Bowl pairings and the College Football Playoff field are set. Who’s taking home the hardware? Here are our bowl game predictions for all 41 contests.
More: Complete bowl game schedule
After a few weeks off from college football bowl season is here. There are 41 bowl games this season, and while that might seem like a lot, it wasn’t enough to go around. Three bowl eligible teams are not bowling this season – Buffalo (6-6), UTSA (6-5) and Western Michigan (6-6).
There were simply too many bowl eligible teams this year to give everyone a spot. That differs from last season when teams like 5-7 Mississippi State earned an invitation. It’s particularly painful for Western Michigan which was preparing for a Cotton Bowl appearance a year ago.
While those three teams won’t be participating, 80 teams have earned invitations. That includes a pair of teams that will be playing twice. The College Football Playoff field consists of No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Alabama. Storylines for the Playoff are plentiful. Will Clemson repeat? Could there be an All-SEC Championship Game?
There are dozens of bowl games before we get to the finale of the college football season. From the start of the postseason on Dec. 16 to the College Football Playoff National Championship game we predict every bowl game of the 2017 season.