Let's predict every college football bowl game and playoff matchup for 2017-18

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The 2017-18 college football schedule features 40 bowl games between FBS teams, which culminates with the College Football Playoff Championship on Jan. 8 in Atlanta. This year’s semifinals will be played on Jan. 1 for the first time since 2014 at the Rose and Sugar Bowls.

So, who makes the 2018 College Football Playoff? Sporting News likes the chalk picks of Alabama, Ohio State, USC and Florida State, and we are going with a matchup that features the Crimson Tide and the Trojans in the championship game.  

Sporting News has preseason projections for every bowl game, and a few familiar teams are back in the semifinals with a new matchup in the national championship game.

MORE: 17 questions for the 2017 season

College football bowl projections 

DATE BOWL GAME PROJECTED TEAMS
Dec. 16 R+L Carrier New Orleans Bowl Appalachian State vs. Old Dominion
Dec. 16 AutoNation Cure Bowl East Carolina vs. Arkansas State
Dec. 16 Las Vegas Bowl Oregon State vs. Boise State
Dec. 16 Gildan New Mexico Bowl New Mexico vs. Middle Tennessee State
Dec. 16 Raycom Media Camellia Bowl Western Michigan vs. Georgia Southern
Dec. 19 Boca Raton Bowl Temple vs. Western Kentucky
Dec. 20 Frisco Bowl Memphis vs. Ohio
Dec. 21 St. Petersburg Bowl UCF vs. Louisiana Tech
Dec. 22 Bahamas Bowl Bowling Green vs. UTSA
Dec. 22 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Miami, Ohio vs. San Diego State
Dec. 23 Birmingham Bowl Tulsa vs. Kentucky
Dec. 23 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl UCLA vs. Army
Dec. 23 Dollar General Bowl Toledo vs. Idaho
Dec. 24 Hawai'i Bowl Houston vs. Hawaii
Dec. 26 Cactus Bowl TCU vs. Air Force
Dec. 26 Quick Lane Bowl Minnesota vs. North Carolina
Dec. 26 Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl Baylor vs. Southern Miss
Dec. 27 Independence Bowl Pittsburgh vs. BYU
Dec. 27 New Era Pinstripe Bowl Maryland vs. Georgia Tech
Dec. 27 Texas Bowl West Virginia vs. Mississippi State
Dec. 27 Foster Farms Bowl Washington State vs. Michigan State
Dec. 28 Military Bowl by Northrop Grumman Navy vs. N.C. State
Dec. 28 Camping World Bowl Oklahoma State vs. Louisville
Dec. 28 Valero Alamo Bowl Kansas State vs. Stanford
Dec. 28 SDCCU Holiday Bowl Utah vs. Northwestern
Dec. 29 Belk Bowl South Carolina vs. Notre Dame
Dec. 29 Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl Virginia Tech vs. Texas A&M
Dec. 29 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Oklahoma vs. Michigan
Dec. 30 TaxSlayer Bowl Iowa vs. Arkansas
Dec. 30 AutoZone Liberty Bowl Texas vs. Tennessee
Dec. 30 Hyundai Sun Bowl Colorado vs. Miami, Fla.
Dec. 30 Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl San Jose State vs. Troy
Dec. 30 PlayStation Fiesta Bowl Washington vs. Penn State
Dec. 30 Capital One Orange Bowl Clemson vs. LSU
Jan. 1 Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl South Florida vs. Auburn
Jan. 1 Outback Bowl Nebraska vs. Georgia
Jan. 1 Citrus Bowl Wisconsin vs. Florida


MORE: SN's preseason Top 25 rankings | Composite Top 25

College Football Playoff

DATE BOWL GAME PROJECTED TEAMS
Jan. 1 Rose Bowl Game (Playoff semifinal) USC vs. Florida State
Jan. 1 Allstate Sugar Bowl (Playoff semifinal) Ohio State vs. Alabama
Jan. 8 College Football Championship Game Alabama vs. USC


MORE: 14 September games we can't wait for

Author(s)
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Bill Bender is a national college football writer for The Sporting News.
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