College Football Playoff, 2022 New Year’s Six projections after Week 1

After a wild first week of the season that saw upsets and the usual frustration for the Pac-12, here are our College Football Playoff projections.

The college football season is fully underway. After the first week, we saw the defending champs show they’re not going anywhere, while the Pac-12 had its two top ranked teams go down.

As we finish week one and head into Week 2, here are my projections for the New Year’s Six, including the College Football Playoff.

Cotton Bowl: Houston vs. Texas A&M

The Houston Cougars nearly went from Group of Five favorites to Week 1 disaster before barely escaping with a road victory over UTSA 37-35 in three overtimes.

The Cougars are happy with the win, but they’ll need to play better if they want to get a win in Lubbock at Texas Tech next week. A win against their in-state brethren, and Houston should be looking at an undefeated start heading into November.

Meeting them in the Cotton Bowl is another team from Texas in the Aggies.

The Aggies had to deal with a lengthy weather delay before shutting out Sam Houston State 31-0. Fans in College Station won’t love this being TA&M’s bowl game, as they’re looking for a CFP appearance. A return to the NY6 and a game against an in-state rival in Jerry World isn’t a bad consolation.