Cal, CFP Bowl Projections: ACC's Miami Stays in Top Four Despite Narrow Escape

Four of 11 experts don't have Cal in a bowl, but the other seven sites are nearly unanimous on the Bears' postseason destination

Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Cal is not a unanimous pick to get into a bowl, but if the Bears do make it to the postseason, the destination seems set, at least for now. Four of the 11 experts we cited this week predict Cal will not get a bowl berth, but the other seven sites mostly project the Golden Bears (3-2) to be in the LA Bowl, with UNLV as their opponent.

Cal's disappointing 39-38 loss to Miami on Saturday apparently makes the Bears' postseason uncertain heading into Saturday's game at Pitt. But the fact that Miami pulled that game out, despite trailing Cal 35-10 in the third quarter, did not adversely affect the Hurricanes' standing.

Nine of the 10 sites that project a College Football Playoffpredict that Miami will make the 12-team College Football Playoff, and eight of them place the Hurricaes among the four teams that will get first-round byes, most of them assigning Miami the No. 3 seed.

Miami is one of two ACC teams projected by most experts to make the College Football Playoff, with surging Clemson predicted to qualify for the 12-team field in eight of 10 sites. Three sites even projected Clemson to be one of the four teams with a first-round bye.

(For Cal's bowl possibilities, remember that teams that were members of the Pac-12 in 2023 will be assigned to Pac-12-affiliated bowls this year. The pecking order of Pac-12 bowls is listed at the end of this story.)

Here are the bowl projections for Cal and the CFP from the seven experts we cited:

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First Round Byes

No. 1 – Texas

No. 2 – Ohio State

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – BYU

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Alabama

No. 8 – Georgia

No. 9 – Clemson

No. 10 – Iowa State

No. 11 – Boise State

No. 12 – Notre Dame

.

ESPN (Mark Schlabach)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First Round Byes

No. 1 – Texas

No. 2 – Ohio State

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Iowa State

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Georgia

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Alabama

No. 9 – Clemson

No. 10 – Tennessee

No. 11 – Notre Dame

No. 12 – Boise State

.

CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)

Cal Bowl

No Cal bowl (No Pac-12 team in Independence Bowl, Oregon State in LA Bowl)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Texas

No. 2 – Ohio State

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 -- Utah

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Alabama

No. 7 – Georgia

No. 8 – Iowa State

No. 9 – Penn State

No. 10 – Clemson

No. 11 – Texas A&M

No. 12 – Boise State

.

Athlon Sports (Steven Lassan)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First Round Byes

No. 1 – Texas

No. 2 – Ohio State

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 -- Kansas State

First Round

No. 5 – Georgia

No. 6 – Oregon

No. 7 – Alabama

No. 8 – Penn State

No. 9 – Tennessee

No. 10 -- Mississippi

No. 11 – Notre Dame

No. 12 – Boise State

.

Action Network (Brett McMurphy)

Cal Bowl

No Cal bowl (Oregon State in Independence Bowl, Colorado in LA Bowl)

College Football Playoff

First Round Byes

No. 1 – Texas

No. 2 – Ohio State

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Iowa State

First Round

No. 5 – Georgia

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Oregon

No. 8 – Clemson

No. 9 – Mississippi

No. 10 – Alabama

No. 11 – LSU

No. 12 -- Army

.

247 Sports (Brad Crawford)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First Round Byes

No. 1 – Ohio State

No. 2 – Texas

No. 3 – Clemson

No. 4 -- BYU

First Round

No. 5 – Georgia

No. 6 – Oregon

No. 7 – Tennessee

No. 8 – Penn State

No. 9 – Miami

No. 10 – Iowa State

No. 11 – Alabama

No. 12 – Boise State

.

College Football Network (Oliver Hodgkinson)

Cal Bowl

No Cal bowl (Washington State in Independence Bowl, Colorado in LA Bowl)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 -- Texas

No. 2 -- Ohio State

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Boise State

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Georgia

No. 8 – LSU

No. 9 – Mississippi

No. 10 – Notre Dame

No. 11 – Alabama

No. 12 – BYU

.

USA Today (Erick Smith)

Cal Bowl

No Cal bowl (Colorado in LA Bowl, Arizona State in Independence Bowl)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

Texas

Ohio State

Clemson

Kansas State

First Round

Georgia

Oregon

Penn State

Alabama

Notre Dame

Iowa State

Miami

Boise State

.

Bleacher Report (David Kenyon)

Cal Bowl

Gasparilla Bowl (December 26) – Cal vs. Maryland

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Texas

No. 2 -- Oregon

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Iowa State

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Alabama

No. 7 – Georgia

No. 8 – Clemson

No. 9 – Penn State

No. 10 – Tennessee

No. 11 – Mississippi

No. 12 – Boise State

.

College Football News

Cal Bowl

Independence Bowl – Cal vs. BYU

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Ohio State

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Clemson

No. 4 -- Utah

First Round

No. 5 – Utah

No. 6 – Notre Dame

No. 7 – Texas

No. 8 – Michigan

No. 9 – Tennessee

No. 10 – USC

No. 11 – Penn State

No. 12 – Boise State

.

San Jose Mercury News (Jon Wilner)

(Representatives of 2023 Pac-12 only)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl. Comment: The Bears make sense for Los Angeles since they aren’t playing at USC or UCLA during the regular season. But there could be three or four teams with identical records competing for the same handful of bowl slots.

College Football Playoff

Utah

Oregon

.

2024 pecking order of Pac-12-affliated bowls, which applies to teams that were in the Pac-12 in 2023

College Football Playoff

Alamo Bowl (December 28, San Antonio)

Holiday Bowl (December 27, San Diego)

Las Vegas Bowl (December 27, Allegiant Stadium)

Sun Bowl (December 31, El Paso, Texas)

LA Bowl (December 18, SoFi Stadium)

Independence Bowl (December 28, Shreveport, Louisiana)

ESPN bowl pool

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