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On TwitterWe take a look at what nine college football experts projected this week as far as the 12 College Football Playoff qualifiers and Cal’s bowl destination.
All nine project Cal to be in a bowl game, although they disagree on which bowl that will be. Four predict Cal will head to the LA Bowl, but three project the Golden Bears will end up in the Holiday Bowl. The Bears are 3-0 heading into Saturday’s ACC opener at Florida State, so obviously there is a long way to go.
Because teams that were in the Pac-12 last year are still sent to Pac-12-affiliated bowls this year it is possible for the Golden Bears to play an ACC team in a bowl game this year. Two sites project that Cal will face Clemson in the Holiday Bowl, and one predicts the Bears will face North Carolina in the Sun Bowl.
As far as the College Football Playoff berths, most of the sites predict that only one ACC team – Miami – will make the 12-team national playoff, and all but one expert predicts the Hurricanes will be one of the four teams that will receive a first-round bye.
Two sites predict that a second ACC school – Clemson – will get a CFP berth.
The experts are split between Memphis and Northern Illinois as to which Group of Five Conference team will get a CFP berth.
Here are the nine experts’ projections for Cal’s postseason destination and for the 12 teams that will make the CFP
ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)
Cal bowl
Holiday Bowl – Cal vs. Clemson
College Football Playoff
First-round byes
No. 1 – Texas
No. 2 – Ohio State
No. 3 – Miami
No. 4 – Utah
First round
No. 5 – Georgia
No. 6 – Alabama
No. 7 – Tennessee
No. 8 – USC
No. 9 – Mississippi
No. 10 – Oregon
No. 11 – Kansas State
No. 12 -- Memphis
ESPN (Mark Schlabach)
Cal bowl
LA Bowl – Cal vs. Boise State
College Football Playoff
First-round byes
No. 1 – Texas
No. 2 – Ohio State
No. 3 – Miami
No. 4 – Kansas State
First round
No. 5 – Georgia
No. 6 – Alabama
No. 7 – Tennessee
No. 8 – Penn State
No. 9 – Mississippi
No. 10 – USC
No. 11 – Oregon
No. 12 – Memphis
CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)
Cal bowl
LA Bowl – Cal vs. UNLV
College Football Playoff
First-round byes
No. 1 – Georgia
No. 2 – Ohio State
No. 3 – Miami
No. 4 – Utah
First round
No. 5 – Texas
No. 6 – Alabama
No. 7 – Oregon
No. 8 – Iowa State
No. 9 – Penn State
No. 10 – Kansas State
No. 11 – Oklahoma State
No. 12 – Memphis
USA Today (Erick Smith)
Cal bowl
First Responder Bowl – Cal vs. BYU
College Football Playoff
First-round byes
Kansas State
Georgia
Ohio State
Miami
First round
Memphis
Texas
Utah
Penn State
Clemson
Alabama
Oregon
Tennessee
Action Network (Brett McMurphy)
Cal bowl
Holiday Bowl – Cal vs. Clemson
College Football Playoff
First-round byes
No. 1 – Georgia
No. 2 – Ohio State
No. 3 – Miami
No. 4 – Utah
First round
No. 5 – Texas
No. 6 – Alabama
No. 7 – Mississippi
No. 8 – Tennessee
No. 9 – Oregon
No. 10 – Penn State
No. 11 – USC
No. 12 – Northern Illinois
Athlon Sports (Steven Lassan)
Cal bowl
LA Bowl – Cal vs. Boise State
College Football Playoff
First-round byes
No. 1 – Texas
No. 2 – Ohio State
No. 3 – Miami
No. 4 – Utah
First round
No. 5 – Georgia
No. 6 -- Mississippi
No. 7 – Alabama
No. 8 -- Oregon
No. 9 – Tennessee
No. 10 – Penn State
No. 11 – Missouri
No. 12 – Memphis
College Football News
Cal bowl
LA Bowl – Cal vs. Boise State
College Football Playoff
First-round byes
No. 1 – Ohio State
No. 2 -- Georgia
No. 3 -- Clemson
No. 4 – Kansas State
First round
No. 5 -- Alabama
No. 6 -- Texas
No. 7 – Notre Dame
No. 8 – Mississippi
No. 9 -- USC
No. 10 – Penn State
No. 11 -- Miami
No. 12 – Memphis
247 Sports (Brad Crawford)
Cal bowl
Sun Bowl – Cal vs. North Carolina
College Football Playoff
First-round byes
No. 1 – Ohio State
No. 2 – Texas
No. 3 – Miami
No. 4 – Kansas State
First round
No. 5 – Georgia
No. 6 – Mississippi
No. 7 – Oregon
No. 8 – Tennessee
No. 9 – Alabama
No. 10 – Penn State
No. 11 – USC
No. 12 – Northern Illinois
San Jose Mercury-News (Jon Wilner)
(Only teams for Pac-12 bowls)
Cal bowl
Holiday Bowl – Cal
College Football Playoff
USC
Utah
Oregon
Pecking order of Pac-12-affliated bowls, which apply to teams that were in the Pac-12 in 2023
College Football Playoff
Alamo Bowl (December 28, San Antonio)
Holiday Bowl (December 27, San Diego)
Las Vegas Bowl (December 27, Allegiant Stadium)
Sun Bowl (December 31, El Paso, Texas)
LA Bowl (December 18, SoFi Stadium)
Independence Bowl (December 28, Shreveport, Louisiana)
ESPN bowl pool
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