Bowl Projections 2017: Predictions for Top Teams Ahead of Final CFP Poll Reveal

Conference championship weekend is over, which means college football's bowl season is on the horizon.

And with the arrival of the most wonderful time of the year comes one final set of bowl projections.

Specifically, we'll be taking a guess at what the New Year's Six bowl games could look like, including the two games that will serve as College Football Playoff semifinals.

The projections will be accompanied by breakdowns of a few teams that appear bound for big things in bowl season following strong showings on Friday and Saturday.

New Year's Six Bowl Projections

Sugar Bowl (CFP Semifinal, Jan. 1): No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Alabama

Rose Bowl (CFP Semifinal, Jan. 1): No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Georgia

Peach Bowl (Jan. 1): UCF vs. Auburn

Orange Bowl (Dec. 30): Miami vs. Ohio State

Fiesta Bowl (Dec. 30): USC vs. Penn State

Cotton Bowl (Dec. 29): Washington vs. Wisconsin

UCF Knights

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The UCF Knights won't be in the College Football Playoff, which is a shame since they played arguably the season's two most entertaining games in back-to-back weeks.

Following a thrilling 49-42 win over South Florida during rivalry week, the Knights stepped up and delivered another classic performance in a shootout as they bested the Memphis Tigers 62-55 in double overtime to take home the American Athletic Conference championship.

As a result, the Knights likely punched their ticket to the Peach Bowl, which will serve as a delectable appetizer on New Year's Day before the CFP semifinals get underway.

"The Peach Bowl—UCF's likely destination—isn't an awful consolation prize, however," CBSSports.com's Tom Fornelli noted. "It will offer the Knights a chance to prove to the country that they can compete with one of the best teams from the Power Five, and a win in such a bowl game would help UCF earn playoff credibility should it put together another special season next year."

That Power Five foe may well be the Auburn Tigers, who will factor into the Peach Bowl picture following their loss to the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship Game.

If that matchup comes to fruition, the Knights will have a golden opportunity to make a statement, as they could cap off their dream season with the biggest win in school history.

Oklahoma Sooners

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The Oklahoma Sooners punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff Saturday with a 41-17 romp over the TCU Horned Frogs.

All that's left to debate is what their seeding will look like.

And while it may be a bit audacious to project a two-seed jump after they entered championship weekend at No. 3, the Sooners should nestle nicely into the No. 2 spot and a semifinal date with the Georgia Bulldogs.

There would have conceivably been an opening for the Sooners to jump all the way up to No. 1 and a Sugar Bowl berth had Clemson lost to the Miami Hurricanes, but considering the Tigers throttled the competition and hoisted the ACC hardware, anything more than a one-spot jump seems out of the question.

Either way, the battle-tested Sooners are looking like they could be the toughest out in this year's CFP field.

USC Trojans and Penn State Nittany Lions

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A year ago, we found out the USC Trojans and Penn State Nittany Lions were scheduled to clash in the Rose Bowl.

What ensued was one of the most memorable bowl games in recent memory, as USC outlasted Penn State 52-49 in a showdown that featured 1,040 total yards, including Saquon Barkley's 249 yards from scrimmage.

So how about a rematch?

While it's hardly a lock, the Trojans and Nittany Lions could be on a collision course to do battle in the Fiesta Bowl after USC topped Stanford 31-28 in the Pac-12 title game Friday night.

The Ohio State Buckeyes could easily slide into Penn State's spot, but as azcentral sports' Jeff Metcalfe noted, they "have played in the past two Fiesta Bowls—beating Notre Dame 44-28 on Jan. 1, 2016 then losing 31-0 to Clemson on Dec. 31, 2016 in a CFP semifinal—and also were here in 2003 (national championship game), 2004, 2007 (BCS national championship game) and 2009."

Those repeated trips to Glendale, Arizona, could make Penn State the more appealing opponent for USC considering the school hasn't appeared in a Fiesta Bowl since 1997.

Plus, a rematch between the Trojans and Nittany Lions would afford Barkley and Co. an opportunity to exact revenge before the Heisman Trophy contender presumably bolts for the pros.