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College Football Bowl Projections 2019: Post-Week 3 edition

By John Mitchell

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 14: Jalen Hurts #1 of the Oklahoma Sooners breaks free from the defense of Quentin Lake #37 and Krys Barnes #14 of the UCLA Bruins during the first half of a game on at the Rose Bowl on September 14, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 14: Jalen Hurts #1 of the Oklahoma Sooners breaks free from the defense of Quentin Lake #37 and Krys Barnes #14 of the UCLA Bruins during the first half of a game on at the Rose Bowl on September 14, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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Week 3 brought some big changes in this week’s college football bowl projections as the contenders begin separating themselves from the pack.

The top 10 held serve in week three and there was only minimal changes in the bowl projections for the New Year’s Six, but some surprising results led to major changes throughout the other bowl games. 

The ACC took one on the chin in Week 3, further damaging the reputation of the conference. Boston College lost by 24 at home to Kansas on Friday to get thing started. On Saturday, NC State lost at West Virginia, Georgia Tech fell in overtime to The Citadel, and Syracuse, long thought to be Clemson’s biggest competition in the ACC, was molly-whopped by the Tigers 41-6 for its second straight blowout defeat.

Because of bowl tie-ins, the ACC is still likely to get two teams into the New Year’s Six as long as Clemson makes the College Football Playoff. At this point in the season, it’s fair to question whether non-AQ conferences like the AAC and Mountain West have actually surpassed the ACC in terms of overall conference strength.

I posed this question on Twitter on Sunday, and I’ll do it again here. If you combined the ACC, AAC, and Mountain West and did a power ranking of all the teams, after Clemson at No. 1, how far down the list do you get before the second ACC team appears? UCF and Boise State are both head and shoulders better than any non-Clemson ACC squad, but it’s fair to ponder whether the likes of Memphis, Cincinnati, Temple, SMU, Wyoming, San Diego State, Fresno State and others would rank ahead of Virginia and the rest of the pack in the ACC.

With the playoff and the New Year’s Six, it feels like direct bowl tie-ins, at least for the New Year’s Six, should go by the wayside. Take the eight best teams outside of the playoff field and assign them to the New Year’s Six. That’ll provide the best matchups for the fans and the most deserving teams will get their crack at the most prestigious of games.

Let’s take a look at how this week’s slate of games impacted the bowl projections:

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