Pictured (left to right): Miami’s Xavier Restrepo, Georgia’s Carson Beck and Michigan’s Donovan Edwards. Getty Images. Design by Cyriel Klitsie/Action Network.

College football bowl projections: Brett McMurphy’s predictions and projected spreads for Week 0

Originally posted on Action Network | By Brett McMurphy | Last updated Aug 19, 2024 10:56 AM ET

College football bowl projections before Week 0? Really?

Yes, I realize they’re as meaningless as every College Football Playoff ranking release show (except the final one). But college football fans love, love, LOVE their bowl projections and, if anything, I am a man of the people.

It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally the people don’t agree with all of my Action Network bowl projections. That’s OK. My longtime fan knows how to spot the correct projections and ignore the inaccurate picks I include so other bowl projectionists get burned when they copy my projections. You know who you are!

In last year’s preseason projections, I correctly predicted 59 of the 82 teams that went to a bowl, including 10 teams in the correct bowl and two of the four playoff teams. I understand 12% accuracy (10 out of 82 teams in the correct bowl) isn’t that impressive, but remember, picking names out of a hat is only 11% accurate.

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A quick reminder: the 12-team playoff debuts this year, as chosen by the College Football Playoff selection committee.

The five highest-ranked conference champions — regardless of ranking — receive an automatic bid to the playoff with the final spots going to the remaining seven highest-ranked teams.

The four highest-ranked conference champions receive byes into the quarterfinals and will be seeded Nos. 1-4 regardless of their selection committee ranking (even if they're “ranked” No. 3, 5, 12 and 24).

My bowl projections include the projected point spread of each matchup from Action Network senior writer Collin Wilson’s betting power ratings.

Also, if you want a first look at my weekly bowl projections, don’t forget to click on the link to download the Action Network app (click here). It’s free. Get my projections, news and notes — plus, there’s a ton of college football and NFL analysis available.