The SEC and Big Ten championship games are shaping up to be rematches from top-five matchups in the regular season.
Oregon and Ohio State will revisit their 32-31 classic on Oct. 12 if the Buckeyes beat Michigan on Saturday. Georgia beat Texas 30-15 on Oct. 19, and they will have a rematch if the Longhorns beat Texas A&M on Saturday.
How do we sell these matchups in terms of the College Football Playoff bracket?
Honestly, we're not sure, and that is reflected in our Week 14 Bowl Projections. For now, we are picking Oregon and Texas to win those games. Look at our bracket.
That means the SEC loser – Georgia – would fall to the No. 8 seed, where a win would earn a matchup against Oregon – the No. 1 overall seed in the bracket. That is not a favorable draw for either team.
The SEC winner – Texas – would have a favorable draw as the No. 2 seed, but not as good as Ohio State – which could face No. 12 Boise State and No. 4 Arizona State – in either order depending on how those projected conference champions are seeded. The Buckeyes have the best draw of any of these teams, and it exposes the true value of conference championship games and the need to just seed these teams 1-12 the proper way.
In the end, we think some combination of Oregon, Ohio State, Texas and Georgia will be the championship game, and perhaps Notre Dame gets in the way.
MORE: SEC title game scenarios | Big 12 | Big Ten | ACC
The third set of College Football Playoff rankings will be unveiled Tuesday. Sporting News will have weekly bowl projections leading up to the unveiling of the first 12-team playoff field on Dec. 8.
The first round of the new CFP will have one game on Friday, Dec. 20, and three on Saturday, Dec. 21. The quarterfinals will be played at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (Dec. 31), Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Jan. 1), Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential (Jan. 1) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1).
The semifinals will be played at the Capital One Orange Bowl (Jan. 9) and Cotton Bowl Classic (Jan. 10). The CFP national championship is Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
Here are our bowl projections for Week 14.
College football bowl predictions 2024
There are 35 bowls involving FBS teams outside the College Football Playoff this season. A look at our projections for those matchups:
| DATE | BOWL | MATCHUP |
| Dec. 14 | Camellia Bowl | Ohio vs. James Madison |
| Dec. 17 | Boca Raton Bowl | Arkansas State vs. South Florida |
| Dec. 18 | Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl | Louisiana vs. Liberty |
| Dec. 18 | LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk | UNLV vs. Kansas State |
| Dec. 19 | R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl | Marshall vs. Jacksonville State |
| Dec. 20 | Staffdna Cure Bowl | East Carolina vs. Coastal Carolina |
| Dec. 20 | Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl | UConn vs. Florida |
| Dec. 23 | Myrtle Beach Bowl | Miami, Ohio vs. South Alabama |
| Dec. 23 | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | Toledo vs. San Jose State |
| Dec. 24 | Hawaii Bowl | Army vs. Colorado State |
| Dec. 26 | Detroit Bowl | Western Michigan vs. Rutgers |
| Dec. 26 | Guaranteed Rate Bowl | Oklahoma vs. Virginia Tech |
| Dec. 26 | 68 Ventures Bowl | Georgia Southern vs. Buffalo |
| Dec. 27 | Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl | West Virginia vs. Arkansas |
| Dec. 27 | Birmingham Bowl | Kansas vs. Vanderbilt |
| Dec. 27 | Autozone Liberty Bowl | TCU vs. LSU |
| Dec. 27 | SDS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl | Colorado vs. Duke |
| Dec. 27 | DirecTV Holiday Bowl | Cal vs. Texas Tech |
| Dec. 28 | Wasabi Fenway Bowl | Tulane vs. Syracuse |
| Dec. 28 | Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl | North Carolina vs. Nebraska |
| Dec. 28 | Isleta New Mexico Bowl | Western Kentucky vs. New Mexico |
| Dec. 28 | Pop-Tarts Bowl | Pitt vs. Baylor |
| Dec. 28 | Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice | Northern Illinois vs. Fresno State |
| Dec. 28 | Go Bowling Military Bowl | Navy vs. Boston College |
| Dec. 28 | Valero Alamo Bowl | Washington State vs. BYU |
| Dec. 28 | Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl | Memphis vs. Washington |
