Sad as it is to say, the 2017 college football campaign in on its last legs and is moving on to the final phase: the postseason. While it’s a bummer that we only have a handful of games left in the year, the excitement is also about to pick up even more because it means the chase for the national title is down to four in the College Football Playoff.
With all that in mind, CFTalk decided to peer into our crystal ball and take a look at the postseason picture one final time -- figuring out which teams wind up in certain bowl games prior to the official announcements on Sunday afternoon. Running through all the scenarios, here’s how the bowl picture could play out from the final four to the very first one on December 16th:
College Football Playoff
| Bowl | Teams | |
|---|---|---|
| Rose Bowl | No. 2 Oklahoma* | No. 3 Georgia* |
| Sugar Bowl | No. 1 Clemson* | No. 4 Alabama |
New Year’s Six
| Bowl | Teams | |
|---|---|---|
| Peach Bowl | UCF* | Notre Dame |
| Fiesta Bowl | USC* | Penn State |
| Orange Bowl | Miami | Wisconsin |
| Cotton Bowl | Ohio State* | Auburn |
2017 FBS Bowl Games
| Bowl | Teams | |
|---|---|---|
| New Orleans Bowl | Troy | North Texas |
| Cure Bowl | Marshall | Georgia State |
| Las Vegas Bowl | Arizona | Boise State |
| New Mexico Bowl | Colorado State | UTSA |
| Camellia Bowl | Akron | Arkansas State |
| Boca Raton Bowl | Temple | Florida Atlantic |
| Frisco Bowl | SMU | UCLA |
| Gasparilla Bowl | Western Kentucky | FIU |
| Bahamas Bowl | UAB+ | Ohio+ |
| Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | Wyoming | Northern Illinois |
| Birmingham Bowl | USF | West Virginia |
| Armed Forces Bowl | Army+ | Southern Miss |
| Dollar General Bowl | Toledo | App. State |
| Hawaii Bowl | Fresno State | Houston |
| Cactus Bowl | Kansas State | Oregon |
| Quick Lane Bowl | Central Michigan | Purdue |
| Heart of Dallas Bowl | Texas Tech | Utah |
| Independence Bowl | Louisiana Tech | Duke |
| Pinstripe Bowl | Boston College | Iowa |
| Texas Bowl | Texas | Missouri |
| Foster Farms Bowl | San Diego State | Washington State |
| Military Bowl | Virginia | Navy |
| Camping World Bowl | N.C. State | Oklahoma State |
| Alamo Bowl | TCU | Washington |
| Holiday Bowl | Michigan State | Stanford |
| Belk Bowl | Texas A&M | Wake Forest |
| Sun Bowl | Florida State | Arizona State |
| Music City Bowl | Kentucky | Northwestern |
| TaxSlayer Bowl | Louisville | Mississippi State |
| Liberty Bowl | Iowa State | Memphis |
| Arizona Bowl | Utah State | N.M. State |
| Outback Bowl | South Carolina | Michigan |
| Citrus Bowl | Virginia Tech | LSU |
+Accepted bowl invite
*Clinched New Year’s Six Bowl bid
Note: Buffalo, Middle Tennessee and Western Michigan also qualified for a bowl but were not selected