College Football Playoff and Bowl Projections After Week 10: BYU, Virginia Miss Auto Bids

New Mexico, Southern Miss and Temple all eyeing bowl bids after several seasons of missing out. Plus, an enticing Alamo Bowl between USC and Houston could be on tap.

Virginia linebacker Kam Robinson runs back a pick-six against Cal. The Cavaliers are currently projected as the ACC runner-up. / D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

The College Football Playoff selection committee meets this week to rank teams in its Top 25 for the first time. The task is tall after conference races shifted significantly from fairly straightforward to overly complicated.

That naturally has an impact on many of the bowl games outside of the playoff, from the prominent warm-weather games around New Year’s Day all the way down to the very first games just after the regular season concludes in mid-December. While much of the oxygen in college football will focus on just the 12 teams who make the CFP field, that shouldn’t obscure some of the great stories where teams are eyeing their first bowl game in several years.

That’s the case for New Mexico, which could cap a banner season under Jason Eck against UTSA at its home stadium in the New Mexico Bowl or Southern Miss landing in the Myrtle Beach Bowl against East Carolina. Temple, which hasn’t made the postseason since 2019 is also in line for a bowl and is currently slated for the Gasparilla Bowl. 

FREE. SI College Football Newsletter. Get SI's College Football Newsletter. dark

As for the other bowl games, there are several fun matchups on deck after Week 10 that might be headlined by Oklahoma facing off against Nebraska in a rivalry renewed (despite the tough news about the Cornhuskers’ quarterback situation). The Pop-Tarts Bowl features a pair of projected conference runners-up in BYU and Virginia. Navy-Hawai’i in the Hawai’i Bowl could be an incredible Christmas Eve shootout on the islands between differing offensive systems. Utah-SMU could be a heck of a Holiday Bowl with some dynamic quarterbacks to contend with. Also, do you think Lincoln Riley will be miffed at going back to the state of Texas to play Willie Fritz again? Well, that’s what is shaping up in the Alamo Bowl between USC and Houston.

With all that in mind, here is how Sports Illustrated sees the playoff and all of 35 bowl games coming together to form the postseason picture in 2025–26 after Week 10.

College Football Playoff Projected Rankings After Week 10

1. Ohio State
2. Alabama
3. Indiana
4. Texas A&M 
5. Georgia
6. Mississippi
7. Oregon
8. Texas Tech
9. Notre Dame
10. Louisville
11. Georgia Tech
12. South Florida

First Round

• No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Texas Tech
• No. 10 Louisville at No. 7 Oregon
• No. 11 Georgia Tech vs. No. 6 Mississippi
• No. 12 South Florida vs. Georgia

Quarterfinals

• Orange Bowl: No. 4 Texas A&M vs. winner of No. 12 South Florida vs. No. 5 Georgia
• Cotton Bowl: No. 3 Indiana vs. winner of No. 11 Georgia Tech vs. No. 6 Mississippi
• Sugar Bowl: No. 2 Alabama vs. winner of No. 10 Louisville at No. 7 Oregon
• Rose Bowl: No. 1 Ohio State vs. winner of No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Texas Tech

---

Bowl Projections After Week 10

Bowl	Date	Matchup
L.A. Bowl	Dec. 13	Washington vs. San Diego State
Salute to Veterans Bowl	Dec. 16	Troy vs. Central Michigan
Cure Bowl	Dec. 17	Liberty vs. James Madison
68 Ventures Bowl	Dec. 17	Marshall vs. Buffalo
Myrtle Beach Bowl	Dec. 19	Southern Miss vs. East Carolina
Gasparilla Bowl	Dec. 19	Temple vs. Texas State
Potato Bowl	Dec. 22	Fresno State vs. Miami (Ohio)
Boca Raton Bowl	Dec. 23	Kennesaw State vs. Coastal Carolina
New Orleans Bowl	Dec. 23	Louisiana Tech vs. Old Dominion
Frisco Bowl	Dec. 23	Kansas vs. Cal
Hawai‘i Bowl	Dec. 24	Navy vs. Hawai‘i
Sports Bowl	Dec. 26	Western Michigan vs. Arkansas State
Rate Bowl	Dec. 26	Baylor vs. UNLV
First Responder Bowl	Dec. 26	Iowa State vs. Cal
Military Bowl	Dec. 27	NC State vs. Tulane
Pinstripe Bowl	Dec. 27	Pitt vs. Iowa
Fenway Bowl	Dec. 27	Wake Forest vs. Memphis
Pop-Tarts Bowl	Dec. 27	BYU vs. Virginia
Arizona Bowl	Dec. 27	Boise State vs. Ohio
New Mexico Bowl	Dec. 27	New Mexico vs. UTSA
Gator Bowl	Dec. 27	Miami vs. Tennessee
Texas Bowl	Dec. 27	TCU vs. Mississippi State
Birmingham Bowl	Dec. 29	Bowling Green vs. Georgia Southern
Independence Bowl	Dec. 30	Kansas State vs. Western Kentucky
Music City Bowl	Dec. 30	Minnesota vs. Missouri
Alamo Bowl	Dec. 30	Houston vs. USC
ReliaQuest Bowl	Dec. 31	Nebraska vs. Oklahoma
Sun Bowl	Dec. 31	Washington State vs. Florida State
Citrus Bowl	Dec. 31	Michigan vs. Texas
Vegas Bowl	Dec. 31	Arizona State vs. Illinois
Armed Forces Bowl	Jan. 2	North Texas vs. UConn
Liberty Bowl	Jan. 2	Cincinnati vs. LSU
Mayo Bowl	Jan. 2	Duke vs. Vanderbilt
Holiday Bowl	Jan. 2	Utah vs. SMU
TBD/Bahamas Bowl	TBD	Toledo vs. Jacksonville State

---

More College Football on Sports Illustrated

Listen to SI’s new college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on SI’s YouTube channel.

feed