It seems hard to believe that in college football days past, bowl games would begin courting prospective teams in November (and sometimes earlier). The prospect of being stuck with a lemon with two straight losses to end the season? Much more attractive than getting beat out for a hot team by your rivals for eyeballs and sponsorships.
Thankfully, those days have gone by the wayside—with a handful of exceptions, every team will learn their fate at once on Dec. 8. The story of the 2024 season is far from over.
With that in mind, here's what the bowl picture would look like if we were choosing teams today. A reminder that, as usual, the projections are determined by using the AP Poll and College Football Reference's Simple Rating System as guides. A short string of commentary follows.
Post-Week 9 Bowl Projections For the 2024 College Football Season
Notable Potential Bowl Matchups
Combined years in FBS for James Madison and Sam Houston (New Orleans Bowl): five... The headliner is Dec. 20's matchup between Texas A&M and Texas (CFP first round), potentially one of the most hotly anticipated postseason games of all time... The two teams are scheduled to meet on Nov. 30 in College Station, Texas; this playoff edition would be in Austin... Iowa State and Ohio State (CFP first round) have never met in football; neither have Boise State and Penn State (CFP first round)... Notre Dame and Tennessee (CFP first round) have met eight times and every matchup has, counterintuitively, been in November... Tulane and North Carolina (Fenway Bowl) were both in the Southern Conference from 1922 to '32... Syracuse and Cincinnati (Pop-Tarts Bowl) are also ex-conference-mates, having clashed in the Big East from 2005 to '12... Illinois and LSU (Music City Bowl) played in the Sugar Bowl after the 2001 season; the Tigers won a 47–34 shootout... Pittsburgh and Ole Miss (ReliaQuest Bowl) have a much less prestigious 21st-century bowl matchup under their belt; the Rebels won the 2013 BBVA Compass Bowl 38–17... Indiana and Alabama (Citrus Bowl) have also never met in football... Arkansas and TCU (Texas Bowl), ex-Southwest Conference rivals, have played 70 times as major schools... Potential CFP quarterfinals of note: Boise State-BYU (Fiesta Bowl), Notre Dame-Oregon (Rose Bowl; the Fighting Irish have been there just twice) and Tennessee-Oregon (Rose Bowl; the Volunteers haven't been since 1944)... West Virginia and Virginia (First Responder Bowl), once fairly frequent opponents, have played just once this century—in the 2002 Continental Tire Bowl.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Post-Week 9 Bowl Projections for the 2024 College Football Season.
