Life as a bowl prognosticator can be difficult. Consider the case of South Carolina as an example.
Before the season, the Gamecocks were considered the best team in the SEC East and given a legit chance to make it into one of the so-called "playoff bowls." Then comes Week 1, when the Gamecocks are blown out by visiting Texas A&M. In Week 2, the Gamecocks muddle past East Carolina. In Week 3, the Gamecocks were to face a Georgia team that blew out Clemson to open the season, and conventional wisdom seemed to be that the Gamecocks would lose to the Bulldogs and thus be destined for a middle-tier bowl. Instead, South Carolina wins -- and finds itself again favored to win the SEC East. In addition, ECU upset Virginia Tech, which was coming off a win at Ohio State, and South Carolina's win over the Pirates suddenly looked a lot better. As for Texas A&M, the Aggies' opening victory in Columbia took on extra meaning because of South Carolina's win over Georgia -- and, in a way, ECU's win at Virginia Tech.
What all this means, of course, is that it is tough to truly get a read on a team until it has played five or six games.
Still, bowl prognosticators must carry on. Here are this week's projections (a fancy way for prognosticators to say "guesses").
Remember that four bowls have been added this season, so when you include the two playoff semifinal games that will be played in bowls, there are 38 bowls. That means 76 teams will be in the postseason -- or 59 percent of the 128 teams in the FBS ranks.
This season, the playoff semifinals are in the Rose and Sugar bowls, meaning the committee also will pick the matchups in the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange and Peach bowls. While there are 12 teams involved in the six games, it's not necessarily the 12 highest-ranked teams by the committee; instead, the highest-ranked team from outside of the "Power Five" conferences is guaranteed a slot in one of the games, even if it falls outside the top 12. (Just don't expect a non-Power Five school to be in a four-team playoff.)
When looking over these bowl projections, remember that a bowl's tie-in with a league doesn't necessarily mean it will get the third- or fourth-, etc., place team from the league; instead, it means it gets the third or fourth, etc., selection from that league. You'll also notice that there is no clear-cut designation for some of the league tie-ins; that's because the leagues and bowl organizers want a lot of leeway to put together what they consider the best possible matchup.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF MATCHUPS
ROSE BOWL
SUGAR BOWL
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
THE OTHER BOWLS
NEW ORLEANS BOWL
ROYAL PURPLE BOWL
NEW MEXICO BOWL
IDAHO POTATO BOWL
CAMELLIA BOWL
MIAMI BEACH BOWL
POINSETTIA BOWL
BOCA RATON BOWL
POPEYE'S BAHAMAS BOWL
HAWAII BOWL
HEART OF DALLAS BOWL
QUICK LANE BOWL
ST. PETERSBURG BOWL
MILITARY BOWL
SUN BOWL
INDEPENDENCE BOWL
PINSTRIPE BOWL
HOLIDAY BOWL
LIBERTY BOWL
RUSSELL ATHLETIC BOWL
TEXAS BOWL
MUSIC CITY BOWL
BELK BOWL
SAN FRANCISCO BOWL
PEACH BOWL
FIESTA BOWL
ORANGE BOWL
CAPITAL ONE BOWL
OUTBACK BOWL
COTTON BOWL
ARMED FORCES BOWL
TAXSLAYER BOWL
ALAMO BOWL
CACTUS BOWL
BIRMINGHAM BOWL
GODADDY.COM BOWL
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
