The College Football Playoff selection committee meets this week to rank teams in its Top 25 for the first time. The task is tall after conference races shifted significantly from fairly straightforward to overly complicated.
That naturally has an impact on many of the bowl games outside of the playoff, from the prominent warm-weather games around New Year’s Day all the way down to the very first games just after the regular season concludes in mid-December. While much of the oxygen in college football will focus on just the 12 teams who make the CFP field, that shouldn’t obscure some of the great stories where teams are eyeing their first bowl game in several years.
That’s the case for New Mexico, which could cap a banner season under Jason Eck against UTSA at its home stadium in the New Mexico Bowl or Southern Miss landing in the Myrtle Beach Bowl against East Carolina. Temple, which hasn’t made the postseason since 2019 is also in line for a bowl and is currently slated for the Gasparilla Bowl.
As for the other bowl games, there are several fun matchups on deck after Week 10 that might be headlined by Oklahoma facing off against Nebraska in a rivalry renewed (despite the tough news about the Cornhuskers’ quarterback situation). The Pop-Tarts Bowl features a pair of projected conference runners-up in BYU and Virginia. Navy-Hawai’i in the Hawai’i Bowl could be an incredible Christmas Eve shootout on the islands between differing offensive systems. Utah-SMU could be a heck of a Holiday Bowl with some dynamic quarterbacks to contend with. Also, do you think Lincoln Riley will be miffed at going back to the state of Texas to play Willie Fritz again? Well, that’s what is shaping up in the Alamo Bowl between USC and Houston.
With all that in mind, here is how Sports Illustrated sees the playoff and all of 35 bowl games coming together to form the postseason picture in 2025–26 after Week 10.
College Football Playoff Projected Rankings After Week 10
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Indiana
- Texas A&M
- Georgia
- Mississippi
- Oregon
- Texas Tech
- Notre Dame
- Louisville
- Georgia Tech
- South Florida
First Round
- No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Texas Tech
- No. 10 Louisville at No. 7 Oregon
- No. 11 Georgia Tech vs. No. 6 Mississippi
- No. 12 South Florida vs. Georgia
Quarterfinals
- Orange Bowl: No. 4 Texas A&M vs. winner of No. 12 South Florida vs. Georgia
- Cotton Bowl: No. 3 Indiana vs. winner of No. 11 Georgia Tech vs. No. 6 Mississippi
- Sugar Bowl: No. 2 Alabama vs. winner of No. 10 Louisville at No. 7 Oregon
- Rose Bowl: No. 1 Ohio State vs. winner of No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Texas Tech
Bowl Projections After Week 9
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as College Football Playoff and Bowl Projections After Week 10: BYU, Virginia Miss Auto Bids.