College Football Playoff, New Year’s Six Bowl projections after Week 5

Week five of the college football season saw NY6 hopes die for multiple blue blood programs, the Georgia Bulldogs narrowly avoiding the worst loss of the year, and Bryce Young holding the collective breath of all of college football in his hands when he got hurt.

We also saw Clemson make a statement, Oklahoma State continues their revenge tour in the Big 12, and star quarterbacks struggle throughout the country as the defensive revolution continues in college football.

Here are week 5 projections for the New Year’s Six bowl games, including the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Cotton Bowl

Cincinnati v USC

Previous: Cincinnati v Kentucky

The Cincinnati Bearcats began conference play this week with a 31-21 win at Tulsa. The Bearcats look the same now, as they have for the past half-decade. They play strong defense, they make enough plays on offense, and they look like the best team in the Group of Five.

The biggest threat to their run may be a road game at UCF at the end of October. Cincinnati looks more like they reloaded than are rebuilding in 2022. We continue to project them as the Group of Five rep for the Cotton Bowl.

The Bearcats projected opponent, the USC Trojans played well enough against a broken Arizona State team 42-25.  The Trojans have an absolute star in Caleb Williams, he will likely be a Heisman finalist. The defense looks ok, but there’s still the question about how great they really are. We will see soon, as the Trojans will face Washington State and travel to Utah in the next two weeks.

Can Luke Fickell get over the big bowl hump, or will Lincoln Riley and Trojans send him to 0-3 in the NY6/CFP?