Alabama had to work for it, but the other three other projected College Football Playoff teams all had laughers Saturday, winning by a combined score of 182-30. As a result, there are no changes to the projection this week.
| College Football Playoff projections | |||
| Bowl | Date | Location | Matchup |
| Peach Bowl | Dec. 31 | Atlanta, Ga. | (1) Alabama vs. (4) Ohio State |
| Fiesta Bowl | Dec. 31 | Glendale, Ariz. | (2) Clemson vs. (3) Washington |
Texas A&M, No. 4 in the first CFP Rankings, took one on the chin, though, falling at Mississippi State and possibly losing quarterback Trevor Knight in the process. The Aggies' problems in Starkville go beyond Knight's injury, and backup Jake Hubenak played reasonably well. The good news for the Aggies is that they are done playing on the road. If they can beat LSU in the season finale, they should still get to the Sugar Bowl.
The SEC East is guaranteed to have a champion with at least two losses after Florida fell at Arkansas. It could be as many as four losses if the Gators lose on the road at LSU and Florida State, and Tennessee, which has faded, loses one more time.
Nebraska fell out of the Cotton Bowl projection after losing to Ohio State 62-3. The Huskers were already down 24-3 in the second quarter when quarterback Tommy Armstrong got knocked out of the game and carted off the field in a scary moment. He did return to the sidelines in the second half in street clothes. His availability going forward is unknown. Penn State replaced Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl projection.
| New Year's Six bowl projections | |||
| Bowl | Date | Location | Matchup |
| Sugar Bowl | Jan. 2 | New Orleans, La. | Oklahoma (Big 12) vs. Texas A&M (SEC) |
| Rose Bowl | Jan. 2 | Pasadena, Calif. | Michigan (Big Ten) vs. Utah (Pac-12) |
| Cotton Bowl | Jan. 2 | Arlington, Tex. | San Diego State (At-large) vs. Penn State (At-large) |
| Orange Bowl | Dec. 30 | Miami, Fla. | Louisville (ACC) vs. Wisconsin |
The Big 12 is down to a single one-loss team after Baylor got drilled at home 62-22 by TCU. You might not be able to partially blame this loss on former coach Art Briles, but it was a day of distractions for the Bears as all the talk was about why the team wore black, why a company was selling #CAB shirts across the street from the stadium and why the assistant coaches sent out a statement of support for their former boss. TCU came ready to play though and Baylor's league title hopes are all but done.
This week's projection has 75 bowl-eligible teams. That number has been holding reasonably steady in the mid-70s for the past few weeks. Last week, I wrote that I did not think Notre Dame would accept a bowl bid at 5-7. After losing to Navy, I don't think that will be a problem for the Irish anymore. The five teams expected to finish 5-7 in this week's bowl projections are Boston College, NC State, Northern Illinois, Utah State and UTEP.
Check out the rest of Jerry Palm's complete set of bowl projections here.