Pac-12 Bowl Projections: USC, Oregon, UCLA Picked for Rose Bowl

One of our 12 experts still has a Pac-12 team in the College Football Playoff. All national semifinal pairings listed

Our 12 college football experts still can't reach a consensus as to which team will represent the Pac-12 in the Rose Bowl.  USC, UCLA and Oregon are each picked by at least one of the 12 sites we cited as the Pac-12 team that will be in the Rose Bowl. But Utah, the team that beat USC on Saturday, is not projected to be in the Rose Bowl by any of them.

The most interesting team is Oregon, which is predicted to be in five different bowl games.  One site projects the Ducks will be in the College Football Playoff national semifinals in the Fiesta Bowl.  Two others have the Ducks in the Rose Bowl. Four others have Oregon going to the Cotton Bowl. Three sites put the Ducks in the Holiday Bowl. And two have Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Oregon's postseason destination might become a little clearer after it plays UCLA this Saturday in Eugene, Oregon.

Three of the experts project that Cal will get a bowl bid despite the poor performances by the Bears' offense in losses the past two games against Washington State and Colorado. That dropped Cal's record to 3-3 with the difficult part of the schedule still to come.

ESPN's Kyle Bonagura predicts that Cal will land in the Independence Bowl against Louisiana (the one in Lafayette, La., known as the Ragin' Cajuns), Pro Football Network's Oliver Hodgkinson puts Cal in the LA Bowl against Boise State, and Erick Smith of USA Today places Cal in the First Responder Bowl against Baylor..

Every Pac-12 school except Colorado and Arizona State is projected to be in a bowl by at least one of our experts.

With the season now half over, we included the projected pairings for all the College Football Playoff national semifinal games, even though a Pac-12 team is included in only one of them: College Football News puts Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State.

The bowls with Pac-12 tie-ins and the dates and venues for those games are listed at the end of the story.

Here are the nine bowl projections:

.

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Georgia vs. TCU

Fiesta Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Ohio State vs. Clemson

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Michigan

Cotton Bowl – Utah vs. Cincinnati

Alamo Bowl – USC vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington vs. Mississippi State

Holiday Bowl – Oregon vs. North Carolina State

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Pittsburgh

LA Bowl – Washington State vs. Boise State

Independence Bowl – Cal vs. Louisiana

.

ESPN (Mark Schlabach)

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Georgia vs. Clemson

Fiesta Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Ohio State vs. Tennessee

Rose Bowl – Oregon vs. Michigan

Cotton Bowl – UCLA vs. Cincinnati

Alamo Bowl – USC vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington vs. Mississippi State

Holiday Bowl – Utah vs. Pittsburgh

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Notre Dame

LA Bowl – Washington State vs. Boise State

.

CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Georgia vs. Tennessee

Fiesta Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Ohio State vs. Clemson

Rose Bowl – USC vs. Michigan

Cotton Bowl – Oregon vs. Cincinnati

Alamo Bowl – UCLA vs. TCU

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington vs. LSU

Holiday Bowl – Utah vs. Miami-Fla.

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Syracuse

LA Bowl – Washington State vs. Boise State

.

College Football News

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Clemson vs. Georgia

Fiesta Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Oregon vs. Ohio State

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Michigan

Cotton Bowl – USC vs. Cincinnati

Alamo Bowl – Oregon State vs. Texas

Las Vegas Bowl – Stanford vs. Mississippi State

Holiday Bowl – Utah vs. Florida State

Sun Bowl – Washington State vs. Miami-Fla.

LA Bowl – Washington vs. San Jose State

.

247 Sports (Brad Crawford)

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Georgia vs. Clemson

Fiesta Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Ohio State vs. Tennessee

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Michigan

Cotton Bowl – USC vs. Cincinnati

Alamo Bowl – Utah vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington State vs. Texas A&M

Holiday Bowl – Oregon vs. Florida State

Sun Bowl – Washington vs. Miami-Fla.

LA Bowl – Oregon State vs. San Jose State

.

Pro Football Network (Oliver Hodgkinson)

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Georgia vs. Michigan

Fiesta Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Ohio State vs. Tennessee

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Penn State

Alamo Bowl – USC vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Oregon State vs. Maryland

Holiday Bowl – Oregon vs. Georgia Tech

Sun Bowl – Utah vs. Miami-Fla.

LA Bowl – Cal vs. Boise State

Gasparilla Bowl – Washington vs. Central Florida

.

Athlon Sports (Steven Lassan)

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Georgia vs. Clemson

Fiesta Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Tennessee vs. Ohio State

Rose Bowl – USC vs. Michigan

Cotton Bowl – Oregon vs. Cincinnati

Alamo Bowl – UCLA vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Utah vs. Mississippi State

Holiday Bowl – Washington vs. North Carolina

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Florida State

LA Bowl – Washington State vs. Boise State

.

