McMurphy has reported that the four Pac-12 schools being considered by the Big Ten are Oregon, Washington, Stanford, and Cal. Should the Big Ten expand further, it would create another conference realignment ripple effect. It’s difficult to look ahead and predict things like the College Football Playoff and bowl games ahead of the season.
First round matchup: No. 11 Iowa at No. 6 Georgia
Onto the bowl projections, which are based on my playoff picks of Georgia, Michigan and Florida State all finishing 13-0 and Oregon winning the Pac-12 at 12-1. The biggest challenge projecting this year’s bowl lineup is — surprise, surprise — because of conference realignment. There are some leagues with way more bowl-eligible teams than tie-ins (yes, Fun Belt, I’m specifically talking to you!).
McMurphy’s Bowl Projections & CFP Picks for Week 6
- A long-time voter in the AP Top 25 poll and for the Heisman Trophy, Brett powers Action’s bowl projections in addition to his work breaking college football news.
- After all, with legendary head coach Nick Saban retiring and being replaced by Kalen DeBoer, the Crimson Tide have questions to answer.
- This would allow James Madison and Jacksonville State, who are in the second year of their transition from FCS to FBS, to receive bowl bids.
- The biggest challenge projecting this year’s bowl lineup is — surprise, surprise — because of conference realignment.
With the 2024 college football season around the corner, insider Brett McMurphy released his 12-team College Football Playoff predictions along with full bowl projections for the season. One fascinating item I’ve heard from sources in the past hours is where USC could land. I had been projecting the Trojans for the Alamo Bowl, which selects first from the Pac-12 after the Pac-12 playoff/New Year’s Six bowl teams. However, a three-game slide to close the season could plummet USC down to the Sun Bowl, which has the fourth Pac-12 pick.
New Year’s Six Bowl Games
So, it’s going to be a new-look schedule and a lot of travel to manage to get to this point. After leaving ESPN, Brett joined Stadium in 2017, where he continued to cover college sports and expanded his role as an investigative reporter. At Stadium, he maintained his reputation for delivering exclusive news and insightful analysis, cementing his status as one of the foremost authorities on college athletics. Brett McMurphy is a college football senior analyst, reporter, and insider for the Action Network. He’s a regular contributor on the Big Bets on Campus podcast, where you can hear him regularly with co-hosts Collin Wilson and Stuckey.
How BYU Quarterback Jake Retzlaff Stacks Up Against Big 12 Peers After Eight Games
One team that’s been a popular pick to catch people by surprise is Virginia Tech. The Hokies have shown growth in recent seasons and now seem poised to take a leap forward. Certainly, McMurphy is high on Virginia Tech, putting the Hokies in the Playoff. Meanwhile, Georgia is considered one of the best all around teams in the country coming into this season. Even with a very difficult schedule, the Bulldogs are expecting to be one of the best teams in the country and make the College Football Playoff.
- On Tuesday, Brett McMurphy of Action Network joined Paul Finebaum to discuss the latest conference realignment news.
- Since my last projections on Wednesday, there has been massive “negotiating” and behind-the-scenes trading of potential teams between bowls and conferences — with much more still to come.
- He has just a record there and has found that the rebuild is taking longer than many outside of the program expected.
- “Basically at this point it’s lawyers and people getting together and making sure, I guess a play on words, all the ducks are in a row.”
- That team will likely always end up with the 12 seed and, in this case, McMurphy is giving that spot to Texas State.
The rest of Brett McMurphy’s predicted bowl matchups
Still, Alabama does have the talent on paper to be able to do so. The Big Ten could get 11 teams to six wins, while the ACC could have 12, including Notre Dame. You can also see Brett on the BBOC YouTube show every Saturday during the college football season. McMurphy’s interview comes just one day after he reported that the Big Ten and Oregon had begun preliminary expansion discussions. “This is the first step along the process to add Oregon to the Big Ten,” McMurphy said to clarify his report from Monday.
McMurphy’s Bowl Projections & CFP Picks for Week 10
“Basically at this point it’s lawyers and people getting together and making sure, I guess a play on words, all the ducks are in a row.” The Iowa Hawkeyes have been an interesting team in recent seasons. On defense and special teams, they’ve been among the best in the country. Now, with a change at offensive coordinator, it will be interesting to see if they can make noise in the postseason. The Group of Five is guaranteed at least one team in the College Football Playoff.
