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November is here, and that means bowl projections! A lot of national publications don’t do too well with G5 bowl projections, so we took it upon ourselves to create our own.
I used FPI to predict how teams would finish their seasons, and ended up with a lot of eligible teams, more than there were bowls. Because this is a chaotic sport, we probably won’t see all of them make it. But for now, we’ll roll with it.
Here are my projections for the American, Conference USA, and the Sun Belt (all times Eastern). Army has already accepted a berth in the Armed Forces Bowl, and is in bold below to reflect that.
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl - Sat, Dec 16 1 PM ESPN
UAB Blazers vs Arkansas State Red Wolves
AutoNation Cure Bowl - Sat, Dec 16 2:30 CBSSN
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers* vs Appalachian State Mountaineers
Gildan New Mexico Bowl - Sat, Dec 16 4:30 ESPN
Southern Miss Golden Eagles vs Colorado State Rams
Raycom Media Camellia bowl - Sat, Dec 16 8:00 ESPN
Ohio Bobcats vs Georgia State Panthers
Boca Raton Bowl - Tues, Dec 19 7:00 ESPN
South Florida Bulls vs Florida Atlantic Owls
Frisco Bowl - Wed, Dec 20 8:00 ESPN
SMU Mustangs vs Louisiana Tech Bulldogs*
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl - Thurs, Dec 21 8:00 ESPN
FIU Panthers vs Eastern Michigan Eagles*
Bahamas Bowl - Fri, Dec 22 12:20 ESPN
Marshall Thundering Herd vs Akron Zips
Birmingham Bowl - Sat, Dec 23 12:00 ESPN
Memphis Tigers vs Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders*
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl - Sat, Dec 23 3:30 ESPN
Army Black Knights vs UTSA Roadrunners
Dollar General Bowl - Sat, Dec 23 7:00 ESPN
Toledo Rockets vs Troy Trojans
Walk-Ons Independence Bowl - Wed, Dec 27 1:30 ESPN
Houston Cougars* vs North Texas Mean Green*
Military Bowl Presented by Northrup Grumman - Thurs, Dec 28 1:30 ESPN
Navy Midshipmen vs Louisville Cardinals
NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl - Fri, Dec 29 5:30 CBSSN
New Mexico State Aggies vs Wyoming Cowboys
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl - Mon, Jan 1 12:30 ESPN
UCF Knights vs Oklahoma Sooners
*Primary conference couldn’t fill/at-large bid