Action Network (Brett McMurphy)

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Ohio State vs. Clemson

Fiesta Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Georgia vs. Tennessee

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Michigan

Alamo Bowl – Utah vs. Kansas State

Las Vegas Bowl – Oregon vs. Mississippi State

Holiday Bowl – USC vs. North Carolina

Sun Bowl – Washington vs. Florida State

LA Bowl – Washington State vs. Boise State

First Responder Bowl – Oregon State vs. Nebraska

.

The Sporting News (Bill Bender)

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Georgia vs. Clemson

Fiesta Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Ohio State vs. Tennessee

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Michigan

Cotton Bowl – Oregon vs. Cincinnati

Alamo Bowl – Utah vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Washington vs. Arkansas

Holiday Bowl – USC vs. North Carolina

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Duke

LA Bowl – Arizona vs. UNLV

First Responder Bowl – Washington State vs. Texas Tech

.

USA Today (Erick Smith)

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Georgia vs. Tennessee

Fiesta Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Ohio State vs. Clemson

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Michigan

Cotton Bowl – Oregon vs. Cincinnati

Alamo Bowl – USC vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Oregon State vs. Florida

Holiday Bowl – Utah vs. Notre Dame

Sun Bowl – Washington vs. Florida State

LA Bowl – Washington State vs. Boise State

First Responder – Cal vs. Baylor

.

The Athletic (Stewart Mandel, Scott Dochterman)

Peach Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Georgia vs. Tennessee

Fiesta Bowl (national CFP semifinals) – Ohio State vs. Clemson

Rose Bowl – USC vs. Michigan

Cotton Bowl – UCLA vs. Cincinnati

Alamo Bowl – Utah vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Oregon vs. Texas A&M

Holiday Bowl – Washington vs. Wake Forest

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Notre Dame

LA Bowl – Washington State vs. Boise State

.

San Jose Mercury-News (Jon Wilner)

(Pac-12 representative only)

Rose Bowl -- Oregon

Cotton Bowl -- USC

Alamo Bowl -- UCLA

Holiday Bowl -- Utah

Las Vegas Bowl -- Washington

Sun Bowl -- Oregon State

LA Bowl -- Washington State

.

Here are the bowls with Pac-12 tie-ins, listed in their pecking order:

College Football Playoff semifinals (if a Pac-12 team finishes among the top four teams in the final College Football Playoff rankings): Peach Bowl, Dec. 31, 1 p.m. Pacific time or 5 p.m. Pacific time, Atlanta Ga., ESPN, and Fiesta Bowl, Dec. 31, 1 p.m. Pacific time or 5 p.m. Pacific time, Glendale, Ariz., ESPN.

1. Rose Bowl: Jan. 2, 2 p.m. Pacific time, Pasadena, Calif., ESPN – Pac-12 vs. Big Ten.

1A. New Year's Six Bowls -- A Pac-12 team could qualify for one of the other three New Year's Six Bowls -- Orange Bowl on Dec. 30, Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2, Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31.

2. Alamo Bowl: Dec. 29, 6 p.m. Pacific time, San Antonio, Texas, ESPN – Pac-12 vs. Big 12.

3. Las Vegas Bowl: Dec. 17, 4:30 p.m. Pacific time, Las Vegas, ABC – Pac-12 vs. SEC

4. Holiday Bowl: Dec. 28, 5 p.m. Pacific time, San Diego, FOX/FS1 – Pac-12 vs. ACC

5. Sun Bowl: Dec. 30, 11 a.m. Pacific time, El Paso, Texas, CBS – Pac-12 vs. Notre Dame/ACC

6. LA Bowl: Dec. 17, 12:30 p.m. Pacific time, Inglewood, Calif., ABC – Pac-12 vs. Mountain West.

First Responder Bowl -- The Pac-12 might occupy a spot in this Dec. 27 bowl in University Park, Texas, against a team from the ACC, American Athletic or Big 12.

Gasparilla Bowl -- The Pac-12 might fill an opening in this Dec. 23 bowl in Tampa, Fla., against a team from the Big 12, ACC or SEC.

Armed Forces Bowl -- The Pac-12 could get a berth in this Dec. 22 bowl in Fort Worth Texas.

NOTE: The Rose Bowl, Alamo Bowl, Holiday Bowl and Las Vegas Bowl have the option of passing over one team in the Pac-12 standings for another team if those teams are not separated more than one game in the conference standings. The Sun Bowl and LA Bowl do not have that option and must make their selection based on order of finish in the Pac-12 standings.

.

Cover photo by Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports

.

Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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

.