Date	Bowl	Teams		Time	Channel
1	19-Dec	Cure	Uconn	Akron	12:00	CBSS
2	19-Dec	New Mexico	Louisiana Tech	New Mexico	2:00	ESPN
3	19-Dec	Las Vegas	AF/SDSU winner	UCLA	3:30	ABC
4	19-Dec	Camellia	Western Michigan	Appalachian State	5:30	ESPN
5	19-Dec	New Orleans	San Jose State*	Arkansas State	9:00	ESPN
6	21-Dec	Miami Beach	Cincinnati	Western Kentucky	2:30	ESPN
7	22-Dec	Famous Idaho Potato	Central Michigan	Boise State	3:30	ESPN
8	22-Dec	Boca Raton	Tulsa	Toledo	7:00	ESPN
9	23-Dec	Poinsettia	AF/SDSU loser	Ohio	4:30	ESPN
10	23-Dec	GoDaddy	Bowling Green	Georgia Southern	8:00	ESPN
11	24-Dec	Bahamas	Middle Tennessee	Northern Illinois	12:00	ESPN
12	24-Dec	Hawaii	Memphis	BYU	8:00	ESPN
13	26-Dec	St. Petersburg	South Florida	Southern Miss	11:00	ESPN
14	26-Dec	Sun	Louisville	Utah	2:00	CBS
15	26-Dec	Heart of Dallas	Nevada	Marshall	2:20	ESPN
16	26-Dec	Pinstripe	Pittsburgh	Nebraska*	3:30	ABC
17	26-Dec	Independence	Duke	Missouri*	5:45	ESPN
18	26-Dec	Foster Farms	Indiana	Washington State	9:15	ESPN
19	28-Dec	Military	Navy	NC State	2:30	ESPN
20	28-Dec	Quick Lane	Washington	Minnesota*	5:00	ESPN 2
21	29-Dec	Arizona	Arizona	Utah State	7:30	CBSS
22	29-Dec	Armed Forces	California	Colorado State	2:00	ESPN
23	29-Dec	Russell Athletic	North Carolina	Oklahoma State	5:30	ESPN
24	29-Dec	Texas	Texas Tech	Texas A & M	9:00	ESPN
25	30-Dec	Birmingham	Temple	Auburn	12:00	ESPN
26	30-Dec	Belk	Virginia Tech	Mississippi State	3:30	ESPN
27	30-Dec	Music City	Penn State	Arkansas	7:00	ESPN
28	30-Dec	Holiday	Wisconsin	Oregon	10:30	ESPN
29	31-Dec	Peach	Notre Dame	Florida State	12:00	ESPN
30	31-Dec	Cotton Bowl- Semifinal	Alabama	Oklahoma	8:00	ESPN
31	31-Dec	Orange- Semifinal	Clemson	Michigan State	4:00	ESPN
32	1-Jan	Outback	Northwestern	Georgia	12:00	ESPN 2
33	1-Jan	Citrus	Michigan	Florida	1:00	ABC
34	1-Jan	Fiesta	Iowa	Houston	1:00	ESPN
35	1-Jan	Rose	Ohio State	Stan./USC winner	5:00	ESPN
36	1-Jan	Sugar	Ole Miss	TCU	8:30	ESPN
37	2-Jan	Taxslayer (Gator)	Miami-FL	LSU	12:00	ESPN
38	2-Jan	Liberty	West Virginia	Tennessee	3:20	ESPN
39	2-Jan	Alamo	Baylor	Stan./USC loser	6:45	ESPN
40	2-Jan	Cactus	Kansas State	Arizona State	10:15	ESPN
	11-Jan	Championship Game	Semi # 1 Winner	Semi # 2 Winner	8:30	ESPN

For the seventh-straight year, I will be publishing weekly November columns analyzing the conference championship races.  Like my bowl bubble watch, there is not really a column like this on any other mainstream college football site.  Bold teams have already clinched their division or conference.  Italicized teams are my predicted champions of their respective conferences/divisions at this point in time.  This list is updated through all week 13 games.

ACC Atlantic– Clemson (My surprise preseason playoff pick is turning out very well.)

ACC Coastal– North Carolina

Big Ten East- Michigan State 

Big Ten West– Iowa (The Hawkeyes are the surprise Big Ten West Champs.)

