College Football Bowl Projections 2018: Michigan falls out of playoff in Week 13

December 15

New Mexico Bowl: Louisiana Tech vs. BYU*
2 pm ET, ESPN – Albuquerque, New Mexico

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

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

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

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: Appalachian State vs. MTSU
9 pm ET, ESPN – New Orleans, Louisiana

December 18

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

December 19

DXL Frisco Bowl: Temple vs. Toledo
8 pm ET, ESPN – Frisco, Texas

December 20

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

The skinny

Boise State clinched a spot in next week’s Mountain West Championship Game with a 33-24 win over Utah State on Saturday night. The Broncos will take on Fresno State on the Smurf Turf next week for the conference title, in a game that could surprisingly be played for a spot in the New Year’s Six. With Milton injured, and the group-of-five’s spot going to the highest ranked conference champion, a Memphis win over UCF opens the door of the Mountain West champ to steal the bid. Even if not, a Las Vegas Bowl bid with an opportunity to add another power-five skin to the wall is a solid consolation prize.

The Sun Belt has stated that its champion will play in the New Orleans Bowl, and while it’s not official, I do think the C-USA will follow suit. Recently, the C-USA has given its champion the choice of which bowl it wants to play in, but I think one way or the other we’ll get champion vs. champion in New Orleans. Appalachian State took down Troy at home this weekend to clinch the Sun Belt East, and will take on Louisiana next week for the conference crown. MTSU was pretty dominant in a win over UAB, and will take on the Blazers again next week at home in a rematch for the C-USA title.