Saturday Blitz College Football Playoff Projections Week 8

Sugar Bowl- Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Rose Bowl- Florida State Seminoles vs. Baylor Bears

As the top seed, Mississippi State would naturally get to be closest to home in the bowl game, and with the Sugar Bowl closer to Starkville than the Rose Bowl, this would be the natural fit for them. The selection committee obviously would make sure to avoid putting them all the way out in California.

Because the committee wants to avoid rematches, we have Mississippi State playing Notre Dame right now instead of Baylor. All things being equal, the Irish and Bears would both be 11-1 if they won out. The Committee made clear it wouldn’t sacrifice the integrity of seeding to avoid rematches, but it would try to avoid them if two teams weren’t far apart. That would be the case here.

Our seeding had Notre Dame at No. 3 and Baylor at No. 4 right now, but those seeds would be interchangeable at the end of the year if the two teams kept pace. It would be interchangeable enough, at least, to avoid a rematch.

That would obviously leave Florida State as the No. 2 seed to play Baylor as the No. 4 seed in the Rose Bowl as well. This isn’t really a home-field advantage for either team, although Baylor is much close to Southern California than any team in Florida. Still, the fans in Tallahassee would travel, so it wouldn’t be a big deal.

Continue to Next Slide for Teams on the Outside Still Controlling Their Own Destiny