College football bowl projections: Sizzling South Carolina to Orlando? What about Texas A&M?

While the 12-team College Football Playoff field will be the focal point of the sport these last three weeks, there will still be 70 other teams that go bowling this winter. Red-hot South Carolina, even with three losses, would be a no-brainer pick for the Citrus Bowl, which has the first choice of the SEC’s non-Playoff teams. Their fans figure to be far more excited than Tennessee’s if the Vols miss the cut. Texas A&M (if it loses to Texas) and LSU then make sense for the ReliaQuest and Gator Bowls, respectively. As one of the Pac-12’s legacy bowls, the Alamo Bowl could theoretically pit two current Big 12 teams if one side is Colorado or Arizona State. We have BYU there for now but could see the Sun Devils supplanting the Cougars if they win this week. The Holiday Bowl thought it was getting Clemson last season until Florida State’s CFP snub caused an 11th-hour domino effect. We have the Tigers going to San Diego this year to face Washington. Finally, Florida for the first time this season looks like it will get bowl-eligible, but a 6-6 Gators team would still fall below most SEC bowls. The Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa becomes a natural landing spot, where they would likely face an ACC foe. We chose North Carolina. A friendly reminder: Most non-CFP bowls do not have to select teams in order of conference standings. Notes: (ESPN) indicates an ESPN Events bowl. Teams can be moved between them. An * indicates a replacement team because a league was not able to fill all of its slots.