U of L bowl picture as Selection Sunday nears
The new College Football Playoff rankings came out on Tuesday night, just a few hours before Louisville beat Ohio State in hoops.
Louisville, fresh off its ninth win of the season, finished 21st after the regular season. Clemson is three spots ahead; Georgia Tech is all the way up to 11th. In other words, the Orange Bowl dream for the Cards is dead. But there are a few other bowl scenarios that have Louisville playing a big-name opponent in a respected bowl.
Related:Louisville awaits its bowl fate
The Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer's NC State beat writer Joe Giglio is all over this stuff. He wrote Tuesday night that the Big Ten seems likely to get a spot in the Orange Bowl, barring a Missouri upset of Alabama in the SEC title game. Provided Bama wins, the Citrus Bowl bid would then open up to the ACC and would likely go to Clemson. That would leave the Russell Athletic Bowl to pick either Louisville or Duke for its game.
A Russell Athletic Bowl rep told The Courier-Journal's Steve Jones on Saturday that Louisville being in the bowl last year would not have any impact on U of L's chances this time around. And why would it? Louisville drew a significant crowd to Orlando for last year's 36-9 win over Miami.
"The fact that Louisville played here last year is a non-issue because they travel well," the Russell Athletic Bowl's Tim Harper sid. "They brought an army of people down there with them."
With all that info in hand, here are several bowl projections for Louisville ahead of Championship Saturday. Surprisingly, none of them have Louisville going to the Russell Athletic Bowl:
Music City Bowl vs. Texas A&M (Schlabach)
Taxslayer Bowl vs. LSU (McMurphy)
Music City Bowl vs. Auburn
Sports Illustrated(see the full article)
Sun Bowl vs. Utah
Fox Sports(see the full article)
Music City Bowl vs. Texas A&M
SB Nation(see full article)
Citrus Bowl vs. Missouri
Phil Steele(see the full article)
Music City Bowl vs. Auburn