| Dec. 30 | Transperfect Music City Bowl | Minnesota vs. Missouri |
| Dec. 31 | Reliaquest Bowl | Michigan vs. Texas A&M |
| Dec. 31 | Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl | Georgia Tech vs. USC |
| Dec. 31 | Cheez-It Citrus Bowl | Illinois vs. Alabama |
| Dec. 31 | Texas Bowl | Iowa State vs. Ole Miss |
| Jan. 2 | Taxslayer Gator Bowl | Louisville vs. South Carolina |
| Jan. 3 | Servpro First Responder Bowl | UTSA vs. Texas State |
| Jan. 3 | Duke's Mayo Bowl | Clemson vs. Iowa |
| Jan. 4 | Bahamas Bowl | Bowling Green vs. Sam Houston |
College Football Playoff first-round predictions
A look at the four College Football Playoff first-round matchups for the 2024-25 season. Those first-round games will be played on campus:
| DATE | BOWL | MATCHUP |
| Dec. 20 | First-Round CFP game | No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State |
| Dec. 21 | First-Round CFP game | No. 9 Indiana at No. 8 Georgia |
| Dec. 21 | First-Round CFP game | No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Ohio State |
| Dec. 21 | First-Round CFP game | No. 10 Tennessee at No. 7 Notre Dame |
The best matchup would be Tennessee at Notre Dame. Those schools have split eight previous meetings and have not played since a home-and-home the Irish swept in 2004-05. Georgia would be the lone SEC school to host a playoff game in this scenario, and if they win the SEC championship game then Texas would be in that spot. They can compare schedules with Indiana. Boise State (41.2 ppg.) and SMU (39.3 ppg.) rank in the top six in scoring offense this season. How would they fare at hostile 100,000-plus venues at Ohio Stadium and Beaver Stadium?
College Football Playoff quarterfinal predictions
A look at the College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchups for the 2024-25 season. Those games will be played at the traditional New Year's Day Six bowl sites:
| DATE | BOWL | MATCHUP |
| Dec. 31 | Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (quarterfinal) | No. 4 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Ohio State |
| Jan. 1 | Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl (quarterfinal) | No. 3 Miami vs. No. 6 Penn State |
| Jan. 1 | Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential (quarterfinal) | No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 8 Georgia |
| Jan. 1 | Allstate Sugar Bowl (quarterfinal) | No. 2 Texas vs. No. 7 Notre Dame |
Ignore the seeding and just look at the field. Would an eight-team playoff be better? The Sun Devils and Hurricanes would be underdogs against Big Ten teams, and that matchup between Oregon and Georgia was our pick for the CFP championship game in Week 11.
College Football Playoff semifinal predictions
A look at the College Football Playoff semifinal matchups for the 2024-25 season. Those games will be played at the traditional New Year's Day Six bowl sites:
| DATE | BOWL | MATCHUP |
| Jan. 9 | Capital One Orange Bowl (semifinal) | No. 2 Texas vs. No. 6 Penn State |
| Jan. 10 | Cotton Bowl Classic (semifinal) | No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 5 Ohio State |
Three Big Ten teams in the semifinals? A potential three-match between the Ducks and Buckeyes? That is in the cards in this week's projection. We considered picking Notre Dame against Texas, and we would not be surprised if the Irish could make it two straight victories against SEC teams. The Longhorns are the only team among these four that played in the four-team College Football Playoff last season. Would they take advantage of the close-to-home atmosphere at the Cotton Bowl?
College Football Playoff championship pick
A look at the College Football Playoff championship matchup for the 2024-25 season. That game is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
| DATE | BOWL | MATCHUP |
| Jan. 20 | CFP National championship | No. 2 Texas vs. No. 5 Ohio State |
Yes, we have changed our CFP championship pick the last four weeks. Some of that is dictated on how those matchups are playing out each week. The Buckeyes have been the constant the last three weeks, and they could lose the Big Ten championship game and we still see them making this run. Ditto for Texas. Quinn Ewers – who played one year at Ohio State – would be the focus of this matchup, which would be a blue-blooded classic befitting of the first 12-team championship game.
