College football bowl projections: Florida hangs in New Year’s Six despite loss, North Carolina joins field

Florida threw away control of its own College Football Playoff hopes in a 37-34 loss to LSU in The Swamp. The Gators’ chances of making the CFP were always dependent on beating Alabama, but prior to Saturday night, simply beating the Crimson Tide would have been enough. Now Florida will need help.

The loss does not change its bowl projection, however, which is based on a loss to Alabama. The Gators are still expected to play the Peach Bowl against Cincinnati, but Florida may end up being the lower ranked team in that game

With the schedule changes and game cancellations this week, games among the top teams were few and far between. The only game on the schedule between teams ranked in the top 20 was the battle for a likely Orange Bowl berth featuring North Carolina at Miami.

The Tar Heels ran up over 700 yards on the Hurricanes in a 62-26 win. North Carolina should now be the highest rated team from the ACC available to the Orange Bowl if both Notre Dame and Clemson participate in the College Football Playoff. That is what I am still projecting. UNC replacing Miami is the only change in this week’s New Year’s Six projections.

College Football Playoff

New Year’s Six bowl games

Every team in the current top eight of the CFP Rankings is scheduled to be in action next week in conference championship games.

USC will also play in a conference championship game next week. The Trojans are the last remaining undefeated team in the Pac-12 following their 43-38 come-from-behind win over UCLA. USC is scheduled to play Washington, which clinched the title when COVID-19 issues with the Huskies canceled their game with Oregon. That game would have decided the Pac-12 North. The Ducks could still end up in that game if Washington is not cleared to play.

In recent weeks, we have seen 10 bowl games get canceled and one added. We can chalk that up to the chaos that is 2020. Another new thing in 2020 is teams opting out of bowl games. This week, Boston College and Pittsburgh, both from the ACC, have decided to take Bowl Season off. In both cases, that was driven by the players, which have been largely isolated from their families for several months to be able to play this season out. Do not be surprised to see more of this. Many players may prefer to spend their holidays with their families than in a bowl game.

Jerry Palm’s complete 2020 bowl projections will be out Sunday afternoon.