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College Football Bowl Projections 2018: Texas rises into New Year’s Six

By John Mitchell

AUSTIN, TX - NOVEMBER 17: David Montgomery #32 of the Iowa State Cyclones is stopped at the line of scrimmage by Gary Johnson #33 of the Texas Longhorns and Anthony Wheeler #45 in the third quarter at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on November 17, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TX - NOVEMBER 17: David Montgomery #32 of the Iowa State Cyclones is stopped at the line of scrimmage by Gary Johnson #33 of the Texas Longhorns and Anthony Wheeler #45 in the third quarter at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on November 17, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /
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Chalk continues to hold at the top of college football, but a few upsets in Week 12 had major ramifications on this week’s bowl projections. 

After a 10-0 Week 11, the Top 10 followed it up with a 9-1 showing in Week 12 as the contenders continue to separate themselves from the pack.

Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Ohio State all struggled, some more than others, but all ended up prevailing to keep Week 12 from bringing the parody and chaos that we have grown so accustomed to around college football.

The biggest upset that shook up this week’s bowl projections was West Virginia’s 45-41 loss in Stillwater to Oklahoma State, where the Mountaineers blew a 10 point lead with under five-minutes to play. The loss drops West Virginia out of playoff consideration, and potentially out of the New Year’s Six altogether as they’ll now need to beat Oklahoma next week to secure a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game.

West Virginia’s loss and subsequent drop means that we have a shakeup in the New Year’s Six with someone jumping up and taking the place of Dana Holgorsen’s crew. There were a few other results that changed the complexion of this week’s projections as well.

USC falls out after losing to UCLA; the Trojans will now need to beat Notre Dame next week to garner bowl eligibility. USC hasn’t missed a bowl game in a non-probation season since the turn of the century.

Virginia Tech and Florida State both seem likely to see their long bowl streaks come to an end. The Hokies fell to Miami this week, which means they’ll need to knock off rival Virginia next week, and then schedule a game on the first weekend of December in order to chase a sixth win to keep the streak alive.

Florida State earned a critical victory for Willie Taggart this week over Boston College that puts the Seminoles in position to steal a bowl bid, and maintain their streak, if they can beat Florida next week. It has been a trying season for Taggart in Tallahassee, but salvaging a bowl game would be a glimmer of hope for the Florida State faithful.

We’re still likely to have too many bowl eligible teams this season, so for this week, Miami (OH), Wyoming, and UL Monroe are the odd teams out despite being currently projected to be bowl eligible.

Next weekend is rivalry week across college football, so we could finally see chaos rear its head once again after the status quo has reigned supreme for several weeks.

Let’s dive into the bowl projections and take a look at what Week 12 did to the projected postseason.

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