Cal, CFP Bowl Projections: Most Experts Say Cal Headed to LA Bowl

Ten sites we cited still predict that just one ACC team will be in the College Football Playoff

Cal running back Jaivian Thomas / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Cal's loss to Syracuse on Saturday did not hurt the Bears' chances of getting to a bowl game very much. At least that is the opinion of the eight experts we cited who projected pairings for all the bowl games.

Last week, every site projected Cal would get to a bowl game. This week, all but one site predicted the Bears would earn a postseason berth. Of the seven experts that projected Cal would get to a bowl, five of them predicted that Cal would land in the LA Bowl, and most of them predicted that UNLV would be the Bears' opponent in that game.

One site (CBS Sports) projected that Cal will go to the Sun Bowl, another site (College Football News) suggests Cal will be in the Sun Bowl, and one expert (The Sporting News) does not expect the Bears to land in any bowl.

Cal is 5-5 so it needs to win one of its two remaining game, against Stanford and SMU, to become bowl-eligible. There is an outside chance that Cal could earn a bowl berth with just five wins if there are not enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all the bowl vacancies.

(Remember, teams that were Pac-12 members in 2023 will be assigned to Pac-12-affiliated bowls this season. A pecking order of Pac-12-affiliated bowls appears at the end of this article.)

As for the College Football Playoff projections, all 10 of the experts we cited who predict the 12-team CFP field have just one ACC team in the field. Nine of the experts believe that Miami will be the ACC representative and will get a top-four seed to earn a first-round bye in the CFP. One site (College Football News) projects that Clemson will be the ACC's CFP representative but will only get a No. 12 seed and would not get a first-round bye.

Interesingly, none of the sites projects that SMU, which is alone in first place in the ACC, will get the conference's berth in the College Football Playpoff.

Here are the eight sites that project Cal's bowl destination and the College Football Playoff qualifiers, plus two more sites that project only the 12-team College Football Playoff field:

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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 – Penn State

No. 7 – Indiana

No. 8 – Notre Dame

No. 9 – Alabama

No. 10 – Mississippi

No. 11 – Georgia

No. 12 -- BYU

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ESPN (Mark Schlabach)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. Colorado State

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Texas

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 -- Colorado

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Indiana

No. 7 – Penn State

No. 8 – Alabama

No. 9 – Mississippi

No. 10 – Georgia

No. 11 – Notre Dame

No. 12 – Boise State

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CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)

Cal Bowl

Sun Bowl – Cal vs. Duke

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Ohio State

No. 2 – Alabama

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Boise State

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Georgia

No. 8 – Texas

No. 9 – Indiana

No. 10 – Notre Dame

No. 11 – Tennessee

No. 12 -- Colorado

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The Sporting News (Bill Bender)

Cal Bowl

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

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Texas

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 -- BYU

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Indiana

No. 8 – Notre Dame

No. 9 – Alabama

No. 10 – Mississippi

No. 11 – Georgia

No. 12 – Boise State

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Athlon Sports (Steven Lassan)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Texas

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 -- Colorado

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Notre Dame

No. 8 – Alabama

No. 9 – Mississippi

No. 10 – Georgia

No. 11 – Indiana

No. 12 – Boise State

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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 – Miami

No. 4 -- Colorado

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Notre Dame

No. 7 – Indiana

No. 8 – Mississippi

No. 9 – Penn State

No. 10 – Georgia

No. 11 – Alabama

No. 12 – Boise State

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Action Network (Brett McMurphy)

Cal Bowl

LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Texas

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 -- Colorado

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Notre Dame

No. 8 – Alabama

No. 9 – Mississippi

No. 10 – Georgia

No. 11 – Indiana

No. 12 – Boise State

.

College Football News

Cal Bowl

Las Vegas Bowl – Cal vs. Arkansas

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Ohio State

No. 2 – Alabama

No. 3 – Colorado

No. 4 – Boise State

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Notre Dame

No. 8 – Indiana

No. 9 – Mississippi

No. 10 – Georgia

No. 11 – Texas A&M

No. 12 -- Clemson

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The Athletic (Austin Mock)

(College Football Playoff projections only, based on metrics and algorithms)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Oregon

No. 2 – Texas

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Colorado

First Round

No. 5 – Ohio State

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Georgia

No. 8 – Indiana

No. 9 – Notre Dame

No. 10 – Mississippi

No. 11 – Alabama

No. 12 – Boise State

.

The Athletic (Stewart Mandel)

(College Football Playoff projections only)

College Football Playoff

First-Round Byes

No. 1 – Ohio State

No. 2 – Alabama

No. 3 – Miami

No. 4 – Colorado

First Round

No. 5 – Oregon

No. 6 – Penn State

No. 7 – Georgia

No. 8 – Texas

No. 9 – Notre Dame

No. 10 – Indiana

No. 11 – Mississippi

No. 12 – Boise State

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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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