College Football Bowl Projections: Two New Playoff Participants After Week 5

There’s a lot of movement up and down the bowl board this week, including a couple of familiar faces back in the College Football Playoff.

You can, for the time being, welcome Clemson back to the land of the Playoff living in bowl projections. The Tigers showed well in a competent solid win over NC State and it does seem an offensive identity has formed around DJ Uiagalelei, meaning they still seem like the class of the ACC. Elsewhere in South Carolina, those Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are 5–0 and putting the Sun Belt on notice yet again.

All times are Eastern.

College Football Playoff

Peach Bowl, Atlanta (Dec. 31, 4 or 8 p.m., ESPN)
CFP semifinalist vs. CFP semifinalist
Ohio State vs. Alabama

Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Ariz. (Dec. 31, 4 or 8 p.m., ESPN)
CFP semifinalist vs. CFP semifinalist
USC vs. Clemson

New Year’s Six

Orange Bowl, Miami (Dec. 30, 7:30 or 8 p.m., ESPN)
ACC vs. Big Ten/SEC/Notre Dame
Wake Forest vs. Tennessee

Sugar Bowl, New Orleans (Dec. 31, 12 p.m., ESPN)
SEC vs. Big 12
Alabama vs. Kansas

Cotton Bowl, Arlington, Texas (Jan. 2, 1 p.m., ESPN)
At-large vs. at-large
Coastal Carolina vs. Penn State

Rose Bowl, Pasadena (Jan. 2, 5 p.m., ESPN)
Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Michigan vs. Utah

Other key bowls

Dec. 30

Arizona Bowl, Tucson (4:30 p.m., Barstool)
Mountain West vs. MAC
Air Force vs. Buffalo

Dec. 31

Music City Bowl, Nashville (12 p.m., ABC)
Big Ten vs. SEC
Minnesota vs. Ole Miss

Jan. 2

ReliaQuest Bowl, Tampa (12 p.m., ESPN2)
Big Ten/ACC vs. SEC
Syracuse vs. Mississippi State

Citrus Bowl, Orlando (1 p.m., ABC)
SEC vs. Big Ten
Ole Miss vs. Maryland

Watch college football live with fuboTV: Start a free trial today!

Sports Illustrated may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.