College Football Picks Week 15

With the exception of Army vs. Navy, it’s the last week of the college football season.  This week is a mix of regular season finales, and conference championship games.  It is also the annual week where we pick every college football game.

The bowl picture is also taking shape.  It’s about time to start the hash-tag: #BringBacktheBCS.  If you want to see the latest bowl projections, CLICK HERE.

Last Week:  19-7 (.731)

Overall:  280-78 (.782)

UCF vs. East Carolina

Northern Illinois vs. Bowling Green (MAC Championship Game)

#7 Arizona vs. #2 Oregon (Pac-12 Championship Game; This may be a play-in game to the College Football Playoff.)

Louisiana Tech vs. Marshall (Conference USA Championship Game)

Houston vs. Cincinnati

SMU vs. Connecticut (Good luck next year Chad Morris.)

Iowa State vs. #3 TCU

Oklahoma State vs. #20 Oklahoma

#1 Alabama vs. #16 Missouri (SEC Championship Game; It is impressive for Missouri to win the SEC East in its first two seasons in the SEC.)

Temple vs. Tulane

#9 Kansas State vs. #6 Baylor

#4 Florida State vs. #11 Georgia Tech (ACC Championship Game)

#13 Wisconsin vs. #5 Ohio State (Big Ten Championship Game)

Fresno State vs. #22 Boise State (Mountain West Championship Game; All Boise State has to do is win and they are in as the ‘non-power 5’ team in the top bowls.)

Way Too Early 2014-15 Bowl Projections

This year’s college football season starts later this week.  It begins a new era in the sport.

Gone is my preferred way of determining a national champion, the BCS.  In its place, a more popular College Football Playoff.  Four teams will battle for the national title this year.  I think there could have been a nice way to keep everyone happy, by having the top four teams in the aggregated rankings battle in the College Football Playoff.  However, there will be a selection committee, much like college basketball.

With the creation of the College Football Playoff, the overall bowl selection process by the different conferences was redone.  Some conferences kept the same way, while others have gone to a tiered system, and one has gone to the conference champion choosing where it goes.

Nevertheless, I’ve done my best to figure it out, and present some way too early bowl projections.

