College football Week 5 bowl projections: Wisconsin making a Playoff push?

Bill Bender

College football Week 5 bowl projections: Wisconsin making a Playoff push? image

Sporting News' Week 5 bowl projections are here, and feature the usual suspects of Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma and Ohio State as our picks to make the Playoff. The Sooners were off in Week 4, but the Tigers, Crimson Tide and Buckeyes took care of business again, winning by an average of 51.7 points.

Those were impressive wins, but perhaps no team had a more impressive victory than Wisconsin, which moved into the New Year's Day Six discussion after a dominant 35-14 win over Michigan. Oregon and Boise State also made the moves up as well.

MORE: Week 5 Playoff picture

The 2019 college 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 at the Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl.

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 5 of the college football season:

Week 5 college football bowl projections

Dec. 20Makers Wanted Bahamas BowlWestern Michigan vs. North Texas
Dec. 20DXL Frisco BowlToledo vs. SMU
Dec. 21Gildan New Mexico BowlLouisiana Tech vs. Wyoming
Dec. 21AutoNation Cure BowlArkansas State vs. Temple
Dec. 21Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton BowlMarshall vs. Cincinnati
Dec. 21Raycom Media Camellia BowlEastern Michigan vs. Troy
Dec. 21Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas BowlFresno State vs. Cal
Dec. 21R&L Carriers New Orleans BowlCharlotte vs. Appalachian State
Dec. 23Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla BowlUAB vs. Memphis
Dec. 24SoFi Hawai'i BowlBYU vs. Hawaii
Dec. 26Walk-On's Independence BowlColorado* vs. Syracuse
Dec. 26Quick Lane BowlIndiana vs. Virginia Tech
Dec. 27Military Bowl Presented by Northrop GrummanArmy* vs. Tulane
Dec. 27New Era Pinstripe BowlNebraska vs. Florida State
Dec. 27Academy Sports and Outdoors Texas BowlWest Virginia vs. Ole Miss
Dec. 27SDCU Holiday BowlWashington vs. Michigan State
Dec. 27Cheez-It BowlWashington State vs. Baylor
Dec. 28Camping World BowlIowa State vs. Pittsburgh
Dec. 30SERVPRO First Responders BowlTCU vs. Northwestern
Dec. 30Franklin American Mortgage Music City BowlVanderbilt vs. Miami
Dec. 30Redbox BowlArizona State vs. Minnesota
Dec. 31Belk BowlMississippi State vs. North Carolina
Dec. 31Hyundai Sun BowlUtah vs. Wake Forest
Dec. 31AutoZone Liberty BowlKansas State vs. Kentucky
Dec. 31Valero Alamo BowlUSC vs. Oklahoma State
Dec. 31NOVA Home Loans Arizona BowlLouisiana vs. Air Force
Jan. 1Outback BowlTexas A&M vs. Penn State
Jan. 1Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus BowlAuburn vs. Michigan
Jan. 2Birmingham BowlUCF vs. N.C. State*
Jan. 2TaxSlayer BowlFlorida vs. Iowa
Jan. 3Famous Idaho Potato BowlBuffalo vs. Utah State
Jan. 4Lockheed Martin Armed Forces BowlTexas Tech vs. Navy
Jan. 6Mobile Alabama BowlOhio vs. Coastal Carolina
*No conference tie-in to bowl

MORE: Sizing up the unbeatens

College Football Playoff/New Year’s Day Six projections

Dec. 28Goodyear Cotton BowlNotre Dame vs. Boise State
Dec. 30Capital One Orange BowlVirginia vs. LSU
Jan. 1Rose BowlOregon vs. Wisconsin 
Jan. 1Allstate Sugar BowlGeorgia vs. Texas
Dec. 28PlayStation Fiesta Bowl (semifinal)Clemson vs. Oklahoma
Dec. 28Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (semifinal)Alabama vs. Ohio State

College Football Playoff championship projection

Jan. 13College Football Playoff championshipClemson vs. Alabama

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.