College Football Playoff Predictions Week 5: Bowl Projections Shift With Bad Oregon Loss

College Football Playoff predictions reward USC and punish Oregon severely now. The new College Football Playoff bowl projections come from an updated report on CBS Sports. The top four schools predicted to make the final bracket remain unchanged, and consist of Ohio State, TCU, Alabama, and Clemson. CBS has shifted some of the major bowl projections, though, including a new match-up for the Rose Bowl.

The Oregon Ducks lost at home to the Utah Utes (62-20), and the school has been bumped all the way down to the Royal Purple Bowl. That December 19 bowl game now has BYU vs. Oregon in a game many Ducks fans were not expecting to see. CBS isn’t quite on board with Utah, though, placing the school against Louisville in the Sun Bowl. The new Rose Bowl match-up is Michigan State vs. USC, with the evident prediction that USC will now win the Pac-12 Championship Game.

At the top of the 2016 College Football Playoff predictions, CBS has TCU vs. Alabama in the Cotton Bowl and Ohio State vs. Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Alabama bounced back from a loss to Ole Miss to beat Louisiana-Monroe 34-0 on Saturday, September 26. It’s the only school in the top four to not be undefeated, with likely the toughest route to still make it through the SEC Championship Game and into the final seeding. A very important game against LSU will be coming up soon.

As for the other major bowl games for New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve, the predicted match-ups are Baylor vs. LSU at the Sugar Bowl, Ole Miss vs. Boise State at the Fiesta Bowl, and Florida State vs. Wisconsin at the Peach Bowl. Further match-ups of interest include Troy vs. Arizona in the Cactus Bowl, Michigan vs. Georgia in the Citrus Bowl, Oklahoma vs. Stanford in the Alamo Bowl, and Oklahoma State vs. Kentucky in the Texas Bowl. Notre Dame is now projected to play West Virginia in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

There is a lot to take away from these big bowl game projections, but maybe the most important fact is how much it could still fluctuate. While the top four teams may have not changed, several games in Week 5 could change that. Alabama vs. Georgia and Notre Dame vs. Clemson are certainly two to keep an eye on. With many weeks before the 2016 College Football Playoff brackets are set the latest projections from the CBS analysts should still be considered just a best guess.

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