Photo by Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
It's November, which means we're getting close to bowl season, and the college football bowl game landscape is taking shape.The bowl selection process has changed in the past three years, with the advent of the College Football Playoff and New Year's Six bowls, and conferences now have a greater say in the bowl pecking order than they did before.The top four teams go to the Playoff, regardless of conference, and the remaining New Year's Six bowls are filled out with conference tie-ins and at-large bids. All bowls have conference tie-ins, but those are broken when conferences can't fill all of their slots. Here's a good look at the tie-in and selection process. Teams have to be at least 6-6 to make a bowl, but if there aren't enough 6-6 teams to fill all of the slots, 5-7 teams are selected based on their Academic Progress Rate. I'm projecting a whopping SIX slots will be open for 5-7 teams. Those teams are marked with an asterisk.I'm still projecting Michigan in the Playoff because I think the Wolverines beat Ohio State this weekend, but the winner of that game gets a spot. There's a chance a second Big Ten team could slip in ahead of Washington, but for now, I'm sticking with the Huskies. Other interesting matchups: Ohio State-Colorado, Miami-Georgia (the Richt bowl!), Oklahoma State-USC and Louisville-Penn State.
