowl slots.
Below are a list of teams that are not projected to hit the minimum of six wins to become automatically eligible for a bowl game.
Note #1: ** means that the team has not ended their season and could still reach 6-6
Bowl Eligibility by APR
| Team | APR | Wins | Losses |
| Minnesota | 992 | 5 | 7 |
| Vanderbilt | 992 | 5 | 7 |
| Indiana | 982 | 5 | 7 |
| Georgia Tech | 983 | 5 | 6 |
| California | 978 | 5 | 7 |
| Colorado | 968 | 5 | 7 |
| Tulane | 967 | 5 | 7 |
| UNLV | 943 | 5 | 7 |
As it stands, the bowls will not have to dip into the pool of five win teams this year.
Note #2: BOLD denotes that the team has accepted a bid to the bowl.
Originally published on 8/2/2017.
This blog is projecting where each team will end up in a bowl. Once bowl bids are announced, you can find our score projections for the bowl games at our game projections page.
College Football Bowl Projections
| Date | Bowl | Location | Team 1 | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/16/2017 | Camelia | Montgomery, AL | C Michigan | Georgia St |
| 12/16/2017 | Cure | Orlando, FL | SMU | New Mexico St |
| 12/16/2017 | Las Vegas | Las Vegas, NV | Boise St | Oregon |
| 12/16/2017 | New Mexico | Albuquerque, NM | UT San Antonio | Fresno St |
| 12/16/2017 | New Orleans | New Orleans, LA | Troy | Marshall |
| 12/19/2017 | Boca Raton | Boca Raton, FL | Temple | FL Atlantic |
| 12/20/2017 | Frisco | Frisco, TX | Houston | UCLA* |
| 12/21/2017 | Potato | Boise, ID | N Illinois | San Diego St |
| 12/21/2017 | Gasparilla | St. Petersburg, FL | South Florida | Florida Intl |
| 12/22/2017 | Bahamas | Nassau, BS | UAB | Ohio |
| 12/23/2017 | Dollar General | Mobile, AL | Toledo | Appalachian St |
| 12/23/2017 | Armed Forces | Fort Worth, TX | Army | Akron* |
| 12/23/2017 | Birmingham | Birmingham, AL | Memphis | WKU* |
| 12/24/2017 | Hawaii | Honolulu, HI | Louisiana Tech* | Colorado St |
| 12/26/2017 | Quick Lane | Detroit, MI | Duke | MTSU* |
| 12/26/2017 | Heart of Dallas | Dallas, TX | North Texas | Texas Tech |
| 12/26/2017 | Military | Annapolis, MD | Virginia | Navy |
| 12/26/2017 | Cactus | Tempe, AZ | Kansas St | Arizona St |
| 12/27/2017 | Independence | Shreveport, LA | Florida St | Southern Miss |
| 12/27/2017 | Holiday | San Diego, CA | Northwestern | Washington St |
| 12/27/2017 | Pinstripe | New York, NY | Boston College | Iowa |
| 12/27/2017 | Texas | Houston, TX | West Virginia | Utah* |
| 12/27/2017 | Foster Farms | Santa Clara, CA | Michigan | Stanford |
| 12/28/2017 | Camping World | Orlando, FL | Virginia Tech | Iowa St |
| 12/28/2017 | Alamo | San Antonio, TX | Oklahoma St | Washington |
| 12/29/2017 | Belk | Charlotte, NC | Wake Forest | Texas A&M |
| 12/29/2017 | Sun | El Paso, NM | NC State | Arizona |
| 12/29/2017 | Music City | Nashville, TN | Purdue | Kentucky |
| 12/30/2017 | Arizona | Tucson, AZ | Arkansas St | Wyoming |
| 12/30/2017 | Liberty | Memphis, TN | Texas | Missouri |
| 12/30/2017 | TaxSlayer | Jacksonville, FL | Louisville | Mississippi St |
| 1/1/2018 | Citrus | Orlando, FL | Notre Dame | South Carolina |
| 1/1/2018 | Outback | Tampa, FL | Michigan St | LSU |
New Year’s Bowl Projections
| Date | Bowl | Location | Team 1 | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/29/2017 | Cotton | Arlington, TX | Penn St | TCU |
| 12/30/2017 | Orange | Miami, FL | Miami FL | Wisconsin |
| 12/30/2017 | Fiesta | Glendale, AZ | USC | Ohio St |
| 1/1/2018 | Peach | Atlanta, GA | UCF | Auburn |
The top-rated non Power-5 team is guaranteed a spot in one of the New Year’s big bowls. That recipient will be the UCF Knights.
National Championship Playoff Bowl Projections
| Date | Bowl | Location | Team 1 | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/1/2018 | Rose | Pasadena, CA | Oklahoma | Georgia |
| 1/1/2018 | Sugar | New Orleans, LA | Clemson | Alabama |
The CFP Selection Committee selects the top four teams to play for the National Championship. This year, the play-in games are the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. Our projections have the committee putting Clemson at 1, Oklahoma at 2, Georgia at 3 and Alabama at 4.
National Championship Bowl Projections
| Date | Bowl | Location | Team 1 | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/8/2018 | Championship | Atlanta, GA | Clemson | Oklahoma |
Our rating system projects that Clemson would be favored against Alabama and Oklahoma would be favored over Georgia, thus pitting Clemson vs. Oklahoma in the National Championship.