College Football Playoff, bowl projections following Week 4 - ESPN

Week 4 did not produce any seismic upsets, but as always, there were plenty of eye-opening results that impacted the College Football Playoff picture and beyond.

Among the games that altered perceptions were Indiana's dismantling of Illinois, decisive wins by Texas Tech (at Utah) and Ole Miss (over Tulane), and road victories by Syracuse (at Clemson) and Michigan (at Nebraska).

As in last season's inaugural 12-team CFP, the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams, will make the field. Unlike last year, the four highest-ranked teams (not necessarily conference champions) will be awarded first-round byes. The other eight teams will meet in first-round games at the campus sites of seeds Nos. 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. 19 at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium.

All of that is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Apart from the playoff is the 35-game slate of bowl games, beginning with the Cricket Celebration Bowl on Dec. 13.

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 playoff will play out, and we'll be back every week of the season until the actual matchups are set.

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

First-round games (at campus sites)

Friday, Dec. 19/ Saturday, Dec. 20

Times and networks TBD.

Bonagura: No. 12 South Florida at No. 5 LSU
Schlabach: No. 12 South Florida at No. 5 Oregon

Bonagura: No. 11 Texas Tech at No. 6 Miami
Schlabach: No. 11 Indiana at No. 6 Penn State

Bonagura: No.