McMurphy’s Week 10 AP Top 25 Ballot vs. Our Betting Power Ratings
In the process, the Ducks would earn a first-round bye for the Playoff and be able to sit back and wait to see who their first opponent is going to be. Here’s my breakdown of which teams are still trying to reach bowl eligibility and an in-depth look at the APR rankings. Two of those spots would be filled by James Madison and Jacksonville State since both have six-plus wins and are eligible in their second year reclassifying from FCS to FBS. After adding extensively through the Transfer Portal, Ole Miss has a talented roster and seems poised to compete in the SEC. The question comes down to where they fall in a talented conference. The Ducks are going to be in their first season in the Big Ten after moving over from the Pac-12.
Online Sports Betting News & Offers
With that, predicting how the committee is going to handle the season is a difficult task with little pre-existing information to go on. On top of that, all of these predictions are also predicting what teams go to a bowl and which ones don’t. For now, it means there’s more going on than slotting in bowl teams. If JMU is not granted the waiver, it would still receive a bowl bid if there are not enough six-win teams to fill all 82 bowls.
McMurphy’s Week 11 AP Top 25 Ballot vs. Our Betting Power Ratings
Once the Big Ten gets to 20 schools, McMurphy expects the SEC to eventually match and get to 20 schools. However, the SEC’s top targets are tied up in the ACC and its grant of rights. In the end, McMurphy gave eight of his 12 College Football Playoff slots to teams from either the Big Ten or SEC. That includes Penn State and LSU, both of whom enter the season with expectations that they’ll at least compete for a Playoff slot.
I will update my projections on Wednesday following Tuesday’s penultimate College Football Playoff selection committee rankings. All the official pairings will be announced on Sunday and/or hopefully on my Twitter (X) feed. The toughest aspect of the projections is correctly forecasting the four playoff teams and New Year’s Six bowl matchups.
Here are my Week 12 projections, and each projection includes the projected point spread for each bowl based on Action Network senior writer Collin Wilson’s updated college football betting power ratings. In the next two weeks, a handful of the five-win teams play each other, while other five-win teams are substantial underdogs in their final two games. My projections will be updated again late Saturday night following the conference championship games. All of the official pairings will be announced Sunday afternoon.
After all, with legendary head coach Nick Saban retiring and being replaced by Kalen DeBoer, the Crimson Tide have questions to answer. Those are questions that McMurphy, clearly, expects them to have answers for. McMurphy has the Oregon Ducks earning the first overall seed in the College Football Playoff for the 2024 season. If they do so, it would be Oregon’s second time making it to the College Football Playoff.
Updated Look at BYU’s Path to the Big 12 Championship Game
These projections are based on my playoff picks of Georgia, Michigan and Florida State all finishing 13-0 and 12-1 Pac-12 champion Oregon getting the final spot. Before we dive into my newest bowl projections, my brett mcmurphy loyal readers will remember last week’s projections. The part where I wrote Minnesota would be the only 5-7 team needed to fill the 82nd spot and — guess what — Minnesota is the only 5-7 team headed to a bowl.
College Football Bowl Game Projections: Brett McMurphy’s Final 2023 Bowl Predictions
If he can, competing in the ACC and making the Playoff is a definite possibility. It’s been a challenging first couple of seasons for Miami under head coach Mario Cristobal. He has just a record there and has found that the rebuild is taking longer than many outside of the program expected. Still, once again in 2024, expectations are high for the Hurricanes and McMurphy expects them to earn a bye in the College Football Playoff. To do so, it will likely take winning the SEC in a conference that expects to be tightly contested at the top.
While the conferences and bowls try to pencil in their expected matchups entering conference championship weekend, there usually are some last-minute plot twists and upsets that create some late chaos on Sunday. Since my last projections on Wednesday, there has been massive “negotiating” and behind-the-scenes trading of potential teams between bowls and conferences — with much more still to come. Action Network makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the information given or the outcome of any game or event. Of those 24 teams, 12 are underdogs in their finales, so if there are no upsets — Upsets in college football? Here are my latest projections and the projected point spread of each matchup from Action Network senior writer Collin Wilson’s betting power ratings. Here are the projections along with the projected point spread of each matchup from Action Network senior writer Collin Wilson’s betting power ratings.
