At least we no longer have to worry about whether the College Football Playoff Selection Committee will want to see that game again. Washington waltzed into Autzen Stadium and beat Oregon, 37-34, derailing the Ducks' possible shot at redemption in the CFP as well as quarterback Bo Nix's Heisman Trophy hopes. It also bounced Oregon from a projected spot in the Cotton Bowl with Washington expected to land there.
However, the loss did not kill Oregon's chance at a Pac-12 championship. In fact, the Ducks still control their own fate in that regard. Oregon, USC and Utah each have one conference loss, and the Utes visit the Ducks this week.
TCU won 17-10 at Texas to strengthen its hold on the projected No. 3 seed. The win also clinched a place in the Big 12 Championship Game. Kansas State is favored to be the opponent for TCU in that game. Regardless of which team the Horned Frogs face, their opponent will have at least three losses.
Georgia and LSU are now set for SEC Championship Game after respective wins at Mississippi State and Arkansas. The ACC Championship Game matchup is also official with Clemson facing North Carolina, the latter of which beat Wake Forest to improve to 6-0 on the road this season and clinch its spot in the title game.
The race for the Group of Five's berth in the Cotton Bowl became clearer on Saturday. UCF won at Tulane to take control of the AAC race. Each team has one loss in league play (as does Cincinnati), but the Knights hold tiebreakers over the other two. If UCF wins out, it will host the AAC Championship Game most likely against the winner of Tulane at Cincinnati (Nov. 26).
College Football Playoff
| Date | Game / Loc. | Matchup | Prediction |
|---|---|---|---|
Jan. 9 | National Championship | Title game | Semifinal winners |
Dec. 31 | Peach Bowl | Semifinal | |
Dec. 31 | Fiesta Bowl | Semifinal | (2) Ohio State vs. (3) TCU |
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New Year's Six bowl games
| Date | Bowl / Location | Matchup | Prediction |
|---|---|---|---|
Jan. 2 | Rose | Big Ten vs. Pac-12 | Michigan vs. USC |
Jan. 2 | Cotton | at-large vs. at-large | Washington vs. UCF |
Dec. 31 | Sugar | SEC vs. Big 12 | LSU vs. Kansas State |
Dec. 30 | Orange | ACC vs. SEC/B1G/ND | Clemson vs. Alabama |
The Big Ten West continued to descend into chaos after Purdue won 31-24 at Illinois. That created a four-way tie atop the division with Minnesota and Iowa, which beat Wisconsin for its third straight victory. The Badgers are a game back at 3-4 but still have an outside shot to win the division. You have to figure that the opening line on the Big Ten Championship Game, regardless of the participants, will be north of 30 in favor of either Ohio State or Michigan.
There are currently 63 bowl-eligible teams, which means we only need 19 more to fill all the spots. However, there are only two weeks left for teams to become eligible. The current projection is that we fall two teams short, so Rice and Iowa State are projected to bowl games at 5-7.
Don't see your team? Check out Jerry Palm's updated bowl projections after Week 11 as well as the CBS Sports bowl eligibility tracker for updates on what your team needs to do in order to go bowling this season.
