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College Football Bowl Projections 2018: Playoff Shakeup in Week 8

By John Mitchell

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - OCTOBER 20: Isaac Zico #7 of the Purdue Boilermakers makes a touchdown catch in the end zone as Kendall Sheffield #8 of the Ohio State Buckeyes defends at Ross-Ade Stadium on October 20, 2018 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - OCTOBER 20: Isaac Zico #7 of the Purdue Boilermakers makes a touchdown catch in the end zone as Kendall Sheffield #8 of the Ohio State Buckeyes defends at Ross-Ade Stadium on October 20, 2018 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
(Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /

December 21

Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl: USF vs. UAB
12:30 pm ET, ESPN – Nassau, Bahamas

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Boise State vs. Buffalo
4 pm ET, ESPN – Boise, Idaho

December 22

Birmingham Bowl: Houston vs. BYU
Noon ET, ESPN – Birmingham, Alabama

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: Army vs. Ohio
3:30 pm ET, ESPN – Fort Worth, Texas

Dollar General Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. Troy
7 pm ET, ESPN – Mobile, Alabama

Hawai’i Bowl: Hawai’i vs. MTSU
10:30 pm ET, ESPN – Honolulu, Hawai’i

December 26

SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: Indiana vs. North Texas
1:30 pm ET, ESPN – Dallas, Texas

Quick Lane Bowl: Utah State vs. Maryland
5:15 pm ET, ESPN – Detroit, Michigan 

Cheez-It Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Colorado
9 pm ET, ESPN – Phoenix, Arizona 

The skinny

UAB earned a huge 29-21 home win over North Texas this weekend. Adding that to their win over Louisiana Tech puts the Blazers into position to win the C-USA West and play for a conference championship in just their second season back from the one-year program shutdown. It cannot be overstated how good of a job Bill Clark has done in Birmingham.

The Armed Forces Bowl is likely going to end up with At-large teams due to the Big-12 and AAC not being able to fill their bowl slots. That could change if teams like Tulane, Navy, and/or Baylor are able to play well down the stretch to garner eligibility.

BYU has no direct bowl tie-in, but the Cougars do have a deal with ESPN that guarantees them a place as long they get to six wins. They will slot in somewhere as an at-large, and the Birmingham Bowl makes sense with the SEC unable to fill its bid, although a 5-win Vanderbilt has a nice path to a bowl game due to their APR score.

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