College Football Bowl Projections 2018: Big Changes in New Year’s Six after Week 9

December 15

New Mexico Bowl: MTSU vs. Eastern Michigan
2 pm ET, ESPN – Albuquerque, New Mexico

AutoNation Cure Bowl: Temple vs. Appalachian State
2:30 pm ET, CBSSN – Orlando, Florida

Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl: Fresno State vs. Colorado
3:30 pm ET, ABC – Las Vegas, Nevada

Raycom Media Camellia Bowl: Troy vs. Western Michigan
5:30 pm ET, ESPN – Montgomery, Alabama

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: Georgia Southern vs. Air Force
9 pm ET, ESPN – New Orleans, Louisiana

December 18

Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl: Buffalo vs. Marshall
7 pm ET, ESPN – Boca Raton, Florida

December 19

DXL Frisco Bowl: Ohio vs. Nevada
8 pm ET, ESPN – Frisco, Texas

December 20

Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl: USF vs. FIU
8 pm ET, ESPN – Tampa, Florida

The skinny

Georgia Southern took a step toward the Sun Belt title with an impressive 34-14 win over recently ranked Appalachian State. The Eagles have rolled to 7-1 with a 4-0 mark in conference despite getting outgained so far this season. A big reason why is they’re an NCAA leading +18 in turnover margin.

Fresno State remains the projected Mountain West champion, with that picture getting a little clearer following San Diego State’s loss to Nevada. Colorado falls to the Las Vegas Bowl after a colossal flop at home against Oregon State, where the Buffaloes blew a 31-3 lead.

USF fell from the ranks of the unbeaten, essentially ending their hopes of making a push to the top of the AAC and earning the group-of-five’s New Year’s Six bid. That didn’t come as too much of a shock, however, so their projection remains the same this week.

Air Force is the first team to benefit from the lack of bowl eligible teams. The path to six wins seems murky for Air Force, but they rank 2nd among FBS programs in APR.