College Football Bowl Projections 2022: Coastal Carolina Cruise to Cotton Bowl Clash With UCLA

With Week 6 of the 2022 season in the rearview mirror, it’s time to start looking toward the future with some college football bowl projections. If you are like us and bowl season is your favorite holiday, then you’ll be just as excited as we are for some of the matchups that our bowl projections have thrown together. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

2022 College Football Bowl Projections | New Year’s Six

Our 2022 college football bowl projections are comprised of a combination of our own College Football Top 25 and the teams that fall outside of those are selected based on their current standing within their conference. If you don’t see your favorite team here, there’s a solid chance that they’re not likely to be going bowling in 2022.

Let’s kick off with the Crown Jewels of college football bowl season, the College Football Playoff and other New Year’s Six games.

Peach Bowl (College Football Playoff) | No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 3 Georgia

Currently ranked second in our College Football Top 25, the Ohio State Buckeyes look like an unstoppable force destined for a Big Ten title and College Football Playoff berth. C.J. Stroud exits Week 6 as the Heisman Trophy favorite and likely QB1 of the 2023 NFL Draft after throwing six touchdowns in a 49-20 win over Michigan State.

In our college football bowl projections, the Buckeyes face a Georgia Bulldogs team who rebounded from a near-scare against Missouri to destroy Auburn 42-10 in Week 6. They leaned on their traditionally stellar ground game, with an unlikely dual-threat contribution from Stetson Bennett. The Bulldogs’ defense has been exceptional again this fall, giving us an unstoppable force versus an immovable object in this clash.

Fiesta Bowl (College Football Playoff) | No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Michigan

Despite suffering a scare against Texas A&M where better play-calling might have seen the Aggies shock Alabama for a second consecutive season, the Crimson Tide keeps rolling in their quest for another CFB crown. They were a goal-line stand away from defeat on Saturday evening, clinging on to a narrow 24-20 victory. Winning without their star QB, Bryce Young, speaks to the multiple ways that this team can get the job done.

They face a Michigan Wolverines team that features multiple dominant defensive players and one of the best running backs in the nation in Blake Corum. The defense tallied seven sacks and 10 tackles for loss while Corum rushed for another 100+ yards in a college football Week 6 31-10 win over Indiana. Although set to finish behind Ohio State in the Big Ten, our college football bowl projections suggest that their résumé could be strong enough to still make the top four.

Rose Bowl | USC vs. Penn State

The crown jewel of the Pac-12 and Big Ten conference, a picture postcard of college football history, the Rose Bowl is the most iconic game on the bowl-season schedule. With Ohio State and Michigan heading to the College Football Playoff in our bowl projections, the next-best team in the Big Ten gets a pass to Pasadena in the form of the Penn State Nittany Lions.

MORE: Week 6 Team of the Week

Penn State was on a bye in Week 6, and their clash with Michigan next week will be a big deciding factor as to whether these projections continue to mirror real life. Here, they face a USC team projected to emerge as the Pac-12 champions but without the strength of résumé to make it to the final four. The Trojans are undefeated following their 30-14 win over Washington State. It would be typical Pac-12 of them to fall to Colorado on a cold Friday night.

Cotton Bowl | Coastal Carolina vs. UCLA

The darlings of the 2020 season are back, and back with a vengeance. Last season, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers struggled to live up to the high level of expectation they set during their fairytale 2020 campaign. This season, however, they’re undefeated through college football Week 6 and are currently the top-ranked Group of Five team in our College Football Top 25.

Their reward for that success is a berth in the Cotton Bowl according to our college football bowl projections. Coastal Carolina will face a UCLA team who also remains unbeaten after taking care of business against a heavily-fancied Utah team. Having spent the most part of his tenure on the hot seat, Chip Kelly and QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson have helped deliver the Bruins’ best start to a season since 2005.

A Grayson McCall versus Thompson-Robinson dual could be one of the highlights of the CFB bowl season as both attempt to assert themselves on this 2023 NFL Draft class.

