Brett McMurphy’s College Football Bowl Projections: Dec. 8

We’ve had another bowl casualty as the Los Angeles Bowl, which wasn’t expected to debut this season, made it official and announced it won’t be played this year.

That game was slated to pair a Pac-12 team against the Mountain West champion. Without the LA Bowl, the Mountain West champion will now play in the Arizona Bowl, sources told Stadium.

It also reduces the number of Pac-12 bowls to four (the league started the year with eight), and that’s after the Pac-12 just added a one-year deal to play the SEC in the Armed Forces Bowl. The Mountain West’s bowl lineup is now down to only three games.

The LA Bowl is the 10th FBS bowl that has been canceled this year, dropping the overall number of bowls to 33 (not including the College Football Playoff title game). Even though we’re now less than two weeks from Selection Sunday, we could see more bowls canceled.

Onto my bowl projections entering Tuesday night’s release of the latest College Football Playoff rankings:

College Football Playoff

ChampionshipJan. 10 (CFP semifinal winners)
Projection: Alabama vs. Clemson

Semifinals
Sugar BowlJan. 1 (CFP semifinal)
Projection: Alabama (No. 1 seed) vs. Notre Dame (No. 4 seed)

Rose BowlJan. 1 (CFP semifinal)
Projection: Clemson (No. 2 seed) vs. Ohio State (No. 3 seed)

New Year’s 6 Bowls

Orange BowlJan. 2 (ACC vs. SEC/Big Ten)
Projection: Miami vs. Texas A&M

Fiesta BowlJan. 2 (at-large vs. at-large)
Projection: USC vs. Indiana

Peach BowlJan. 1 (at-large vs. at-large)
Projection: Georgia vs. Cincinnati*

Cotton BowlDec. 30 (at-large vs. at-large)
Projection: Iowa State vs. Florida

Other Bowls

Gator BowlJan. 2 (ACC vs. SEC)
Projection: NC State vs. Arkansas

Outback BowlJan. 2 (Big Ten vs. SEC)
Projection: Iowa vs. Ole Miss

Birmingham BowlJan. 1 (AAC vs. SEC)
Projection: Tulsa vs. South Carolina

Citrus Bowl Jan. 1 (Big Ten vs. SEC)
Projection: Northwestern vs. Auburn

Arizona BowlDec. 31 (MAC vs. Mountain West)
Projection: Buffalo vs. Boise State

Armed Forces BowlDec. 31 (SEC vs. Pac-12)
Projection: LSU vs. Oregon

Liberty BowlDec. 31 (Big 12 vs. SEC)
Projection: TCU vs. Kentucky

Texas BowlDec. 31 (Big 12 vs. SEC)
Projection: Oklahoma State vs. Mississippi State

Duke’s Mayo BowlDec. 30 (ACC vs. Big Ten)
Projection: Wake Forest vs. Nebraska

Music City BowlDec. 30 (Big Ten vs. SEC)
Projection: Wisconsin vs. Missouri

Alamo BowlDec. 29 (Big 12 vs. Pac-12)
Projection: Oklahoma vs. Colorado

Cheez-It BowlDec. 29 (ACC vs. Big 12)
Projection: North Carolina vs. Texas

Military Bowl Dec. 28 (ACC vs. AAC)
Projection: Pitt vs. Navy

Cure BowlDec. 26 (C-USA vs. Sun Belt)
Projection: Marshall vs. Coastal Carolina

First Responder BowlDec. 26 (Group of 5)
Projection: UTSA vs. BYU

Gasparilla BowlDec. 26 (ACC vs. SEC)
Projection: Boston College vs. Tennessee

Guaranteed Rate BowlDec. 26 (Big Ten vs. Big 12)
Projection: Maryland vs. West Virginia

Independence BowlDec. 26 (Army vs. Pac-12)
Projection: Army vs. Washington

LendingTree BowlDec. 26 (MAC/C-USA vs. Sun Belt)
Projection: UAB vs. Georgia State

Camellia BowlDec. 25 (MAC vs. Sun Belt)
Projection: Ball State vs. Louisiana

New Mexico BowlDec. 24 (Mountain West vs. Group of 5)
Projection: San Jose State vs. Houston

**Montgomery BowlDec. 23 (Group of 5)
Projection: Memphis vs. Western Kentucky

New Orleans BowlDec. 23 (C-USA vs. Sun Belt)
Projection: Louisiana Tech vs. Georgia Southern

Boca Raton BowlDec. 22 (ACC vs. AAC)
Projection: Virginia Tech vs. UCF

Idaho Potato BowlDec. 22 (AAC vs. Mountain West)
Projection: Tulane vs. Nevada

Myrtle Beach BowlDec. 21 (C-USA vs. Sun Belt)
Projection: FAU vs. Appalachian State

Frisco BowlDec. 19 (AAC vs. C-USA)
Projection: SMU vs. UTEP

Bowls that have been canceled this year:
•Bahamas Bowl
•Fenway Bowl
•Hawaii Bowl
•Holiday Bowl
•Las Vegas Bowl
•Los Angeles Bowl
•Redbox Bowl
•Pinstripe Bowl
•Quick Lane Bowl
•Sun Bowl


Teams in bold have already officially accepted bid.

*The highest rated champion from the Group of Five conferences (American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt) will be selected to play in either the Cotton, Fiesta or Peach Bowl.

**Replacing Fenway Bowl for this season only.