Pac-12 Bowl Projections: Two Experts Put USC in College Football Playoff

It's two weeks into the college football season, which means bowl projections are little more than guesses.

Nonetheless, it's noteworthy that six of the seven experts we cited have at least eight Pac-12 teams getting bowl berths and one has nine Pac-12 teams reaching the postseason.

Two of the seven -- ESPN' Kyle Bonagura and College Football News -- predict that USC will be one of the four teams in the College Football Playoff. That represents rare optimism for the Pac-12, which has not had a team in the CFP since the 2016 season.

However, USC will be leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024, and the Trojans already have the look of a team from outside the Pac-12 with a host of transfers, including quarterback Caleb Williams and head coach Lincoln Riley, both of whom were at Oklahoma last season.

Four of the seven sites predict the Pac-12 will get two teams into the six major bowls, and four of them project Utah to be the conference's Rose Bowl representative for the second straight year.

Four of the experts predict that Cal will wind up in a bowl. ESPN's Mark Schlabach projects that Cal will face Boise State in the LA Bowl; Jerry Palm of CBS Sports pegs the Golden Bears to play SMU in the First Responder Bowl; College Football News predicts Cal will land in the Gasparilla Bowl against Duke; and Brad Crawford of 247 Sports says Cal will play SMU in the Armed Forces Bowl.

Stanford and Colorado are the only Pac-12 schools that are not projected to earn bowl berths at any of the seven sites.

The bowls with tie-ins to the Pac-12 and their pecking order as well as their dates and sites are provided at the end of this report.

Here are the Pac-12 bowl projections from seven experts:

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinal): USC vs. Georgia

Rose Bowl – Utah vs. Michigan

Alamo Bowl – Oregon vs. Texas

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington State vs. Florida

Holiday Bowl – Oregon State vs. North Carolina State

Sun Bowl – Washington vs. North Carolina

LA Bowl – UCLA vs. Air Force

Birmingham Bowl – Arizona vs. LSU

ESPN (Mark Schlabach)

Rose Bowl – USC vs. Michigan

Alamo Bowl – Utah vs. Baylor

Las Vegas Bowl – UCLA vs. Texas A&M

Holiday Bowl – Oregon vs. Wake Forest

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Notre Dame

LA Bowl – Cal vs. Boise State

Frisco Bowl – Washington State vs. Wyoming

Independence Bowl – Washington vs. Louisiana

CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)

Rose Bowl – Utah vs. Michigan

Cotton Bowl – USC vs. Marshall

Alamo Bowl – Oregon vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington vs. Mississippi State

Holiday Bowl – UCLA vs. Miami (Fla.)

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Wake Forest

LA Bowl – Washington State vs. Fresno State

First Responder Bowl – Cal vs. SMU

College Football News

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinal) – USC vs. Georgia

Rose Bowl – Utah vs. Michigan

Alamo Bowl – Oregon vs. Oklahoma

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington State vs. Mississippi State

Holiday Bowl – Washington vs. North Carolina State

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. North Carolina

LA Bowl – UCLA vs. Fresno State

Gasparilla Bowl – Cal vs. Duke

First Responder Bowl – Arizona State vs. Texas Tech

Action Network (Brett McMurphy)

Rose Bowl – USC vs. Michigan State

Alamo Bowl – Utah vs. Baylor

Las Vegas Bowl – Oregon vs. Mississippi

Holiday Bowl – Oregon State vs. Florida State

Sun Bowl – UCLA vs. Wake Forest

LA Bowl – Washington vs. Air Force

First Responder Bowl – Washington State vs. Texas Tech

Armed Forces Bowl – Arizona State vs. SMU

USA Today (Erick Smith)

Rose Bowl – Utah vs. Michigan

Alamo Bowl – USC vs. Texas

Las Vegas Bowl – Oregon vs. Mississippi State

Holiday Bowl – UCLA vs. Wake Forest

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Pittsburgh

LA Bowl – Washington vs. Fresno State

First Responder Bowl – Washington State vs. Kansas

247 Sports (Brad Crawford)

Rose Bowl – USC vs. Michigan

Cotton – Utah vs. Cincinnati

Alamo Bowl – Oregon vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington vs. Mississippi State

Holiday Bowl – UCLA vs. North Carolina

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Virginia

LA Bowl – Washington State vs. Boise State

Armed Forces Bowl – Cal vs. SMU

Here are the bowls with Pac-12 tie-ins, listed in their pecking order:

College Football Playoff semifinals (if a Pac-12 team finishes among the top four teams in the final College Football Playoff rankings): Peach Bowl, Dec. 31, 1 p.m. Pacific time or 5 p.m. Pacific time, Atlanta Ga., ESPN, and Fiesta Bowl, Dec. 31, 1 p.m. Pacific time or 5 p.m. Pacific time, Glendale, Ariz., ESPN.

1. Rose Bowl: Jan. 2, 2 p.m. Pacific time, Pasadena, Calif., ESPN – Pac-12 vs. Big Ten.

1A. New Year's Six Bowls -- A Pac-12 team could qualify for one of the other three New Year's Six Bowls -- Orange Bowl on Dec. 30, Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2, Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31.

2. Alamo Bowl: Dec. 29, 6 p.m. Pacific time, San Antonio, Texas, ESPN – Pac-12 vs. Big 12.

3. Las Vegas Bowl: Dec. 17, 4:30 p.m. Pacific time, Las Vegas, ABC – Pac-12 vs. SEC

4. Holiday Bowl: Dec. 28, 5 p.m. Pacific time, San Diego, FOX/FS1 – Pac-12 vs. ACC

5. Sun Bowl: Dec. 30, 11 a.m. Pacific time, El Paso, Texas, CBS – Pac-12 vs. Notre Dame/ACC

6. LA Bowl: Dec. 17, 12:30 p.m. Pacific time, Inglewood, Calif., ABC – Pac-12 vs. Mountain West.

First Responder Bowl -- The Pac-12 might occupy a spot in this Dec. 27 bowl in University Park, Texas, against a team from the ACC, American Athletic or Big 12.

Gasparilla Bowl -- The Pac-12 might fill an opening in this Dec. 23 bowl in Tampa, Fla., against a team from the Big 12, ACC or SEC.

Armed Forces Bowl -- The Pac-12 could get a berth in this Dec. 22 bowl in Fort Worth Texas.

Cover photo of Utah's Jaylon Glover is by Rob Gray, USA TODAY Sports

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