Bowl Projections: The AAC Is Too Strong to Miss the New Year's Six Bowls, but It Might
The American Athletic Conference emerged from Week 2 with multiple impressive Power 5 conquests: USF knocked off Georgia Tech, Houston throttled Arizona and ECU stunned North Carolina. On top of that, Cincinnati spoiled Chip Kelly’s UCLA debut in Week 1, and Tulane and Tulsa scared Wake Forest and Texas, respectively. The conference that produced self-proclaimed national champion UCF a year ago (the Knights look just as good so far in 2018) seems to be deeper than ever and especially deadly at the top ... but it still might not land the Group of Five’s automatic New Year’s Six Bowl invitation.
That’s because Boise State has looked just as good, smashing Troy on the road and UConn at home to set up a Top-25 showdown at Oklahoma State in Week 3. If the Broncos—who already sit above UCF in the AP and Coaches Polls, for the little that’s worth—win in Stillwater, they will lay claim to the most impressive Power 5 skin of any AAC contender and may very likely get the nod over an undefeated or one-loss AAC champion if they run the table in the Mountain West.
The fallout of that outcome from the perspective of this week’s bowl projections: Some mid-tier ACC and SEC bowl teams may be in for an unpleasant surprise when they see a nine- or 10-win AAC team across the field from them in late December. Below, a look at all 39 postseason matchups, with plenty of educated guesses after just two weeks of action:
Dec. 15
New Mexico Bowl, Albuquerque (2 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Mountain West vs. Conference USA
UNLV vs. Southern Miss
AutoNation Cure Bowl, Orlando (2:30 p.m. ET, CBSSN)
American vs. Sun Belt
Tulane vs. Louisiana-Monroe
Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
Pac-12 vs. Mountain West
Colorado vs. Fresno State
Raycom Media Camellia Bowl, Montgomery, Ala. (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Sun Belt vs. MAC
Louisiana vs. Buffalo
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (9 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Sun Belt vs. Conference USA
Arkansas State vs. Louisiana Tech
Dec. 18
Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
American vs. Conference USA
Cincinnati vs. FIU
Dec. 19
Frisco Bowl (8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
American vs. MAC/at-large
Memphis vs. Ohio
Dec. 20
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl, Tampa (8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
American vs. ACC/Conference USA
USF vs. Louisville
Dec. 21
Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl, Nassau (12:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Conference USA vs. MAC
Florida Atlantic vs. Northern Illinois
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Boise (4 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Mountain West vs. MAC
Utah State vs. Eastern Michigan
Dec. 22
Birmingham Bowl (Noon ET, ESPN)
SEC vs. American
Vanderbilt vs. Houston
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, Fort Worth, Texas (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. American
Washington State vs. Navy
Dollar General Bowl, Mobile, Ala. (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
MAC vs. Sun Belt
Akron vs. Georgia Southern
Hawai'i Bowl, Honolulu (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Mountain West vs. Conference USA
Hawai’i vs. Marshall
Dec. 26
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl, Dallas (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big Ten vs. Conference USA
Cal vs. North Texas
Quick Lane Bowl, Detroit (5:15 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big Ten vs. ACC
Army vs. Georgia Tech
Cheez-It Bowl, Phoenix (9 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. Pac-12
Baylor vs. Utah
Dec. 27
Walk-On's Independence Bowl, Shreveport, La. (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
SEC vs. ACC
Appalachian State vs. Wake Forest
New Era Pinstripe Bowl, New York (5:15 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big Ten vs. ACC
Minnesota vs. NC State
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl, Houston (9 p.m., ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. SEC
Kansas State vs. Texas A&M
Dec. 28
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl, Nashville (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten
Florida vs. Virginia Tech
Camping World Bowl, Orlando (5:15 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. ACC
TCU vs. Miami
NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl, Tucson (5:30 p.m. ET, CBSSN)
Mountain West vs. Sun Belt
San Diego State vs. Troy
Valero Alamo Bowl, San Antonio (9 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. Pac-12
Oklahoma State vs. Washington
Dec. 29
Belk Bowl, Charlotte, N.C. (Noon ET, ABC)
SEC vs. ACC
Kentucky vs. Duke
Dec. 31
San Francisco Bowl, Santa Clara, Calif. (3 p.m. ET, Fox)
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Northwestern vs. Arizona State
Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman, Annapolis, Md. (Noon ET, ESPN)
ACC vs. AAC
Florida State vs. UCF
AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Memphis (3:45 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big 12 vs. SEC
Texas vs. Missouri
San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl, San Diego (7 p.m. ET, FS1)
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Michigan vs. Oregon
TaxSlayer Bowl, Jacksonville, Fla, (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten
South Carolina vs. Maryland
Hyundai Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas (2 p.m. ET, CBS)
ACC vs. Pac-12
Boston College vs. USC
Jan. 1
Outback Bowl, Tampa, Fla. (Noon ET, ESPN2)
Big Ten vs. SEC
Michigan State vs. LSU
Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Fla. (1 p.m. ET, ABC)
SEC vs. ACC/Big Ten
Mississippi State vs. Iowa
New Year's Six Bowls
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Atlanta (Dec. 29, Noon ET, ESPN)
At-large vs. At-large
Notre Dame vs. Penn State
PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Ariz. (Jan. 1, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN)
At-large vs. At-large
Auburn vs. Boise State
Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual, Pasadena, Calif. (Jan. 1, 5 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Wisconsin vs. Stanford
Allstate Sugar Bowl, New Orleans (Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m. ET, ESPN)
SEC vs. Big 12
Georgia vs. West Virginia
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Arlington, Texas (Dec. 29, 4 p.m. or 8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
CFP semifinalist vs. CFP semifinalist
Alabama vs. Oklahoma
Capital One Orange Bowl, Miami Gardens, Fla. (Dec. 29, 4 p.m. or 8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
CFP semifinalist vs. CFP semifinalist
Ohio State vs. Clemson
College Football Playoff National Championship, Santa Clara (Jan. 7, 8 p.m., ESPN)
CFP semifinal winner vs. CFP semifinal winner
