July 26, 2017
Are you missing college football? Not to worry: there’s only 31 days until the season starts up!
The action kicks off Saturday, August 26th, with Oregon State taking on Colorado State, followed by Stanford and Rice traveling Down Under to play in Sydney, Australia to open the season. The following weekend includes several marquee matchups including West Virginia vs. Virginia Tech, UCLA vs. Texas A&M and Florida State vs. Alabama.
With last week’s Big 12 Media Days in Frisco, Texas and Pac-12 Media Days beginning this week in Hollywood, California, predictions for the 2017-18 college football season are already rolling in, including bowl projections and how the media thinks Big 12 and Pac-12 teams will perform this year. Athlon Sports & Life and SB Nation are among the online sports publications that have started making projections on who we’ll see on the field throughout December and January bowl games.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach released his projections of top-25 rankings in early May, which included:
- USC (fourth), Oklahoma State (sixth), Oklahoma (eighth), and Washington (ninth) in the Top-10.
- Ohio State at No. 1, while Florida State and Alabama rounded out the top-three.
- Stanford (16th), Kansas State (18th), West Virginia (20th), Texas (23rd), and Washington State (25th) ranked in the top-25.
Despite early predictions of Ohio State ranking first in the nation, nearly every publication has Alabama returning to the Championship Playoff Game. As for their opponent, sports writers varied on the Crimson Tide facing Ohio State, Florida State or USC.
But even with 39 bowl games to watch this winter, it’s never too early to keep an eye out for who will be playing in the Alamodome on Thursday, December 28th. Athlon Sports & Life and SB Nation slotted Stanford to take on the Texas Longhorns in the Valero Alamo Bowl’s 25th Anniversary game, while Sporting News picked Stanford to face off with Kansas State. 247 Sports is projecting Stanford to play West Virginia, while College Football News predicts Valero Alamo Bowl veterans Oklahoma State and Oregon to battle it out. No. 12 Oklahoma State beat No. 10 Colorado, 38 to 8, in last year’s Valero Alamo Bowl game.
It may be a little early to make predictions already, but it definitely isn’t too early to start getting hyped about another exciting Valero Alamo Bowl showdown.
Athlon Sports & Life, SB Nation, Sporting News, 247 Sports, and College Football News 2017-2018 bowl predictions:
2017 Valero Alamo Bowl (Thursday, December 28):
Athlon – Texas vs. Stanford
SB Nation – Texas vs. Stanford
Sporting News – Kansas State vs. Stanford
247 Sports – West Virginia vs. Stanford
College Football News – Oklahoma State vs. Oregon
College Football Playoffs
Cotton Bowl (December 29, 2017):
Athlon – Michigan vs. Oklahoma
SB Nation – Louisville vs. Wisconsin
Sporting News – Oklahoma vs. Michigan
247 Sports – Auburn vs. Washington
College Football News – Oklahoma vs. Stanford
Fiesta Bowl (December 30, 2017):
Athlon – LSU vs. USC
SB Nation – Auburn vs. Washington
Sporting News – Penn State vs. Washington
247 Sports – Oklahoma vs. USC
College Football News – Wisconsin vs. USC
Orange Bowl (December 30, 2017):
Athlon – Clemson vs. Penn State
SB Nation – Florida State vs. Penn State
Sporting News – Clemson vs. LSU
247 Sports – Clemson vs. Penn State
College Football News – Clemson vs. Ohio State
Peach Bowl (January 1, 2018):
Athlon – Auburn vs. USF
SB Nation – Clemson vs. USF
Sporting News – Auburn vs. USF
247 Sports – Georgia vs. Wisconsin
College Football News – Georgia vs. USF
College Football Playoffs Semifinals (January 1, 2018)
Sugar Bowl:
Athlon – Alabama vs. Washington
SB Nation – Ohio State vs. USC
Sporting News – Ohio State vs. Alabama
247 Sports – Ohio State vs. Florida State
College Football News – Alabama vs. Michigan
Rose Bowl:
Athlon – Florida State vs. Ohio State
SB Nation – Alabama vs. Oklahoma
Sporting News – USC vs. Florida State
247 Sports – Alabama vs. Oklahoma State
College Football News – Florida State vs. Washington
