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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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(Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
(Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /

December 29

Belk Bowl: NC State vs. South Carolina
Noon ET, ESPN – Charlotte, North Carolina

December 31

Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman: Temple vs. Duke
Noon ET, ESPN – Annapolis, Maryland

Hyundai Sun Bowl: Oregon vs. Pittsburgh
2 pm ET, CBS – El Paso, Texas

Redbox Bowl: Stanford vs. Nevada*
3 pm ET, Fox – Santa Clara, California

AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Iowa State vs. Tennessee
3:45 pm ET, ESPN – Memphis, Tennessee

San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl: Utah vs. Iowa
7 pm ET, FS1 – San Diego, California

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl: Missouri vs. Wisconsin
7:30 pm ET, ESPN – Jacksonville, Florida

January 1

Outback Bowl: Mississippi State vs. Michigan State
Noon ET, ESPN2 – Tampa, Florida

Citrus Bowl: Penn State vs. Kentucky
1 pm ET, ABC – Orlando, Florida

The Skinny

Tennessee and Vanderbilt will battle in Nashville next week with the winner obtaining a bowl bid. The Vols sorely missed starting quarterback Jarrett Guarantano in a blowout loss at the hands of Missouri. Keller Chryst took his place and completed just 7-of-19 passes and got picked off twice. It probably wouldn’t have mattered as Drew Lock and the Missouri offense did whatever it wanted to do all evening long.

Pittsburgh officially clinched the Coastal Division title in the ACC with a 34-13 pummeling of Wake Forest on the road. The Panthers will get their crack at Clemson in two weeks as they attempt to slay the orange and purple dragon that has held dominion over the ACC for the last several years. Pittsburgh’s in-season resurgence has been keyed by their ground game, but that was taken away by the Demon Deacons on Saturday. QB Kenny Pickett was called upon and stepped up, throwing for 316 yards and three touchdowns in the win.

Michigan State lost an ugly 9-6 game to Nebraska to drop them to 6-5, but the Big Ten’s contractual obligations gives the Spartans an opportunity to play in a more prestigious bowl game than they probably deserve. The Big Ten has deals with many of their bowl sponsors to send five different teams in a six year span, and they try and stick to that agreement if at all possible.

Penn State is knocking on the door of the New Year’s Six, and I flirted with the idea of jumping them in this week’s projections, but they got jumped by a team that looked far more impressive this week than they did. The Nittany Lions labored through a 20-7 win over Rutgers, and they finish up the regular season next week at home against Maryland. The Terps will be looking for bowl eligibility while Penn State hopes to make a final statement to the committee.

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