Week 12 Bowl Projections

Just for fun, what would happen if we had a little chaos down the stretch of the 2019 season? Along those lines, this week's projections are done assuming there are three upsets in the final two weeks: Michigan over Ohio State, Auburn over Alabama, and Georgia over LSU in the SEC Championship Game.

Under that scenario, I predict the below would be the final College Football Playoff rankings. Keep in mind the requirement for being selected for an at-large selection to a New Year's Six bowl game is to be in the top 12. I stopped at the highest-rated Group of Five team, which also earns an automatic bid to the New Year's Six.

1) Georgia
2) Ohio State
3) LSU
4) Clemson
5) Utah
6) Oklahoma
7) Oregon
8) Michigan
9) Alabama
10) Minnesota
11) Florida
12) Penn State
13) Notre Dame
14) Auburn
15) Wisconsin
16) Iowa
17) Memphis

These final rankings would result in the following Big Ten/New Year's Six bowl matchups:

Peach Bowl National Semifinal
No.4 Clemson (13-0) vs. No.1 Georgia (12-1)

Fiesta Bowl National Semifinal
No.3 LSU (12-1) vs. No.2 Ohio State (12-1)

Rose Bowl
*Michigan (10-2) vs. Utah (12-1)

Sugar Bowl
Alabama (10-2) vs. Oklahoma (12-1)

Orange Bowl
Virginia (9-4) vs. Minnesota (11-2)**

Cotton Bowl
Memphis (12-1) vs. Oregon (11-2)

Citrus Bowl
Wisconsin (9-3) vs. Florida (10-2)

Outback Bowl
Auburn (9-3) vs. Penn State (10-2)

Holiday Bowl
USC (7-5) vs. Iowa (9-3)

Taxslayer Bowl
Texas A&M (7-5) vs. Indiana (8-4)

Pinstripe Bowl
Florida State (6-6) vs. Michigan State (6-6)

Redbox Bowl
California (6-6) vs. Illinois (7-5)

*=The Rose Bowl selects the highest ranked teams in the Big Ten/Pac-12, if one or both the conferences has a team in the College Football Playoff.

**=The Orange Bowl selects the highest ranked team among the SEC/Big Ten/Notre Dame to play either the ACC champion, or the highest ranked ACC team if that league's champion is in the College Football Playoff.

Many of the Big Ten's bowl current bowl agreements restrict a team from playing in the game more than once in a five-year window, and that was accounted for in these projections.