Sugar Bowl | Tennessee vs. Oklahoma State

Ahead of the season, the battle to be “best of the rest” in the SEC looked to be one of the most enthralling elements of the season. The Tennessee Volunteers have all but made it their own by the end of Week 6. Hendon Hooker is playing sensational football that he’s parlaying into NFL attention, and the defense has been suffocating behind the likes of Omari Thomas and Byron Young. The Vols continued their unbeaten run with a commanding 40-13 win over LSU where they were dominant in all phases.

Both of the college football teams in the Sugar Bowl projections emerged unscathed from Week 6, with Oklahoma State fighting off a spirited Texas Tech team to go 5-0 in a 41-31 win. The Cowboys are the highest-ranked Big 12 team in our latest Top 25 rankings, narrowly missing out on a spot in the final four as the seventh-ranked team.

Orange Bowl | Ole Miss vs. Clemson

The final New Year’s Six game in our 2022 college football bowl games projections sees a clash of two top-10 teams as ACC Champion Clemson takes on the fourth-best SEC team in Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss.

After a slow start to the season seemed to confirm preseason suspicions that they could struggle this year, Dabo Swinney’s team has found itself behind quarterback DJ Uiagalelei. It helps when your defense is as dominant as any unit that we’ve seen in recent CFB history.

That defense would need to be at the very top of its game to hold an Ole Miss team that seems to grow in confidence every week. The Rebels polished off Vanderbilt 52-28 to remain undefeated with a mesmerizing performance from wide receiver Jonathan Mingo.

The Ole Miss pass catcher reeled in 247 yards and two scores, showing that the Rebels’ offense can burn you by land or by air. In Zach Evans, Ulysses Bentley IV, and freshman Quinshon Judkins, they might have one of the best RB rooms in the country.

Projections for the Remaining 2022 College Football Bowl Games

Citrus Bowl | Minnesota vs. Mississippi State

ReliaQuest Bowl | LSU vs. Indiana

Music City Bowl | Maryland vs. Kentucky

Arizona Bowl | Buffalo vs. Wyoming

Gator Bowl | North Carolina State vs. Florida

Sun Bowl | Pittsburgh vs. California

Duke’s Mayo Bowl | Maryland vs. Auburn

Alamo Bowl | TCU vs. Oregon

Cheez-It Bowl | Wake Forest vs. Kansas

Pinstripe Bowl | Syracuse vs. Nebraska

Texas Bowl | Kansas State vs. Vanderbilt

Holiday Bowl | North Carolina vs. Utah

Liberty Bowl | Baylor vs. South Carolina

Military Bowl | Louisville vs. UCF

Guaranteed Rate Bowl | Texas vs. Illinois

Birmingham Bowl | Cincinnati vs. Texas A&M

First Responder Bowl | UNLV vs. Florida State

Camellia Bowl | Old Dominion vs. Ohio

Quick Lane Bowl | Purdue vs. Western Michigan

Hawaii Bowl | Notre Dame vs. Utah State

Gasparilla Bowl | Tulane vs. Washington

Independence Bowl | Memphis vs. BYU

Armed Forces Bowl | Texas Tech vs. Arkansas

New Orleans Bowl | South Alabama vs. Rice

Boca Raton Bowl | North Texas vs. Troy

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | Eastern Michigan vs. Air Force

Myrtle Beach Bowl | Appalachian State vs. Houston

Frisco Bowl | UTSA vs. San Jose State

Las Vegas Bowl | Oregon State vs. Iowa

Lending Tree Bowl | Western Kentucky vs. Marshall

LA Bowl | Boise State vs. Washington State

New Mexico Bowl | Liberty vs. San Diego State

Celebration Bowl | Florida A&M vs. Delaware State

Fenway Bowl | Duke vs. Navy

Cure Bowl | Texas State vs. Toledo

Bahamas Bowl | UAB vs. Ball State