Big 12- Oklahoma (In the preseason, everyone was picking Baylor or TCU to claim this conference but I had the Sooners! Don’t believe me, here’s the proof: https://sportsentiment.com/2015/08/19/brads-2015-college-football-preview-big-12-predictions/ )

Pac-12 North– Stanford

Pac-12 South– Southern California

SEC East- Florida

SEC West- Alabama

AAC East- Temple

AAC West- Houston

C-USA East– Western Kentucky

C-USA West– Southern Miss

MAC East– Bowling Green

MAC West– Northern Illinois

MWC Mountain– Air Force

MWC West– San Diego State

Sun Belt– Arkansas State (The Red Wolves stand alone in first place in the Sun Belt with a very winnable game left against lowly Texas State. Should the Red Wolves somehow stumble, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern are waiting in the wings only a game back.)

The most comprehensive analysis of the college football bowl bubble is back!  For the seventh-straight year, I will be publishing weekly November columns analyzing which teams will get bowl bids and which will not.  Below, I have written a report for every team that has yet to be declared either bowl eligible or ineligible.  Each week this list will be updated and new odds will be provided for each team.  Please note that these odds only represent the chances that a particular team will get enough wins to be eligible to receive a bowl bid.  They do not represent the odds a team has for actually receiving a bid.  This discrepancy likely won’t affect the bowl chances of most major conference teams, but sometimes a 6-6 record won’t be enough to a get bid from a non-BCS conference.  The teams are ordered in descending order of likelihood that they will become bowl eligible.  As of now, there are 3 teams on the list with 1 predicted to attain bowl eligibility and 2 predicted to fall short.  As of now, I’m projecting there to be 76 bowl eligible teams for 2015 (see full stats at the bottom of this entry).  Keep in mind that there are a total of 80 bowl slots to be filled, so there will be a shortage of bowl eligible teams this season.

Good Side of the Bowl Bubble: Teams closing in on bowl bids (1):

Kansas State- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. West Virginia; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 52% (previous odds: 54%, 52%, 47%, 49%)

Bad Side of the Bowl Bubble: Teams who will likely be home for the holidays (2):

South Alabama- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. Appalachian State; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 24% (previous odds: 52.5%, 60%, 66%, 30%)

Georgia State- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: at Georgia Southern; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 20% (previous odds: 6.5%, 5.5%, 9%, 15%)

Already Bowl Eligible (75):  Temple, Houston, Memphis, Navy, Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Duke, Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Marshall, Western Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, Notre Dame, Brigham Young, Bowing Green, Toledo, Northern Illinois, Boise State, San Diego State, Stanford, Utah, UCLA, Florida, LSU, Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A & M, Mississippi State, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Arkansas State (previous odds: 92%), Western Michigan (previous odds: 73%), Georgia (previous odds: 99%), NC State (previous odds: 75%), Miami-FL (previous odds: 76%), Air Force (previous odds: 95%), Washington State (previous odds: 72.5), Southern California (previous odds: 96%), Oregon (previous odds: 81%), Ohio (previous odds: 70%, 70%), Tennessee (previous odds: 97%, 99%), Louisville (previous odds: 68%, 69%), Nevada (previous odds: 51%, 54%), Texas Tech (previous odds: 58%, 56%), Arkansas (previous odds: 50.5%, 64%), South Florida (previous odds: 37%, 72%), Cincinnati (previous odds: 79%, 76%), Arizona (previous odds: 49.5%, 47.5%), New Mexico (previous odds: 39%, 47%), California (previous odds: 80%, 78%), Central Michigan (previous odds: 71%, 71%, 70%), Auburn (previous odds: 41%, 98%, 96%), West Virginia (previous odds: 67%, 82%, 93%), Middle Tennessee (previous odds: 55%, 67%, 83%), Utah State (previous odds: 89%, 75%, 67%), Akron (previous odds: 49%, 55.5%, 64%), Colorado State (previous odds: 53%, 59%, 61%), Arizona State (previous odds: 51.5%, 50.5%, 56%), UConn (previous odds: 23%, 29%, 29%), Washington (previous odds: 52%, 51.5%, 51%, 53%), Tulsa (previous odds: 47%, 49%, 48%, 47%), Virginia Tech (previous odds: 42%, 42%, 57%, 55%), Indiana (previous odds: 46%, 44%, 42%, 46%)

