Projecting the NY6 Bowls Following Championship Weekend
The last full college football weekend of the season wrapped up on Saturday with conference championships taking place around the country. Here are my latest New Year's Six bowl projections following Saturday's results.
College Football Playoff
- Orange Bowl: Alabama (1) vs Cincinnati (4)
- Cotton Bowl: Michigan (2) vs Georgia (3)
After Alabama's impressive win over Georgia in the SEC championship game, the debate for the top seed will be between Alabama and Michigan. Alabama's win over Georgia gives the Crimson Tide the best win of the college football season so far. Therefore, I believe they will be the top seed.
Cincinnati will be the first group of five team to make the College Football Playoff.
NY6 Bowls
- Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs Utah (locked)
- Peach Bowl: Pitt vs Michigan State
- Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State vs Notre Dame
- Sugar Bowl: Ole Miss vs Baylor (locked)
In this scenario, Michigan State would be the last team in and BYU would be the first team out.
BYU's last NY6 hopes rest in the hands of the College Football Playoff committee. If BYU is going to make a NY6 bowl, the Cougars would need to be ranked ahead of either Oklahoma State or Michigan State in the final CFP rankings.
Unfortunately for BYU fans, it's unlikely that the Cougars will be ranked ahead of either team on Sunday. The committee already ranked Michigan State ahead of BYU last week. The only change in resumes this week is the number of wins over conference champions. Michigan State has one thanks to its victory over Michigan, and BYU has two with wins over Utah and Utah State.
Oklahoma State would have to drop seven spots to no. 12. That would be an unprecedented drop for a team that lost the Big 12 championship by a few inches, literally.
It's most likely that the Cougars will play in either the Independence Bowl or the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
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