2024 College Football Playoff, bowl projections after Week 2 - ESPN

In Week 2 of the college football season, we had a major upset — and reverberations throughout the College Football Playoff and bowl pictures — as Northern Illinois stunned Notre Dame at South Bend.

Beyond that, there were some close calls (Oregon-Boise State and Penn State-Bowling Green the most notable), some shaky starts (Alabama-South Florida, for one) and some impressive performances (Texas over Michigan, Tennessee over NC State).

How did it all impact our playoff and bowl projections?

In the new, expanded 12-team playoff, the five highest-ranked conference champions will make the field along with the next seven highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be awarded first-round byes, with the other eight teams meeting at the campus sites of Seeds 5 through 8.

From there, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in what had been the New Year's Six bowls, with this season's national championship game scheduled for Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

All of that is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Apart from the playoff is the 36-game slate of bowl games, from the Cricket Celebration Bowl on Dec. 14 to the Bahamas Bowl on Jan. 4.

We're here for all of it.

ESPN bowl gurus Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach are projecting every postseason matchup, including their breakdowns of how the CFP will play out, every week until the actual matchups are set on Selection Day on Dec. 8.

Jump to a section:
Playoff picks | Quarterfinals
Semis, title game | Bowl season

First-round games

Dec. 20-21 — ABC/ESPN or TNT Sports*
Bonagura: No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Texas
Schlabach: No. 12 Memphis at No. 5 Texas

Bonagura: No. 11 Penn State at No. 6 Alabama
Schlabach: No. 11 Kansas State at No. 6 Ole