Already Ineligible for a Bowl Game (50):  UCF, SMU, Kansas, Charlotte, Boston College, UTSA, North Texas, UMass, Miami-OH, Eastern Michigan, Wyoming, Hawaii, UL-Monroe, New Mexico State, Ball State (previous odds: 1%), Fresno State (previous odds: 2.5%), Purdue (previous odds: 4%), Florida Atlantic (previous odds: 0.1%), Colorado (previous odds: 0.3%) Army (previous odds: 3%), Maryland (previous odds: 2%), Tulane (previous odds: 19%), Oregon State (previous odds: 0.5%), Kent State (previous odds: 21%, 13%), Georgia Tech (previous odds: 6%, 6%), South Carolina (previous odds: 12%, 8%), Rutgers (previous odds: 45%, 41.5%), Troy (previous odds: 14%, 21%), Texas State (previous odds: 48.5%, 17%), Virginia (previous odds: 8%, 7%), Iowa State (previous odds: 7%, 5%), Syracuse (previous odds: 10%, 4%), Idaho (previous odds: 11%, 1%), Wake Forest (previous odds: 0.2%, 0.2%), UNLV (previous odds: 4.5%, 10%), Rice (previous odds: 72%, 51%, 53%), Florida International (previous odds: 29%, 31%, 22%), UTEP (previous odds: 9%, 48%, 20%), Vanderbilt (previous odds: 5.5%, 3%, 8%), Texas (previous odds: 40%, 42.5%, 21%, 21%), Missouri (previous odds: 25%, 20%, 38%, 29%), Buffalo (previous odds: 63%, 66%, 65%, 62%), Nebraska (previous odds: 5%, 25%, 35%, 35%), San Jose State (previous odds: 45.5%, 43%, 13%, 28%), Old Dominion (previous odds: 15%, 45%, 55%, 52%), Kentucky (previous odds: 56%, 55%, 52%, 54%), East Carolina (previous odds: 65%, 41%, 41%, 51%), UL-Lafayette (previous odds: 53.5%, 58%, 54%, 14 %), Minnesota (previous odds: 48%, 43.5%, 40%, 44%), Illinois (previous odds: 44%, 46%, 45%, 36%)

Current Stats:

Already Bowl Eligible: 75

Predicted to be Bowl Eligible: 1 (76)

Already Ineligible for a Bowl Game: 50

Predicted not to become Bowl Eligible: 2 (52)

These are in order from my most confident pick to least confident.  Lines are based on the current spreads according to Vegasinsider.com.

Duke (-4.0) at Wake Forest- 12:30

Kentucky (+4.0) vs. Louisville- 12:00

Mississippi State (+1.0) vs. Ole Miss- 7:15

Texas (-1.5) vs. Texas Tech- (Th) 7:30

Georgia State (-1.0) vs. Troy (Fri) 2:00

Iowa (-1.5) at Nebraska- (Fri) 3:30

Northwestern (-3.5) at Illinois- 3:30

Louisiana Tech (-6.0) vs. Southern Miss- 12:00

Syracuse (+3.0) vs. Boston College- 12:30

Baylor (-1.5) at TCU- (Fri) 7:30

Last Week’s Record: 6-4, Overall Season Record: 57-63

These are in order from least shocking to most shocking according to the lines on vegasinsider.com:

Syracuse (+3.0) vs. Boston College- 12:30

Kentucky (+4.0) vs. Louisville- 12:00

Old Dominion (+4.0) vs. Florida Atlantic- 12:00

Tulane (+6.5) vs. Tulsa- (Fri) 8:00

NC State (+6.5) vs. North Carolina- 3:30

Purdue (+6.5) vs. Indiana- 12:00

South Carolina (+17.5) vs. Clemson- 12:00

Last week’s Upset Pick of the Week: None

The most comprehensive analysis of the college football bowl bubble is back!  For the seventh-straight year, I will be publishing weekly November columns analyzing which teams will get bowl bids and which will not.  Below, I have written a report for every team that has yet to be declared either bowl eligible or ineligible.  Each week this list will be updated and new odds will be provided for each team.  Please note that these odds only represent the chances that a particular team will get enough wins to be eligible to receive a bowl bid.  They do not represent the odds a team has for actually receiving a bid.  This discrepancy likely won’t affect the bowl chances of most major conference teams, but sometimes a 6-6 record won’t be enough to a get bid from a non-BCS conference.  The teams are ordered in descending order of likelihood that they will become bowl eligible.  As of now, there are 18 teams on the list with 6 predicted to attain bowl eligibility and 12 predicted to fall short.  As of now, I’m projecting there to be 77 bowl eligible teams for 2015 (see full stats at the bottom of this entry).  Keep in mind that there are a total of 80 bowl slots to be filled, so as of now it appears there could be a major shortage of bowl eligible teams.

