Cal, CFP Bowl Projections: Experts Expect Cal to Be in the LA Bowl

Two ACC teams projected to make the 12-player field for the College Football Playoff

Cal wide receiver Jonathan Brady / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The experts have spoken again, and it’s nearly unanimous this time that they expect Cal to play in the LA Bowl on December 18 and face UNLV of the Mountain West Conference.

At least that’s opinion of nine of the 10 college football experts we cited who made projections for bowl pairings and College Football Playoff berths.

One site – The Sporting News – predicts Cal will wind up in the Holiday Bowl and will face Texas Tech, the same team the Golden Bears faced in last year’s postseason, in the Independence Bowl.  For Cal to wind up in the Holiday Bowl, the Bears would probably need to beat SMU on Saturday in Dallas.

The other nine sites – ESPN (Kyle Bonagura), ESPN (Mark Schlabach), CBS Sports, The Sporting News, USA Today, Athlon Sports, Action Network, 247 Sports, College Football News and College Football Network – all predict that Cal will play UNLV in what is officially called the Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk.  It pits the No. 5 Pac-12 team against the No. 1 Mountain West team, which at this point is predicted to be UNLV after CFP-bound Boise State.  Remember, 2023 members of the Pac-12 will play in Pac-12-affiliated bowl games this season. (The pecking order of Pac-12-affiliated bowls is listed at the end of this article.)

As far as the College Football Playoff is concerned, all 10 sites predict that two ACC teams – Miami and SMU – will be among the 12 teams selected for the postseason national championship tournament.  It’s the first time in several weeks that more than one ACC team is predicted to make the 12-team field.

Nine of the 10 sites project that Miami will be one of the four teams that will get a first-round bye with SMU barely making the field and forced to play a first-round game on the road.  For that scenario to transpire, SMU and Miami probably would have to win this week, and then Miami would have to beat SMU in the ACC championship game, although nothing is certain.

One site, 247 Sports, projects that SMU will get a top-four seed and Miami would be forced to play a first-round game.

The latest CFP rankings will be released on Tuesday, and then again the following Tuesday. The final College Football Playoff rankings and 12-team CFP field will be  announced on Sunday, December 8. The bowl pairings will be announced the same day.

Here are the Cal bowl projections and the College Football Playoff projections from 10 reputable sites:

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Texas

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Boise State

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Notre Dame

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Georgia

No. 9 – Indiana

No. 10 – Tennessee

No. 11 – SMU

No. 12 – Arizona State

.

ESPN (Mark Schlabach)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Miami

No. 3 – Georgia

No. 4 – Boise State

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Notre Dame

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Texas

No. 9 – Tennessee

No. 10 – Indiana

No. 11 – Arizona State

No. 12 -- SMU

.

CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Ohio State

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Boise State

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Texas

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Notre Dame

No. 9 – Indiana

No. 10 – Tennessee

No. 11 – SMU

No. 12 – Arizona State

.

The Sporting News (Bill Bender)

Cal Bowl

Holiday Bowl – Cal vs. Texas Tech

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Texas

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Arizona State

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Notre Dame

No. 8 – Georgia

No. 9 – Indiana

No. 10 – Tennessee

No. 11 – SMU

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 – Boise State

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Texas

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Notre Dame

No. 9 – Indiana

No. 10 – Tennessee

No. 11 – SMU

No. 12 – Arizona State

.

247 Sports (Brad Crawford)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Ohio State

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – SMU

No. 4 – Boise State

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Texas

No. 7 – Notre Dame

No. 8 – Penn State

No. 9 – Indiana

No. 10 – Tennessee

No. 11 – Miami

No. 12 – Arizona State

.

Action Network (Brett McMurphy)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Arizona State

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Notre Dame

No. 7 – Texas

No. 8 – Penn State

No. 9 – Tennessee

No. 10 – Indiana

No. 11 – SMU

No. 12 – Boise State

.

USA Today (Erick Smith)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

Oregon

Georgia

Miami

Arizona State

First Round

Ohio State

Texas

Penn State

Notre Dame

Indiana

Tennessee

SMU

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 – Miami

No. 4 – Arizona State

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Notre Dame

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Indiana

No. 9 – Tennessee

No. 10 – Boise State

No. 11 – Texas

No. 12 -- SMU

.

The College Football Network (Oliver Hodgkinson)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Texas

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Boise State

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Notre Dame

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Georgia

No. 9 – Tennessee

No. 10 – SMU

No. 11 – Indiana

No. 12 – Arizona 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

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