It’s bowl season, which also means it’s bowl pick ’em season. Opt-outs, transfers and coaching decisions make predicting bowl games difficult, but several members of The Athletic’s college football staff have made picks for every bowl game and the four first-round College Football Playoff games.
The home teams are all favored by at least a touchdown in the four CFP games, and our pickers mostly agree with that sentiment. The home teams (Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State) got a lot of love. Out of nine pickers, Penn State got six picks to beat SMU, Ohio State had seven to beat Tennessee, just one picked Clemson to win at Texas and not a soul was brave enough to take Indiana to win at Notre Dame. Our group was right to believe in the Fighting Irish.
Speaking of unanimous picks, there are six more games with the same pick (get your angry screenshots ready):
- Memphis to beat West Virginia in the Frisco Bowl (Memphis won 42-37)
- James Madison to beat Western Kentucky in the Boca Raton Bowl (JMU won 27-17)
- Pitt to beat Toledo in the GameAbove Sports Bowl
- Kansas State to beat Rutgers in the Rate Bowl
- Syracuse to beat Washington State in the Holiday Bowl
- Army to beat Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl (Initially eight pickers had Army beating Marshall before the Thunder Herd withdrew.)
Standings through Dec. 20 games
| Record | |
|---|---|
|
Scott Dochterman
|
7-1
|
|
Daniel Shirley
|
6-2
|
|
Mitch Light
|
5-3
|
|
Austin Mock
|
5-3
|
|
Dan Santaromita
|
5-3
|
|
Chris Vannini
|
5-3
|
|
Audrey Snyder
|
5-3
|
|
Matt Baker
|
5-3
|
|
Chris Kamrani
|
5-3
|
College Football Playoff picks
No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame
No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State
No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas
No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State
Myrtle Beach Bowl
Coastal Carolina vs. UTSA
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Northern Illinois vs. Fresno State
Hawai’i Bowl
South Florida vs. San José State
GameAbove Sports Bowl
Pitt vs. Toledo
Rate Bowl
Rutgers vs. Kansas State
68 Ventures Bowl
Arkansas State vs. Bowling Green
Armed Forces Bowl
Oklahoma vs. Navy
Birmingham Bowl
Georgia Tech vs. Vanderbilt
Liberty Bowl
Texas Tech vs. Arkansas
Holiday Bowl
Syracuse vs. Washington State
Las Vegas Bowl
Texas A&M vs. USC
Fenway Bowl
North Carolina vs. UConn
Pinstripe Bowl
Boston College vs. Nebraska
New Mexico Bowl
Louisiana vs. TCU
Pop-Tarts Bowl
Iowa State vs. Miami
Arizona Bowl
Miami (Ohio) vs. Colorado State
Military Bowl
East Carolina vs. NC State
Alamo Bowl
BYU vs. Colorado
Independence Bowl
Army vs. Louisiana Tech
Marshall withdrew from this game and was replaced by Louisiana Tech. Even before the swap, eight of nine picks were for Army.
Music City Bowl
Missouri vs. Iowa
ReliaQuest Bowl
Alabama vs. Michigan
Sun Bowl
Louisville vs. Washington
Citrus Bowl
South Carolina vs. Illinois
Texas Bowl
Baylor vs. LSU
Gator Bowl
Duke vs. Ole Miss
First Responder Bowl
North Texas vs. Texas State
Duke’s Mayo Bowl
Minnesota vs. Virginia Tech
Bahamas Bowl
Buffalo vs. Liberty
Salute to Veterans Bowl
South Alabama vs. Western Michigan
Frisco Bowl
Memphis vs. West Virginia
Boca Raton Bowl
Western Kentucky vs. James Madison
LA Bowl
Cal vs. UNLV
New Orleans Bowl
Georgia Southern vs. Sam Houston
Cure Bowl
Ohio vs. Jacksonville State
Gasparilla Bowl
Tulane vs. Florida
(Photo of Dylan Raiola: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
