College football bowl projections Week 13: One-loss teams fight for last Playoff spot

Bill Bender

College football bowl projections Week 13: One-loss teams fight for last Playoff spot image

Sporting News' Week 13 bowl projections are here in time for the third set of College Football Playoff rankings, which will be unveiled on Tuesday.

Sporting News' Playoff picture has not changed despite the season-ending injury to Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, but the scramble among the one-loss teams for that final Playoff spot is too close to call. We have unbeaten teams Ohio State and Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal, and undefeated LSU is still in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl semifinal.

Which one-loss team do we have playing the Tigers? For now, it's still Oregon ahead of Georgia, Oklahoma and Alabama. There are three weeks left to figure it out, and anything can happen with those teams.

MORE: Week 13 Playoff picture

The 2019 college football postseason schedule features 40 bowl games between FBS teams, with the finale at the national title game on Jan. 13 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. This year's semifinal games will be on Dec. 28.

Sporting News has projections for all 40 bowl games here, and they will be updated each week during the college football season. Our projections heading into Week 13 of the college football season:

Week 13 college football bowl projections

DateBowlTeams
Dec. 20Makers Wanted Bahamas BowlMiami (Ohio) vs. Louisiana Tech
Dec. 20DXL Frisco BowlWestern Michigan vs. Temple
Dec. 21New Mexico BowlWestern Kentucky vs. Utah State
Dec. 21AutoNation Cure BowlAppalachian State vs. Cincinnati
Dec. 21Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton BowlFAU vs. Tulane
Dec. 21Raycom Media Camellia BowlToledo vs. Georgia State
Dec. 21Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas BowlBoise State vs. Oregon State
Dec. 21R&L Carriers New Orleans BowlUAB vs. Louisiana
Dec. 23Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla BowlSouthern Miss vs. SMU
Dec. 24SoFi Hawai'i BowlBYU vs. Hawaii
Dec. 26Walk-On's Independence BowlKentucky vs. Miami
Dec. 26Quick Lane BowlMichigan State vs. North Carolina
Dec. 27Military Bowl Presented by Northrop GrummanMarshall* vs. UCF
Dec. 27New Era Pinstripe BowlIllinois vs. Louisville
Dec. 27Academy Sports and Outdoors Texas BowlTexas vs. Boston College*
Dec. 27SDCU Holiday BowlCal vs. Iowa
Dec. 27Cheez-It BowlUCLA vs. Iowa State
Dec. 28Camping World BowlKansas State vs. Virginia Tech
Dec. 30SERVPRO First Responders BowlTCU vs. Wyoming*
Dec. 30Franklin American Mortgage Music City BowlWashington State vs. Pitt
Dec. 30Redbox BowlWashington vs. Indiana
Dec. 31Belk BowlMississippi State vs. Florida State
Dec. 31Hyundai Sun BowlArizona State vs. Wake Forest
Dec. 31AutoZone Liberty BowlOklahoma State vs. Tennessee
Dec. 31Valero Alamo BowlUSC vs. Baylor
Dec. 31NOVA Home Loans Arizona BowlArkansas State vs. Air Force
Jan. 1Outback BowlAuburn vs. Michigan
Jan. 1Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus BowlFlorida vs. Wisconsin
Jan. 2Birmingham BowlCharlotte* vs. Liberty*
Jan. 2TaxSlayer BowlTexas A&M vs. Penn State
Jan. 3Famous Idaho Potato BowlCentral Michigan vs. San Diego State
Jan. 4Lockheed Martin Armed Forces BowlNevada* vs. Navy
Jan. 6Mobile Alabama BowlOhio vs. Georgia Southern
*No conference tie-in to bowl

College Football Playoff/New Year's Day 6 projections

Dec. 28Goodyear Cotton BowlNotre Dame vs. Memphis
Dec. 30Capital One Orange BowlVirginia vs. Georgia
Jan. 1Rose BowlMinnesota vs. Utah
Jan. 1Allstate Sugar BowlAlabama vs. Oklahoma
Dec. 28PlayStation Fiesta BowlClemson vs. Ohio State
Dec. 28Chick-fil-A Peach BowlLSU vs. Oregon

College Football Playoff championship projection

Jan. 13College Football Playoff championshipLSU vs. Ohio State

Bill Bender

Bill Bender graduated from Ohio University in 2002 and started at The Sporting News as a fantasy football writer in 2007. He has covered the College Football Playoff, NBA Finals and World Series for SN. Bender enjoys story-telling, awesomely-bad 80s movies and coaching youth sports.