The 2018 college football schedule features 40 bowl games between FBS teams, culminating with the College Football Playoff Championship on Jan. 7 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. This year’s semifinals will be played on Dec. 29 at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and Capital One Orange Bowl.
So, who makes the 2018 College Football Playoff? The safest bet involves some combination of Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Clemson, Oklahoma or Washington: a group of teams that includes all four Playoff teams from last season. They'll most likely decide the fifth national championship in the College Football Playoff era.
MORE: Sporting News' 2018 season preview
Sporting News has preseason projections for every bowl game, and a few familiar teams are back in the semifinals ... with a throwback in the national championship game.
College football bowl projections
| Date | Bowl | Projected teams |
| Dec. 15 | Gildan New Mexico Bowl | Wyoming vs. Southern Miss |
| Dec. 15 | AutoNation Cure Bowl | Appalachian State vs. USF |
| Dec. 15 | Las Vegas Bowl | Boise State vs. Washington State |
| Dec. 15 | Raycom Media Camellia Bowl | Georgia Southern vs. Northern Illinois |
| Dec. 15 | New Orleans Bowl | Louisiana-Monroe vs. Louisiana Tech |
| Dec. 18 | Cheribundi Tart Boca Raton Bowl | Toledo vs. FIU |
| Dec. 19 | Frisco Bowl | Ohio vs. SMU |
| Dec. 20 | Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl | FAU vs. Houston |
| Dec. 21 | Bahamas Bowl | Marshall vs. Temple |
| Dec. 21 | Potato Bowl | Western Michigan vs. Utah State |
| Dec. 22 | Birmingham Bowl | Memphis vs. Tennessee |
| Dec. 22 | Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl | Navy vs. BYU |
| Dec. 22 | Dollar General Bowl | Arkansas State vs. Miami |
| Dec. 22 | Hawai'i Bowl | San Diego State vs. North Texas |
| Dec. 26 | First Responder Bowl | UAB vs. Iowa |
| Dec. 26 | Quick Lane Bowl | Wake Forest vs. Minnesota |
| Dec. 26 | Cheez-It Bowl | Iowa State vs. Utah |
| Dec. 27 | Walk-On's Independence Bowl | Pittsburgh vs. Florida |
| Dec. 27 | New Era Pinstripe Bowl | Louisville vs. Purdue |
| Dec. 27 | Foster Farms Bowl | Nebraska vs. Arizona |
| Dec. 27 | Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl | Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M |
| Dec. 28 | Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl | N.C. State vs. Missouri |
| Dec. 28 | Camping World Bowl | West Virginia vs. Virginia Tech |
| Dec. 28 | Arizona Bowl | Troy vs. Fresno State |
| Dec. 28 | Valero Alamo Bowl | Texas vs. Oregon |
| Dec. 29 | Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl | Miami, Fla. vs. Michigan |
| Dec. 29 | Belk Bowl | Florida State vs. LSU |
| Dec. 31 | Military Bowl | Army vs. Georgia Tech |
| Dec. 31 | Hyundai Sun Bowl | Boston College vs. UCLA |
| Dec. 31 | San Francisco Bowl | Maryland vs. Arizona State |
| Dec. 31 | AutoZone Liberty Bowl | Kansas State vs. Kentucky |
| Dec. 31 | Holiday Bowl | Northwestern vs. USC |
| Dec. 31 | TaxSlayer Gator Bowl | Notre Dame vs. South Carolina |
| Jan. 1 | Outback Bowl | Michigan State vs. Mississippi State |
| Jan. 1 | Citrus Bowl | Penn State vs. Auburn |
| Jan. 1 | PlayStation Fiesta Bowl | UCF vs. Stanford |
| Jan. 1 | Rose Bowl Game | Wisconsin vs. Washington |
| Jan. 1 | AllState Sugar Bowl | TCU vs. Georgia |
College Football Playoff predictions
| Dec. 29 | Capital One Orange Bowl | Oklahoma vs. Alabama |
| Dec. 29 | Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic | Clemson vs. Ohio State |
| Jan. 7 | College Football Playoff championship | Alabama vs. Clemson |