Good Side of the Bowl Bubble: Teams closing in on bowl bids (6):

Buffalo- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. UMass; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 62% (previous odds: 63%, 66%, 65%)

Virginia Tech- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: at Virginia; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 55% (previous odds: 42%, 42%, 57%)

Kentucky- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. Louisville; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 54% (previous odds: 56%, 55%, 52%)

Washington- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. Washington State; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 53% (previous odds: 52%, 51.5%, 51%)

Old Dominion- Record: 5-5; Remaining Schedule: vs. Florida Atlantic; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 52% (previous odds: 15%, 45%, 55%)

East Carolina- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. Cincinnati; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 51% (previous odds: 65%, 41%, 41%)

 

Bad Side of the Bowl Bubble: Teams who will likely be home for the holidays (12):

Kansas State- Record: 4-6; Remaining Schedule: at Kansas, vs. West Virginia; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 49% (previous odds: 54%, 52%, 47%)

Tulsa- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: at Tulane; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 47% (previous odds: 47%, 49%, 48%)

Indiana- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: at Purdue; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 46% (previous odds: 46%, 44%, 42%)

Minnesota- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. Wisconsin; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 44% (previous odds: 48%, 43.5%, 40%)

Illinois- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. Northwestern; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 36% (previous odds: 44%, 46%, 45%)

Nebraska- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. Iowa; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 35% (previous odds: 5%, 25%, 35%)

South Alabama- Record: 5-5; Remaining Schedule: at Georgia Southern, vs. Appalachian State; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 30% (previous odds: 52.5%, 60%, 66%)

Missouri- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: at Arkansas; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 29% (previous odds: 25%, 20%, 38%)

San Jose State- Record: 5-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. Boise State; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 28% (previous odds: 45.5%, 43%, 13%)

Texas- Record: 4-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. Texas Tech, at Baylor; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 21% (previous odds: 40%, 42.5%, 21%)

Georgia State- Record: 4-6; Remaining Schedule: vs. Troy, at Georgia Southern; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 15% (previous odds: 6.5%, 5.5%, 9%)

UL-Lafayette- Record: 4-6; Remaining Schedule: at Appalachian State, vs. Troy; Odds of Bowl Eligibility: 14% (previous odds: 53.5%, 58%, 54%)

Already Bowl Eligible (71):  Temple, Houston, Memphis, Navy, Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Duke, Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Marshall, Western Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, Notre Dame, Brigham Young, Bowing Green, Toledo, Northern Illinois, Boise State, San Diego State, Stanford, Utah, UCLA, Florida, LSU, Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A & M, Mississippi State, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Arkansas State (previous odds: 92%), Western Michigan (previous odds: 73%), Georgia (previous odds: 99%), NC State (previous odds: 75%), Miami-FL (previous odds: 76%), Air Force (previous odds: 95%), Washington State (previous odds: 72.5), Southern California (previous odds: 96%), Oregon (previous odds: 81%), Ohio (previous odds: 70%, 70%), Tennessee (previous odds: 97%, 99%), Louisville (previous odds: 68%, 69%), Nevada (previous odds: 51%, 54%), Texas Tech (previous odds: 58%, 56%), Arkansas (previous odds: 50.5%, 64%), South Florida (previous odds: 37%, 72%), Cincinnati (previous odds: 79%, 76%), Arizona (previous odds: 49.5%, 47.5%), New Mexico (previous odds: 39%, 47%), California (previous odds: 80%, 78%), Central Michigan (previous odds: 71%, 71%, 70%), Auburn (previous odds: 41%, 98%, 96%), West Virginia (previous odds: 67%, 82%, 93%), Middle Tennessee (previous odds: 55%, 67%, 83%), Utah State (previous odds: 89%, 75%, 67%), Akron (previous odds: 49%, 55.5%, 64%), Colorado State (previous odds: 53%, 59%, 61%), Arizona State (previous odds: 51.5%, 50.5%, 56%), UConn (previous odds: 23%, 29%, 29%)

