Cal, CFP Bowl Projections: Cal Getting a Little More Postseason Love

Oregon State is in more bowl games than Cal in these projections. Miami and Clemson continue to be the ACC's College Football Playoff representatives, according to the 12 sites we cite

Cal wide reciver Mikey Matthews / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Cal’s crushing 44-7 victory over Oregon State apparently convinced some college football experts that the Golden Bears will end up in a bowl game, but not all of them.

We cited nine reputable sites that projected all the bowl pairings this week, and five of them predict that Cal will get a bowl berth. Kyle Bonagura of ESPN projected that the Golden Bears have moved up the Pac-12 bowl ladder to the Las Vegas Bowl.

That’s an improvement over last week, when fewer experts predicted Cal will get to a postseason game.

Remember, teams that were in the Pac-12 in 2023 will go to Pac-12-affiliated bowls this season if they are eligible.  (Pecking order of Pac-12-affiliated bowls is listed at the end of this article.) That bit of information is important when you consider Oregon State’s postseason possibilities. 

The Beavers and Cal are both 4-4, and Cal manhandled Oregon State on Saturday, building a 44-0 lead before the Beavers scored a meaningless touchdown with five minutes left. Yet all nine of our experts project the Beavers to be in a postseason game, while only five predict that Cal will get a bowl berth.

Maybe some experts see Oregon State's remaining games against San Jose State, Air Force, Washington State and Boise State as posing fewer problems than Cal's last four games against Wake Forest, Syracuse, Stanford and SMU. But the Bears have just one ranked opponents remaining (SMU), while Oregon State must face two top-25 foes (Washington State and Boise State).

Moving on.

The same two ACC teams continue to be projected to reach the 12-team College Football Playoff. But it is not unanimous. Eleven of our 12 experts who projected a CFP field placed Miami in the College Football Playoff, and 11 had Clemson in the field. ESPN’s Bonagura had just one ACC team in the CFP, and he left Clemson out. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News also had only one ACC team in, but he left Miami out.

Interestingly, five of the 12 sites not only have Clemson in the CFP field but gave the Tigers a No. 3 seed, which means they would get a first-round bye into the quarterfinals.

Clemson did not play this past week but dropped into a tie for the No. 11 spot in the AP rankings this week.  Thart would seem to make Clemson’s postseason status a little shaky at the moment, but apparently five believe Clemson, not Miami, will win the ACC championship..

It’s worth noting that some of the experts we cited projected what the 12-team field would look like if the selections were made today, while others predicted what the 12 teams would be when the pairings are announced after the conference championship games.

(The first College Football Playoff rankings come out next week, on Tuesday, November 5.)

If Clemson goes on to win the ACC title – and that certainly seems possible – the Tigers would probably get a top-four seed, and Miami – if it reaches the ACC championship game – would probably sneak in with a low seed.

Here’s how our seven experts project Cal’s bowl possibilities and the 12 College Football participants, plus three other sites that projected only the CFP field:

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)

Cal Bowl

Las Vegas Bowl – Cal vs. Vanderbilt

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 -- BYU

First Round

No. 5 – Indiana

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Ohio State

No. 8 – Texas

No. 9 – Notre Dame

No. 10 – Texas A&M

No. 11 – Iowa State

No. 12 – Boise State

.

ESPN (Mark Schlabach)

Cal Bowl

No Cal bowl (Washington in LA Bowl, Baylor and Louisiana in Independence Bowl)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 -- BYU

First Round

No. 5 – Penn State

No. 6 – Ohio State

No. 7 – Texas

No. 8 – Clemson

No. 9 – Indiana

No. 10 – Texas A&M

No. 11 – Nore Dame

No. 12 – Boise State

.

CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)

Cal Bowl

No Cal bowl (USC in LA Bowl, Army and Texas State in Independence Bowl)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Georgia

No. 2 – Ohio State

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Iowa State

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Texas

No. 7 – BYU

No. 8 – Penn State

No. 9 – Texas A&M

No. 10 – Alabama

No. 11 – Clemson

No. 12 – Boise State

.

Action Network (Brett McMurphy)

Cal Bowl

Armed Forces Bowl – Cal vs. West Virginia

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Iowa State

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Texas A&M

No. 7 – Penn State

No 8 – Texas

No. 9 – Clemson

No. 10 – Notre Dame

No. 11 – BYU

No. 12 – Boise State

.

Athlon Sports (Steven Lassan)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Kansas State

First Round

No. 5 – Texas

No. 6 – Ohio State

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Clemson

No. 9 – Notre Dame

No. 10 – Texas A&M

No. 11 – Tennessee

No. 12 – Boise State

.

College Football News

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Ohio State

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Clemson

No. 4 – Boise State

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Notre Dame

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Texas A&M

No. 9 – Texas

No. 10 – Iowa State

No. 11 – BYU

No. 12 -- Miami

.

247 Sports (Brad Crawford)

Cal Bowl

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

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Clemson

No. 4 -- BYU

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Texas

No. 7 – Miami

No. 8 – Penn State

No. 9 – Notre Dame

No. 10 – Texas A&M

No. 11 – Indiana

No. 12 – Boise State

.

USA Today (Erick Smith)

Cal Bowl

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

College Football Playoff

First-Round Bye

Oregon

Georgia

Clemson

Kansas State

First Round

Ohio State

Texas

Penn State

Miami

Texas A&M

Tennessee

Notre Dame

Boise State

.

Bleacher Report (David Kenyon)

Cal Bowl

Gasparilla Bowl – Cal vs. South Carolina

College Football Playoff

First-Round Bye

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Clemson

No. 4 – Iowa State

First Round

No. 5 – Texas

No. 6 – Ohio State

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Notre Dame

No. 9 – Miami

No. 10 – Indiana

No. 11 – Tennessee

No. 12 – Notre Dame

.

San Jose Mercury News (Jon Wilner)

(CFP projections only)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 -- Georgia

No. 2 -- Oregon

No. 3 -- Clemson

No. 4 -- BYU

First Round

No. 5 -- Ohio State

No. 6 -- Texas A&M

.No. 7 -- Penn State

No. 8 -- Texas

No. 9 -- Tennessee

No. 10 -- Notre Dame

No. 11 -- Indiana

No. 12 -- Boise State

.

The Athletic (Steart Mandel)

(CFP projections only)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 -- Georgia

No. 2 -- Oregon

No. 3 -- Miami

No. 4 -- BYU

First Round

No. 5 -- Ohio State

No. 6 -- Penn State

No. 7 -- Texas A&M

No. 8 -- Clemson

No. 9 -- Notre Dame

No. 10 -- LSU

No. 11 -- Texas

No. 12 -- Boise State

.

The Athletic (Austin Mock)

(CFP projections only, based on metrics and algorithms)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 -- Oregon

No. 2 -- Miami

No. 3 -- Georgia

No. 4 -- Kansas State

First Round

No. 5 -- Ohio State

No. 6 -- Penn State

No. 7 -- Notre Dame

No. 8 -- Texas

No. 9 -- Indiana

No. 10 -- Clemson

No. 11 -- Tennessee

No. 12 -- Boise State

.

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

Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport