College Football Bowl Projections 2018: Wolverines rise in Week 7
December 15
New Mexico Bowl: North Texas vs. Toledo
2 pm ET, ESPN – Albuquerque, New Mexico
AutoNation Cure Bowl: Temple vs. Arkansas State
2:30 pm ET, CBSSN – Orlando, Florida
Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl: San Diego State vs. Utah
3:30 pm ET, ABC – Las Vegas, Nevada
Raycom Media Camellia Bowl: Eastern Michigan vs. Georgia Southern
5:30 pm ET, ESPN – Montgomery, Alabama
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: Appalachian State vs. Louisiana Tech
9 pm ET, ESPN – New Orleans, Louisiana
December 18
Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl: Florida Atlantic vs. Northern Illinois
7 pm ET, ESPN – Boca Raton, Florida
December 19
DXL Frisco Bowl: Western Michigan vs. Southern Miss
8 pm ET, ESPN – Frisco, Texas
December 20
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl: USF vs. MTSU
8 pm ET, ESPN – Tampa, Florida
The skinny
The most intriguing matchup here is the game in Vegas that pits my projected Mountain West Champion San Diego State taking on Utah. The Aztecs have already played two PAC-12 opponents this season, getting handled by Stanford but then knocking off Arizona State. This would give them another opportunity to put a power-five skin on the wall in 2018. You could easily flip-flop San Diego State/Fresno State for the Mountain West title at the moment, but I give the Aztecs the slight edge right now.
The New Orleans Bowl could be a sneaky good game here as well with Appalachian State making their fourth consecutive trip to a bowl game since moving up from the FCS level. This may be the Mountaineers’ best team to date since moving up – they’ve looked every bit like a Top-25 team so far this season.