Cal, CFP Bowl Projections: Just One ACC Team in 12-Team Playoff

Five of the nine experts we cite predict Cal will be in a bowl game. The first CFP rankings come out Tuesday

Miami Hurricanes wide receiver Xavier Restrepo / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The first College Football Playoff rankings will be announced Tuesday, so a lot of the guess work will be completed.

But nearly all the experts we cited this week project that the ACC will have only one team in the 12-team playoff for the national championship.

Clemson, which was projected to be in the College Football Playoff by all the sites last week, is not among the 12 projected CFP teams on any of the11 sites this week after losing to Louisville on Saturday.

Ten of the 11 sites that projected a CFP field have Miami as the only representative in the 12-team playoff.  One expert – Mark Schlabach of ESPN – projected that a second ACC team, SMU, would also make the CFP field as the No. 11 seed.

As for Cal, five of the nine sites that project pairings for every bowl had the Bears in a bowl game. But there was no agreement on which bowl that might be.  One placed Cal in the Las Vegas Bowl, one had Cal in the Armed Forces Bowl, a third site put the Bears in the Independence Bowl, the fourth projected Cal would be in the LA Bowl, and the fifth had the Bears in the Alamo Bowl.

What is interesting is that seven of the nine sites predicted Oregon State would get into a bowl, even though the Beavers have the same record as Cal (4-4) and lost to the Golden Bears 44-7 in their most recent game.

Cal had a bye this past weekend and faces Wake Forest in a Friday night game in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, this week.

(Remember, 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-affiliated bowls is listed at the end of this report.)

Here are the projections of nine reputable sites that predict pairings for every bowl, plus two other sites that project only the College Football Playoff teams:

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)

Cal Bowl

Las Vegas Bowl – Cal vs. Missouri

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 – Ohio State

No. 7 – Texas

No. 8 – Notre Dame

No. 9 – Tennessee

No. 10 – Penn State

No. 11 – Boise State

No. 12 -- Alabama

.

ESPN (Mark Schlabach)

Cal Bowl

No Cal bowl (Washington in LA Bowl, Louisiana vs. Cincinnati 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 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Texas

No. 7 – Indiana

No. 8 – Penn State

No. 9 – Notre Dame

No. 10 – Tennessee

No. 11 – SMU

No. 12 – Boise State

.

CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)

Cal Bowl

No Cal bowl (USC in LA Bowl, Oregon 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 – Alabama

No. 10 – Notre Dame

No. 11 – Tennessee

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 Byes

Oregon

Georgia

Miami

BYU

First Round

Ohio State

Penn State

Tennessee

Texas

Indiana

Notre Dame

Alabama

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 -- BYU

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Texas

No. 7 – Notre Dame

No. 8 – Indiana

No. 9 – Texas A&M

No. 10 – Penn State

No. 11 – Boise State

No. 12 -- Tennessee

.

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 -- BYU

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Texas

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Notre Dame

No. 9 – Tennessee

No. 10 – Indiana

No. 11 – Alabama

No. 12 – Boise State

.

College Football on SI (Patrick Andres)

Cal Bowl

Alamo Bowl – Cal vs. Iowa State

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – BYU

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Texas

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Tennessee

No. 9 – Indiana

No. 10 – Notre Dame

No. 11 – Alabama

No. 12 – Boise State

.

247 Sports (Brad Crawford)

Cal Bowl

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

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No.2 – Georgia

No. 3 – BYU

No. 4 -- Miami

First Round

No. 5 – Texas

No. 6 – Ohio State

No. 7 – Notre Dame

No. 8 – Penn State

No. 9 – Indiana

No. 10 – Tennessee

No. 11 – Alabama

No. 12 – Boise State

.

College Football News

Cal Bowl

Independence Bowl – Cal vs. Memphis

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 – Notre Dame

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Kansas State

No. 9 – Texas A&M

No. 10 – Texas

No. 11 – Indiana

No. 12 -- Tennessee

.

The Athletic (Stewart Mandel)

(CFP projections only)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Georgia

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 -- BYU

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Texas

No. 7 – Notre Dame

No. 8 – Penn State

No. 9 – LSU

No. 10 – Indiana

No. 11 – Tennessee

No. 12 – Boise State

.

The Athletic (Austin Mock)

(CFP projection only, based on metrics and algorithms)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Miami

No. 3 – Georgia

No. 4 -- BYU

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Notre Dame

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Indiana

No. 9 – Texas

No. 10 – Tennessee

No. 11 – Alabama

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

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