SEC bowl projections, including CFP, New Year's Six after Week 10
The final stretch of the 2023 college football season is here, one that will have perhaps the greatest impact on the 2023-24 bowl season — particularly as it pertains to the Southeastern Conference.
Kirby Smart's Georgia team, ranked No. 2 in the Week 10 College Football Playoff rankings, scrapped to a 30-21 win against a talented Missouri team that went the distance but ultimately couldn't land a knockout of the two-time defending national champion. The Bulldogs get yet another test in Week 11 vs. No. 10 Ole Miss before taking on No. 17 Tennessee in Week 12.
Speaking of the Vols, they got a nice tuneup game vs. UConn before taking on that same Tigers team in Columbia. Can Josh Heupel's squad catch an emotionally drained Mizzou team, or will the Tigers rebound in this pivotal SEC East matchup?
Elsewhere, No. 8 Alabama and No. 10 Ole Miss both secured important victories for the SEC West race, beating LSU and Texas A&M to remain alive in both the divisional and College Football Playoff races. At the very least, a New Year's Six bowl berth appears feasible for both teams.
What other changes does the bowl scehdule look like ahead of Week 11? Here's where each of the SEC teams are slated to go in the 2023-24 bowl season:
Week 11 college football bowl predictions
All predictions are based off Week 10 CFP rankings
College Football Playoff
- Sugar Bowl: No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 3 Florida State
We've deviated from our usual prediction of top-ranked Georgia taking on No. 4 Washington in the Sugar Bowl to instead pit the No. 2 Bulldogs against No. 3 Florida State.
This matchup features a significantly steeper geographic challenge for the Bulldogs, who won't have quite the travel advantage over the Seminoles as they would have over the Huskies. FSU's duo of quarterback Jordan Travis and Keon Coleman are one of the best in the nation while the defense boasts a top-25 unit in pass defense.
Still, Georgia remains squarely in control of its destiny and also has incoming ranked games vs. Ole Miss and Tennessee to bolster its resume against the likes of Ohio State and Michigan, who bookended the Bulldogs in the Week 10 CFP rankings.
New Year's Six
- Peach Bowl: Alabama vs. Penn State
- Fiesta Bowl: Ole Miss vs. Oregon
Meanwhile, the New Year's Six predictions hold serve for at least another week after each of No. 6 Oregon, No. 8 Alabama, No. 10 Ole Miss and No. 11 Penn State won their respective games in Week 10. But will that hold true again this week?
Ole Miss takes on No. 2 Georgia in arguably the biggest game of Lane Kiffin's career in Week 11, while the Nittany Lions also face No. 3 Michigan in University Park, Pennsylvania. The outcomes of those games will have a massive impact on the New Year's Six bowls and, potentially, the College Football Playoff race.
Remaining SEC bowl projections
With Missouri and LSU both losing in Week 10 to Georgia and Alabama, respectively, Tennessee is now slated to move up the bowl projections to take on the offensive-maligned Iowa Hawkeyes in the Citrus Bowl. However, little else changed in where SEC teams are slated for bowl season, even with a surprising loss by Florida and Texas A&M's defeat by the Rebels.
Here's how the rest of the bowl projections play out:
- Citrus Bowl: Tennessee vs. Iowa
- The ReliaQuest Bowl: Missouri vs. North Carolina*
- Duke's Mayo Bowl: LSU vs. Boston College
- Gator Bowl: Kentucky vs. Duke
- Music City Bowl: Florida vs. Wisconsin
- Texas Bowl: Texas A&M vs. West Virginia
- Liberty Bowl: Auburn vs. Iowa State
*The SEC in 2023 is slated to play the Big Ten in the ReliaQuest bowl. If the Big Ten places one of its teams in the Orange Bowl, the SEC will play an ACC team instead.
