Preseason bowl projections: Who's headed to the playoff, all other bowls?

Zac Ellis predicts matchups for all 38 bowl games, including who will play in the inaugural College Football Playoff.

No one knows how the College Football Playoff will ultimately unfold in its first season. The same could be said for the 32 bowl games that won’t be filled by the playoff selection committee.

Projecting bowl matchups is set to be a unique challenge in 2014. There is no limit to how many teams a conference can land in the four-team playoff and six New Year’s Bowls. Four SEC teams could hypothetically headline the entire playoff bracket. That’s why the selection committee’s decision-making will have a direct impact on the rest of the postseason, as will conferences placing their own teams within league-specific bowl pools.

So, difficulties aside, we’ve given bowl projections our best shot. First, a quick note: Some leagues might fail to field enough bowl-eligible teams to fill their quotas in our projection, so an asterisk denotes a replacement team.

STAFF: 2014 preseason Crystal Ball: SI's picks for the playoff, Heisman, more

date	bowl	location	matchup
Dec. 31	Peach	Atlanta	Ohio State (at-large) vs. Marshall (Group of Five)
Dec. 31	Fiesta	Glendale, Ariz.	Auburn (at-large) vs. Baylor (at-large)
Dec. 31	Orange	Miami	Clemson (ACC) vs. South Carolina (SEC/Big Ten/Notre Dame)
Jan. 1	Cotton	Arlington, Texas	Oklahoma (at-large) vs. Oregon (at-large)
Jan. 1	Rose (semifinal)	Pasadena, Calif.	No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 UCLA
Jan. 1	Sugar (semifinal)	New Orleans	No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 4 Michigan State

STAFF: SI's experts fill out their brackets for the College Football Playoff

date	bowl	location	matchup
Dec. 20	New Orleans	New Orleans	Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt) vs. Colorado State (Mountain West)
Dec. 20	Idaho Potato	Boise, Idaho	San Diego State (Mountain West) vs. Northern Illinois (MAC)
Dec. 20	Royal Purple	Las Vegas	Boise State (Mountain West) vs. Washington (Pac-12)
Dec. 20	New Mexico	Albuquerque, N.M.	Nevada (Mountain West) vs. UTSA (C-USA)
Dec. 20	Camellia	Montgomery, Ala.	Akron (MAC) vs. Arkansas State (Sun Belt)
Dec. 22	Miami Beach	Miami	UCF (American) vs. BYU (BYU)
Dec. 23	Poinsettia	San Diego	Utah State (Mountain West) vs. Navy (Navy)
Dec. 23	Boca Raton	Boca Raton, Fla.	Florida Atlantic (C-USA) vs. Ball State (MAC)
Dec. 24	Bahamas	Nassau, Bahamas	Middle Tennessee (C-USA) vs. Toledo (MAC)
Dec. 24	Hawaii	Honolulu	Fresno State (Mountain West) vs. Rice (C-USA)
Dec. 26	Bitcoin	St. Petersburg, Fla.	East Carolina (American) vs. Boston College (ACC)
Dec. 26	Heart of Dallas	Dallas	Buffalo* (Big Ten/Big 12) vs. North Texas (C-USA)
Dec. 26	Quick Lane	Detroit	Pittsburgh (ACC) vs. Utah* (Big Ten)
Dec. 27	Military	Annapolis, Md.	Duke (ACC) vs. South Florida (American)
Dec. 27	Independence	Shreveport, La.	Georgia Tech (ACC) vs. Washington State* (SEC)
Dec. 27	Pinstripe	New York, N.Y.	Virginia Tech (ACC) vs. Northwestern (Big Ten)
Dec. 27	Sun	El Paso, Texas	Notre Dame (ACC) vs. Arizona (Pac-12)
Dec. 27	Holiday	San Diego, Calif.	Iowa (Big Ten) vs. Stanford (Pac-12)
Dec. 29	Russell Athletic	Orlando	Miami (ACC) vs. Oklahoma State (Big 12)
Dec. 29	Liberty	Memphis, Tenn.	Kansas State (Big 12) vs. Ole Miss (SEC)
Dec. 29	Texas	Houston	TCU (Big 12) vs. Texas A&M (SEC)
Dec. 30	Belk	Charlotte, N.C.	North Carolina (ACC) vs. Mississippi State (SEC)
Dec. 30	Fight Hunger	Santa Clara, Calif.	Minnesota (Big Ten) vs. Arizona State (Pac-12)
Dec. 30	Music City	Nashville	Louisville (ACC/Big Ten) vs. Vanderbilt (SEC)
Jan. 1	Capital One	Orlando	Nebraska (ACC/Big Ten) vs. LSU (SEC)
Jan. 1	Outback	Tampa	Wisconsin (Big Ten) vs. Florida (SEC)
Jan. 2	Armed Forces	Fort Worth, Texas	Houston (American) vs. Ohio* (Army/Big 12)
Jan. 2	Alamo	San Antonio	Texas (Big 12) vs. USC (Pac-12)
Jan. 2	TaxSlayer	Jacksonville, Fla.	Michigan (Big Ten/ACC) vs. Georgia (SEC)
Jan. 2	Cactus	Tempe, Ariz.	Iowa State (Big 12) vs. Oregon State (Pac-12)
Jan. 3	Birmingham	Birmingham, Ala.	Missouri (SEC) vs. Cincinnati (American)
Jan. 4	GoDaddy	Mobile, Ala.	Bowling Green (MAC) vs. South Alabama (Sun Belt)

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