Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024—the day that things get serious.
That's right—we're talking about the release of the first College Football Playoff rankings of the year Tuesday evening. All eyes will be on ESPN as college football's powers-that-be unveil their first assessment of the '24 season.
However, as that has not happened yet, we are continuing to work off the AP Poll and College Football Reference's Simple Rating System for our weekly bowl projections. This week was a doozy for the group of teams with the greatest effect on the bowl picture—those on the margins of the CFP. Clemson? Iowa State? Texas A&M? All suffered defeat at the hands of Louisville, Texas Tech and South Carolina, respectively.
With the knowledge that the AP Poll and CFP rankings will inevitably differ, let's dive into this week's projections. Commentary follows.
Post-Week 10 Bowl Projections For the 2024 College Football Season
Notable Potential Bowl Matchups
Note the return of ex-Conference USA-mates Marshall and Western Kentucky to the Frisco Bowl; this space previously alluded to their insane meeting in 2014... Oregon State and UNLV (LA Bowl) met Oct. 19, with the Rebels winning 33–25; that may be cause for bowl executives to nix this matchup, though who knows in a highly elastic college football world... James Madison and Liberty (New Orleans Bowl) are separated by less than two hours of drive time; this would be their second postseason meeting after the Flames won 26–21 in the first round of the FCS playoffs.
Alabama and Texas (CFP first round) have split two meetings over the past two years, but they haven't met in the postseason since the Crimson Tide won 2009's national championship... Notre Dame and Penn State (CFP first round) used to play with relative regularity, but haven't played since 2007... Boise State and Ohio State (CFP first round) have never played... Both of Indiana and Tennessee's (CFP first round) meetings have been in bowl games—the Peach Bowl after the 1987 season and the Gator Bowl after the 2019 season. The Volunteers won both... Navy and West Virginia (Armed Forces Bowl), who aren't that far apart, haven't played since 1999... Cincinnati beat Vanderbilt (Liberty Bowl) in the 2011 Liberty Bowl, 31–24... Kansas State and Syracuse (Pop-Tarts Bowl) have three postseason matchups under their belt, including the final pre-BCS Fiesta Bowl in 1997 and the controversial first Pinstripe Bowl in 2010... Tulane and Georgia Tech (Military Bowl) are the two most recent teams to leave the SEC, doing so in 1965 and 1963, respectively... Iowa and LSU (Citrus Bowl) haven't met in that game since their legendary meeting after the 2004 season.
Potential CFP quarterfinal history: the Nittany Lions and Georgia's (Peach Bowl) first bowl meeting since 2015; the Fighting Irish and Bulldogs' first bowl meeting since 1980; the Hoosiers' first Rose Bowl trip since 1967; Miami and Alabama's (Sugar Bowl) first bowl meeting since their Sugar Bowl determined the 1992 national title... Bluebonnet Bowl rematch, anyone? Oklahoma and SMU (Gator Bowl) played there in 1968... Semifinal shenanigans: Indiana could meet BYU in the Cotton Bowl for the first time since their epic 1979 Holiday Bowl, while the Hurricanes will have a shot at de facto hosting Penn State or Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl in rematches of 1980s epics.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Post-Week 10 Bowl Projections for the 2024 College Football Season.