Note:  It has not been determined which of the semifinal games will be played in which bowl.  In 2014, the rotation awards the games to the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl.  The #1 and #4 ranked teams will be in one game, while the other will be between the second and third ranked teams.  Which bowl will host each game, has not been determined.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF	TEAM	TEAM
Rose Bowl Game Rose Bowl – Pasadena, California Thursday, January 1st 5:00 p.m. – ESPN	#1 Florida State	#4 Wisconsin
Allstate Sugar Bowl Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana Thursday, January 1st 8:30 p.m. – ESPN	#2 Oklahoma	#3 South Carolina
College Football Championship Game AT&T Stadium – Arlington, Texas Monday, January 12th 8:30 p.m. – ESPN	Rose Bowl Game Winner	Allstate Sugar Bowl Winner
OTHER ‘BIG’ BOWLS	TEAM	TEAM
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Georgia Dome – Atlanta, Georgia Wednesday, December 31st 1:00 p.m. – ESPN	Michigan State	Alabama
Fiesta Bowl University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, Arizona Wednesday, December 31st 5:00 p.m. – ESPN	Nebraska	Oregon
Discover Orange Bowl Sun Life Stadium Miami Gardens, Florida Wednesday, December 31st 8:30 p.m. – ESPN	Virginia Tech	Auburn
AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic AT&T Stadium – Arlington, Texas Thursday, January 1st 1:00 p.m. – ESPN	Cincinnati	Stanford
BOWL	TEAM	TEAM
R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana Saturday, December 20th 11:00 am – ESPN	Utah State	Louisiana-Lafayette
Gildan New Mexico Bowl University Stadium Albuquerque, New Mexico Saturday, December 20th 2:20 p.m. – ESPN	UTSA	San Diego State
Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl Sam Boyd Stadium Las Vegas, Nevada Saturday, December 20th 3:30 p.m. – ABC	Boise State	Arizona
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Bronco Stadium – Boise, Idaho Saturday, December 20th 5:45 p.m. – ESPN	Ball State	Nevada
Raycom Media Camellia Bowl Cramton Bowl Montgomery, Alabama Saturday, December 20th 9:15 p.m. – ESPN	Ohio	Arkansas State
Miami Beach Bowl Marlins Park – Miami, Florida Monday, December 22nd 2:00 p.m. – ESPN	BYU	Southern Methodist
Boca Raton Bowl FAU Stadium Boca Raton, Florida Tuesday, December 23rd 6:00 p.m. – ESPN	Middle Tennessee	Toledo
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, California Tuesday, December 23rd 9:30 p.m. – ESPN	Fresno State	Navy
Bahamas Bowl Thomas Robinson Stadium Nassau, Bahamas Wednesday, December 24th 12:00 p.m. – ESPN	Louisiana Tech	Bowling Green
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl Aloha Stadium Honolulu, Hawaii Wednesday, December 24th 8:00 p.m. – ESPN	Rice	Colorado State
Heart of Dallas Bowl Cotton Bowl Stadium Dallas, Texas Friday, December 26th 1:00 p.m. – ESPN	Texas Tech	Marshall
Detroit Lions Bowl Ford Field – Detroit, Michigan Friday, December 26th 4:30 p.m. – ESPN	Kent State	North Carolina State
BITCOIN St. Petersburg Bowl Tropicana Field St. Petersburg, Florida Friday, December 26th 8:00 p.m. – ESPN	Duke	UCF
Military Bowl Navy-Marine Corps. Stadium Annapolis, Maryland Saturday, December 27th 1:00 p.m. – ESPN	Pittsburgh	South Florida
Hyundai Sun Bowl Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso, Texas Saturday, December 27th 2:00 p.m. – CBS	Georgia Tech	Arizona State
Duck Commander Independence Bowl Independence Stadium Shreveport, Louisiana Saturday, December 27th 4:00 p.m. – ESPN2	Miami (FL)	Florida Atlantic
New Era Pinstripe Bowl Yankee Stadium Bronx, New York Saturday, December 27th 4:30 p.m. – ESPN	Notre Dame	Buffalo
National University Holiday Bowl Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, California Saturday, December 27th 8:00 p.m. – ESPN	Rutgers	Washington
AutoZone Liberty Bowl Liberty Bowl Memphis, Tennessee Monday, December 29th 2:00 p.m. – ESPN	Baylor	Florida
Russell Athletic Bowl Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, Florida Monday, December 29th 5:30 p.m. – ESPN	Louisville	Texas
AdvoCare Texas Bowl NRG Stadium – Houston, Texas Monday, December 29th 9:00 p.m. – ESPN	West Virginia	Vanderbilt
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl LP Field – Nashville, Tennessee Tuesday, December 30th 3:00 p.m. – ESPN	Michigan	Georgia
Belk Bowl Bank of America Stadium Charlotte, North Carolina Tuesday, December 30th 6:30 p.m. – ESPN	Clemson	Mississippi State
San Francisco Bowl Levi’s Stadium Santa Clara, California Tuesday, December 30th 10:00 p.m. – ESPN	Minnesota	UCLA
Capital One Bowl Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, Florida Thursday, January 1st 1:00 p.m. – ABC	Iowa	LSU
Outback Bowl Raymond James Stadium Tampa, Florida Thursday, January 1st 1:00 p.m. – ESPN2	Ohio State	Texas A&M
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, Texas Friday, January 2nd 12:00 p.m. – ESPN	Kansas State	Connecticut
TaxSlayer Bowl EverBank Field Jacksonville, Florida Friday, January 2nd 3:20 p.m. – ESPN	North Carolina	Missouri
Valero Alamo Bowl Alamodome San Antonio, Texas Friday, January 2nd 6:45 p.m. – ESPN	Oklahoma State	USC
Cactus Bowl Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, Arizona Friday, January 2nd 10:15 p.m. – ESPN	TCU	Oregon State
Birmingham Bowl Legion Field Birmingham, Alabama Saturday, January 3rd 1:00 p.m. – ESPN/ESPN2	Ole Miss	Houston
GoDaddy Bowl Ladd-Peebles Stadium Mobile, Alabama Sunday, January 4th 9:00 p.m. – ESPN	Northern Illinois	Louisiana-Monroe

 

Disclaimer:  I have come up with these projections on my own, based on predicting each team’s record for the upcoming season.  Any likenesses to the real experts is purely coincidental.  If you wish to share, please give credit to where credit is due.