By , Stewart Mandel
Published November 03, 2015
Yes, it's that time of year. Every Tuesday the rest of the season I'll get out my magic dartboard and predict the postseason destinations of 80 -- yes it's now 80 -- FBS teams.
Speaking of which, after projecting out each conference, I consider it much more likely than not that there won't be 80 bowl-eligible teams. I got to 79, and that was being overly optimistic on a few borderline teams' prospects. Sadly, should that happen, the bowls would have to start plucking 5-7 teams. I tabbed Arizona, mostly because I'm being overly pessimistic about the 5-4 Wildcats and also because the new Arizona Bowl is being played in their own stadium.
As a refresher, last year the ACC, Big Ten and SEC instituted pool systems for their bowl lineups in which they essentially slot their own teams, meaning there's no longer a straightforward pecking order. For instance, I placed Virginia Tech, which is just trying to get to 6-6, higher than I normally would because its fans are likely to turn out for revered coach Frank Beamer's finale (in Charlotte?)
Also, teams may get placed in a less prestigious bowl due to geography or to avoid repeat matchups. For example, I've slotted potentially 10-2 Wisconsin in the Holiday Bowl because it's played in a Florida game the past two seasons.
Note that I reversed course from my Forward Pass column Monday and tabbed Memphis, not Temple, as my projected AAC and thus Group of 5 champ. I think I got too caught up in that Notre Dame game.
Finally, my New Year's Six pairings may change a tad after Tuesday night's initial committee rankings give us a better sense of the current pecking order.
* -- replacement for a conference without enough eligible teams
+ projected 5-7 team
Stewart Mandel is a senior college sports columnist for FOXSports.com. He covered college football and basketball for 15 years at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter @slmandel and Facebook. Send emails and Mailbag questions to Stewart.Mandel@fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/bowl-projections-for-the-college-football-playoff-semifinals-38-more-games