Bowl Predictions 2018: Expert Picks for Every Game and the College Football Playoff

Bowl season is the most unpredictable time of year, so of course our experts vary widely on their picks from the Celebration Bowl to the national title game.

Bowl season kicks off on Saturday, and for many fans looking to raise the stakes of every game that doesn’t involve their favorite team, there are widely available pick ’em pools that demand a depth and breadth of college football knowledge. Of course, bowl games are some of the trickiest tests of predictive talent the college football season has to offer. With top players skipping their games to prepare for the NFL draft, coaches switching school colors and the distractions of the early signing period and the long offseason ahead to consider, you never know which team will show up ready to play.

Below, SI’s college football writers and editors fill out their picks for every game of bowl season, from the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta to the national title game in Santa Clara. In keeping with the format of many of the most popular bowl pools, each pick is assigned a number of confidence points, from one (the result the expert is least confident in) to 41 (the result the expert is most confident in); a correct selection earns the picker as many points as he chose to place behind that prediction.

Picks from Andy Staples, Ross Dellenger, Joan Niesen, Laken Litman, Eric Single, Molly Geary, Scooby Axson and Max Meyer. Confidence points in parentheses.