Projecting bowl showdowns after a week is like choosing your favorite restaurant after trying just the appetizer.
Oh well, several big-name sports sites dare to project bowling pairings at this early stage, so who are we to ignore the experts?
One of the seven sites we cited had a Pac-12 team in the College Football Playoff. That was College Football News, projecting USC to reach the national semifinals and take on Alabama.
Otherwise, the Pac-12 was excluded from the College Football Playoff, with the remainder deciding whether Utah or USC will be the Pac-12’s representative in the Rose Bowl.
Three of our seven pundits predict Cal will earn a bowl spot, with ESPN’s Mark Schlabach suggesting the Golden Bears will face Boise State in the LA Bowl, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm saying Cal will face SMU in the Armed Forces Bowl and Brad Crawford of 247 Sports predicting Cal will play Iowa State in the First Responders Bowl.
Action Network’s Brett McMurphy predicts that nine Pac-12 teams will earn bowl berths, but Cal isn’t one of them.
The pecking order of the Pac-12 Connected Bowls with the dates, sites, times and TV for those bowls is listed at the end of this story.
Let’s see what these seven experts project:
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ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)
Rose Bowl – USC vs. Michigan
Alamo Bowl – Utah vs. Oklahoma State
Las Vegas Bowl — UCLA vs. Texas A&M
Holiday Bowl – Oregon State vs. North Carolina
Sun Bowl – Oregon vs. Florida State
LA Bowl — Washington vs. Fresno State
Birmingham Bowl — Arizona vs. Mississippi State
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ESPN (Mark Schlabach))
Rose Bowl — USC vs. Michigan
Alamo Bowl – Utah vs. Texas
Las Vegas Bowl — UCLA vs. Arkansas
Holiday Bowl – Oregon vs. Wake Forest
Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. North Carolina
LA Bowl — Cal vs. Boise State
Frisco Bowl: Stanford vs. Colorado State
Independence Bowl – Washington vs. Army
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USA Today (Erick Smith)
Rose Bowl – Utah vs. Michigan
Alamo Bowl – UCLA vs. Oklahoma State
Las Vegas Bowl — Oregon vs. Mississippi State
Holiday Bowl — USC vs. Wake Forest
Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Pittsburgh
LA Bowl – Washington vs. Fresno State
First Aid Bowl — Washington State vs. W.V.
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CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)
Rose Bowl – Utah vs. Michigan
Cotton — USC vs. Cincinnati
Alamo Bowl – Oregon vs. Oklahoma State
Las Vegas Bowl — Washington vs. Mississippi State
Holiday Bowl — UCLA vs. Virginia
Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. North Carolina
LA Bowl–. State of Washington vs. Boise State
Armed Forces — Cal v. SMU
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Peach Bowl (College Football Playoff Semifinal) — USC vs. Alabama
Rose Bowl – Oregon vs. Michigan
Alamo Bowl – Utah vs. Texas
Las Vegas Bowl — Washington State vs. Kentucky
Holiday Bowl — Washington vs. State of North Carolina
Sun Bowl – Arizona State vs. Syracuse
LA Bowl – UCLA vs. Fresno State
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Action Network (Brett McMurphy)
Rose Bowl – Utah vs. Michigan
Alamo Bowl – USC vs. Oklahoma
Las Vegas Bowl — Oregon vs. Tennessee
Holiday Bowl — Oregon State vs. State of Florida
Sun Bowl – UCLA vs. Wake Forest
LA Bowl – Washington vs. Air Force
First Aid Bowl — Washington State vs. Iowa State
Gasparilla Bowl — Arizona vs. Auburn
Frisco Bowl — Arizona State vs. Purdue
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247 Sports (Brad Crawford)
Rose Bowl – USC vs. Michigan
Cotton Bowl — Utah vs. houston
Alamo Bowl – Oregon vs. Oklahoma State
Las Vegas Bowl — Washington vs. LSU
Vacation Bowl — UCLA vs. Wake Forest
Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. North Carolina
LA Bowl – Washington State vs. Boise State
First aid bowl — Cal vs. Iowa State
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Here are the bowls with Pac-12 connections, listed in their pecking order:
College Football Playoff Semifinals (if a Pac-12 team finishes in the top four teams in the final college football playoff standings): peach Bowl, December 31, 1 pm PT or 5 pm PT, Atlanta Ga., ESPN and Party BowlDecember 31, 1 pm PT or 5 pm PT, Glendale, Ariz., ESPN.
1. Flower vase: January 2, 2 pm PT, Pasadena, California, ESPN – Pac-12 vs. Big Ten.
1A. Six New Year’s bowls — A Pac-12 team could qualify for one of three other New Year’s Six Bowls — Orange Bowl Dec. 30, Cotton Bowl Jan. 2, Sugar Bowl Dec. 31.
2. Poplar Bowl: December 29, 6 pm PT, San Antonio, Texas, ESPN – Pac-12 vs. Big 12.
3. Las Vegas Bowl: December 17, 4:30 p.m. PT, Las Vegas, ABC – Pac-12 vs. SEQ
Four. Holiday Bowl: December 28, 5 pm PT, San Diego, FOX/FS1 – Pac-12 vs. ACC
5. Sun Bowl: December 30, 11 a.m. PT, El Paso, Texas, CBS – Pac-12 vs. Notre Dame/ACC
6. Los Angeles Bowl: December 17, 12:30 pm PT, Inglewood, California, ABC: Pac-12 vs. Mountain West.
first aid bowl — The Pac-12 could earn a spot in this Dec. 27 bowl in University Park, Texas, against a team from the ACC, American Athletic or Big 12.
Gasparilla Bowl — The Pac-12 could fill a vacancy in this Dec. 23 bowl in Tampa, Fla., against a team from the Big 12, ACC or SEC.
Armed Forces Bowl — The Pac-12 could earn a spot in this December 22 bowl in Fort Worth, Texas.
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USC’s Raleek Brown cover photo is from Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports
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