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
Championship – Jan. 10 (CFP semifinal winners)
Projection: Alabama vs. Clemson
Semifinals
Sugar Bowl – Jan. 1 (CFP semifinal)
Projection: Alabama (No. 1 seed) vs. Notre Dame (No. 4 seed)
Rose Bowl – Jan. 1 (CFP semifinal)
Projection: Clemson (No. 2 seed) vs. Ohio State (No. 3 seed)
New Year’s 6 Bowls
Orange Bowl – Jan. 2 (ACC vs. SEC/Big Ten)
Projection: Miami vs. Texas A&M
Fiesta Bowl – Jan. 2 (at-large vs. at-large)
Projection: USC vs. Indiana
Peach Bowl – Jan. 1 (at-large vs. at-large)
Projection: Georgia vs. Cincinnati*
Cotton Bowl – Dec. 30 (at-large vs. at-large)
Projection: Iowa State vs. Florida
Other Bowls
Gator Bowl – Jan. 2 (ACC vs. SEC)
Projection: NC State vs. Arkansas
Outback Bowl – Jan. 2 (Big Ten vs. SEC)
Projection: Iowa vs. Ole Miss
Birmingham Bowl – Jan. 1 (AAC vs. SEC)
Projection: Tulsa vs. South Carolina
Citrus Bowl – Jan. 1 (Big Ten vs. SEC)
Projection: Northwestern vs. Auburn
Arizona Bowl – Dec. 31 (MAC vs. Mountain West)
Projection: Buffalo vs. Boise State
Armed Forces Bowl – Dec. 31 (SEC vs. Pac-12)
Projection: LSU vs. Oregon
Liberty Bowl – Dec. 31 (Big 12 vs. SEC)
Projection: TCU vs. Kentucky
Texas Bowl – Dec. 31 (Big 12 vs. SEC)
Projection: Oklahoma State vs. Mississippi State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl – Dec. 30 (ACC vs. Big Ten)
Projection: Wake Forest vs. Nebraska
Music City Bowl – Dec. 30 (Big Ten vs. SEC)
Projection: Wisconsin vs. Missouri
Alamo Bowl – Dec. 29 (Big 12 vs. Pac-12)
Projection: Oklahoma vs. Colorado
Cheez-It Bowl – Dec. 29 (ACC vs. Big 12)
Projection: North Carolina vs. Texas
Military Bowl – Dec. 28 (ACC vs. AAC)
Projection: Pitt vs. Navy
Cure Bowl – Dec. 26 (C-USA vs. Sun Belt)
Projection: Marshall vs. Coastal Carolina
First Responder Bowl – Dec. 26 (Group of 5)
Projection: UTSA vs. BYU
Gasparilla Bowl – Dec. 26 (ACC vs. SEC)
Projection: Boston College vs. Tennessee
Guaranteed Rate Bowl – Dec. 26 (Big Ten vs. Big 12)
Projection: Maryland vs. West Virginia
Independence Bowl – Dec. 26 (Army vs. Pac-12)
Projection: Army vs. Washington
LendingTree Bowl – Dec. 26 (MAC/C-USA vs. Sun Belt)
Projection: UAB vs. Georgia State
Camellia Bowl – Dec. 25 (MAC vs. Sun Belt)
Projection: Ball State vs. Louisiana
New Mexico Bowl – Dec. 24 (Mountain West vs. Group of 5)
Projection: San Jose State vs. Houston
**Montgomery Bowl – Dec. 23 (Group of 5)
Projection: Memphis vs. Western Kentucky
New Orleans Bowl – Dec. 23 (C-USA vs. Sun Belt)
Projection: Louisiana Tech vs. Georgia Southern
Boca Raton Bowl – Dec. 22 (ACC vs. AAC)
Projection: Virginia Tech vs. UCF
Idaho Potato Bowl – Dec. 22 (AAC vs. Mountain West)
Projection: Tulane vs. Nevada
Myrtle Beach Bowl – Dec. 21 (C-USA vs. Sun Belt)
Projection: FAU vs. Appalachian State
Frisco Bowl – Dec. 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.