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College Football Playoff, New Year’s Six Bowl projections after Week 6

By Michael Thompson

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - JANUARY 10: The National Championship trophy is displayed after the Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 33-18 in the 2022 CFP National Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium on January 10, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - JANUARY 10: The National Championship trophy is displayed after the Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 33-18 in the 2022 CFP National Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium on January 10, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Week six of the college football season saw preseason contenders like Utah and Kentucky have their dreams crushed, Alabama looking quite mortal without Bryce Young, and Georgia getting their mojo back. So how does it impact the playoff and New Year’s Six landscape?

Here are week 6 projections for the New Year’s Six bowl games, including the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Cotton Bowl

Cincinnati v USC

The Cincinnati Bearcats moved to 2-0 in AAC play, after surviving a scare against 1-5 South Florida at home. That’s two weeks in a row where Cincinnati hasn’t looked even close to their best. The Bearcats will now get a much-needed bye, before a difficult two-game stretch on the road at SMU and UCF. Look to the Knights as a team capable of still making a run at the NY6 if they can spring the upset. Until that happens, we continue to project them as the Group of Five rep for the Cotton Bowl.

The Bearcats projected opponent, the USC Trojans played good, but not great against Washington State, winning 30-14 in a game that felt much closer than the score.

The Trojans have a fascinating road challenge coming up, as they travel to Utah this week. Utah has their CFP hopes officially ruined in a loss at UCLA, but with a win against USC, they technically would control their destiny to get back to the PAC 12 Championship, and a possible return to the Rose Bowl. This will be quite the challenge for Lincoln Riley. An impressive win and we can start looking at the Trojans as a College Football Playoff team.

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

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