College football Week 4 bowl projections: Big Ten's return shakes up Playoff picture

Bill Bender

College football Week 4 bowl projections: Big Ten's return shakes up Playoff picture image

The SEC is back. The Big Ten is on the way. The Pac-12 might even come, too.  

Week 4 of the college football season is here, and it feels like the true start of the College Football Playoff race. The SEC will open its conference-only schedule this week, and that adds more intrigue to the 2020 season.  

MORE: Updated AP, Coaches Polls

Sporting News released its College Football Playoff picks along with predictions for all 43 bowl games earlier this summer, but until there are definite plans for the remainder of the bowls, we are going to project the New Year’s Day Six bowls each week.  

We can still pick the College Football Playoff, which will go on as scheduled. This season’s semifinals are Jan. 1 at the Rose Bowl Game and Allstate Sugar Bowl. The CFP championship game will be Jan. 11 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.   

With that in mind, here are Sporting News' picks for the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Day Six. Our playoff features the usual suspects. Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and Ohio State have combined for 17 of the past 24 playoff appearances.  

College Football New Year's Day Six predictions  

DATEBOWLTEAMS
Dec. 30Goodyear Cotton BowlTexas vs. Notre Dame
Jan. 1Chick-Fil-A Peach BowlGeorgia vs. Wisconsin
Jan. 2PlayStation Fiesta BowlCincinnati vs. Penn State
Jan. 2Capital One Orange BowlNorth Carolina vs. Florida

College Football Playoff semifinals prediction 

DATEBOWLTEAMS
Jan. 1Rose Bowl Game (semifinal)Ohio State vs. Alabama
Jan. 1Allstate Sugar Bowl (semifinal)Clemson vs. Oklahoma

College Football Playoff championship prediction 

DATEBOWLTEAMS
Jan. 11CFP Championship GameClemson 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.