College Football Playoff Predictions, Bowl Projections: What Will the CFP Be?

What will the College Football Playoff matchups be? How will the CFP work?

After a shakeout Saturday with Texas and Alabama losing, and with others like Michigan tapping out, all of a sudden there aren't a ton of obvious options left. 

We'll get the first batch of College Football Playoff rankings in two weeks, but let's fast-forward to the end. Here's our prediction of what the CFP might be as we head into Week 9.

College Football Playoff Predictions: Week 9

- Week 9 Bowl Projections: Part 1 
- Bowl Projections: Part 2 Dec 28-Jan 4

The first round games are played on the home sites of the higher seeds.

No, the committee doesn't care about rematches. It puts together the final rankings, and however they fall out, that's what the games are.

We're guessing the new CFP will want to start out with a bang. Our call of Texas at Texas A&M might be a rematch of the regular season finale, but it'll do incredible ratings on Friday night.

Remembering the time zone factor here, our prediction of Boise State getting the call at the 11 - it beat our prediction of Washington State at the 12 head-to-head - starts out a Smorgasbord Saturday of football early on against 6 seed Penn State. 

Notre Dame at 4 ET would. be perfect for the afternoon, but the showdown against Tennessee gets the primetime slot with Washington State at Oregon the calm before the storm.

College Football Playoff First Round

Friday, December 20
8:00, ABC/ESPN
Home site of higher seed
Bowl Projection: 9 Texas at 8 Texas A&M

College Football Playoff First Round

Saturday, December 21
12:00, TNT
Home site of higher seed
Bowl Projection: 11 Boise State at 6 Penn State

College Football Playoff First Round

Saturday, December 21
4:00, TNT
Home site of higher seed
Bowl Projection: 12 Washington State at 5 Oregon

College Football Playoff First Round

Saturday, December 21
8:00, ABC/ESPN
Home site of higher seed
Bowl Projection: 10 Tennessee at 7 Notre Dame

We're calling for the first round to go chalk except for Texas winning the rematch over Texas A&M. The 12-5 winner plays the projected 4 seed Iowa State - who'll finish lower in the final rankings, but the top four conference champs get in. The Fiesta Bowl makes the most sense.

Penn State takes care of Boise State to set up a whale of an afternoon Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on New Year's Day, all to set up a whale of a Rose Bowl when Texas gets Ohio State. 

College Football Playoff Quarterfinal Vrbo Fiesta Bowl

Tuesday, December 31
7:30, ESPN
State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ
Last Season: Oregon 45, Liberty 6
Bowl Projection: 4 Iowa State vs 5 Oregon

College Football Playoff Quarterfinal Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl

Wednesday, January 1, 2025
1:00, ESPN
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
Last Season: Ole Miss 38, Penn State 25
Bowl Projection: 3 Clemson vs 6 Penn State

College Football Playoff Quarterfinal Rose Bowl

Wednesday, January 1, 2025
5:00, ESPN
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
Last Season: Michigan 27, Alabama 20 OT
Bowl Projection: 1 Ohio State vs 9 Texas

College Football Playoff Quarterfinal Allstate Sugar Bowl

Wednesday, January 1, 2025
8:45, ESPN
Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, LA
Last Season: Washington 37, Texas 31
Bowl Projection: 2 Georgia vs 7 Notre Dame

This is what the College Football Playoff committee won't want - two rematches in the semifinals. Georgia rolled Clemson to start the season, and here it would have to do it again. Meanwhile, the moaning and griping wouldn't stop when Ohio State and Oregon play for a third dime.

College Football Playoff Semifinal Capital One Orange Bowl

Thursday, January 9, 2025
7:30, ESPN
Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL
Last Season: Georgia 63, Florida State 3
Bowl Projection: 2 Georgia vs 3 Clemson

College Football Playoff Semifinal Goodyear Cotton Bowl

Friday, January 10, 2025
7:30, ESPN
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX
Last Season: Missouri 14, Ohio State 3
Bowl Projection: 1 Ohio State vs 5 Oregon

We made the call in mid-January and nothing is changing now. After all of the turmoil, the two most talented teams in College Football come together to play for it all. Not the really, really late date.

College Football Playoff National Championship

Monday, January 20, 2025
7:30, ESPN
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
Last Season: Michigan 34, Washington 13
Bowl Projection: 1 Ohio State vs 2 Georgia 

- Week 9 Bowl Projections: Part 1
- Bowl Projections: Part 2 Dec 28-Jan 4