Already Ineligible for a Bowl Game (39):  UCF, SMU, Kansas, Charlotte, Boston College, UTSA, North Texas, UMass, Miami-OH, Eastern Michigan, Wyoming, Hawaii, UL-Monroe, New Mexico State, Ball State (previous odds: 1%), Fresno State (previous odds: 2.5%), Purdue (previous odds: 4%), Florida Atlantic (previous odds: 0.1%), Colorado (previous odds: 0.3%) Army (previous odds: 3%), Maryland (previous odds: 2%), Tulane (previous odds: 19%), Oregon State (previous odds: 0.5%), Kent State (previous odds: 21%, 13%), Georgia Tech (previous odds: 6%, 6%), South Carolina (previous odds: 12%, 8%), Rutgers (previous odds: 45%, 41.5%), Troy (previous odds: 14%, 21%), Texas State (previous odds: 48.5%, 17%), Virginia (previous odds: 8%, 7%), Iowa State (previous odds: 7%, 5%), Syracuse (previous odds: 10%, 4%), Idaho (previous odds: 11%, 1%), Wake Forest (previous odds: 0.2%, 0.2%), UNLV (previous odds: 4.5%, 10%), Rice (previous odds: 72%, 51%, 53%), Florida International (previous odds: 29%, 31%, 22%), UTEP (previous odds: 9%, 48%, 20%), Vanderbilt (previous odds: 5.5%, 3%, 8%)

Current Stats:

Already Bowl Eligible: 71

Predicted to be Bowl Eligible: 6 (77)

Already Ineligible for a Bowl Game: 39

Predicted not to become Bowl Eligible: 12 (51)

 

 

 

For the seventh-straight year, I will be publishing weekly November columns analyzing the conference championship races.  Like my bowl bubble watch, there is not really a column like this on any other mainstream college football site.  Bold teams have already clinched their division or conference.  Italicized teams are my predicted champions of their respective conferences/divisions at this point in time.  This list is updated through all week 12 games.

ACC Atlantic– Clemson (My surprise preseason playoff pick is turning out very well.)

ACC Coastal– North Carolina

Big Ten East- Michigan State (After MSU’s shocking road win over Ohio State, Sparty has become the front runners in this division. If they beat Penn State next week at home, they clinch the Big Ten East. If they lose, then Ohio State will battle Michigan for the division crown.)

Big Ten West– Iowa (The Hawkeyes are the surprise Big Ten West Champs.)

Big 12- Oklahoma (In the preseason, I picked Oklahoma to finish with one conference loss and become the surprise Big 12 Champ. I’m going to stick with my preseason prediction and call for Oklahoma to win beat Oklahoma State and clinch the conference crown. If the Sooners do stumble in Bedlam, Baylor would clinch if they beat TCU and Texas. Oklahoma State would take the Big 12 title if both Baylor and OU falter.)

Pac-12 North– Stanford

Pac-12 South– UCLA (The intra-city battle between USC and UCLA will be a de facto division title game next Saturday.)

SEC East- Florida

SEC West- Alabama (The Tide can clinch the division crown with a win over Auburn or an Ole Miss loss to Mississippi State. Ole Miss would take it if neither of those things happen next Saturday.)

AAC East- Temple (The Owls can clinch the division crown with a win over UConn or a USF loss to UCF. South Florida would take it if neither of those things happen next weekend.)

AAC West- Houston (The Cougars will host one-loss Navy the day after Thanksgiving in a de facto division title game.)

C-USA East– Western Kentucky (Like the AAC West (see above), the C-USA East crown will come down to the season’s final weekend as the Hilltoppers host co-leader Marshall on the day after Thanksgiving in a de facto division championship game.)

C-USA West– Louisiana Tech (Conference USA will actually have de facto semifinal games this season, as the C-USA West championship will also be decided on Thanksgiving weekend when LA Tech hosts Southern Miss. You got to give the conference schedule-makers props for having the foresight to match the league’s top 4 teams during its final regular season weekend.)

MAC East– Bowling Green

MAC West– Northern Illinois (The Huskies can clinch the division crown for a remarkable sixth consecutive season with a win over Ohio on Tuesday night or a Toledo loss to Western Michigan on Friday. The Rockets would take it if neither of those things happen next weekend.)

MWC Mountain– Air Force

MWC West– San Diego State

Sun Belt– Arkansas State (The Red Wolves stand alone in first place in the Sun Belt with two very winnable games left against lowly New Mexico State and Texas State. Should the Red Wolves somehow stumble, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern are waiting in the wings only a game back.)