Bowl Projections 2015: Postseason Predictions, College Football Playoff Outlook

The college football season is flying. After nine weeks of exciting play, upsets and shock endings, the College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday, with the first grouping of four teams that could vie for the national championship.

Here are the current rankings:

While things are surely going to change over the next month of the regular season, it's never too early to look ahead to December and January, when bowl season takes control of the country.

So I'll do my best to predict who will be playing in each bowl game and focus on the final four that could be competing for the national championship. 

Bowl	Date, Time (ET)	School	School	Predicted Winner
Gildan New Mexico	Saturday Dec. 19, 2 p.m.	San Jose State	Middle Tennessee State	San Jose State
Royal Purple Las Vegas	Saturday Dec. 19, 3:30 p.m.	Utah State	Oregon	Oregon
Raycom Media Camellia	Saturday Dec. 19, 5:30 p.m.	Western Michigan	Louisiana Lafayette	Louisiana Lafayette
AutoNation Cure	Saturday Dec. 19, 7 p.m.	South Florida	Georgia Southern	Georgia Southern
R+L Carriers New Orleans	Saturday Dec. 19, 9 p.m.	Florida International	Arkansas State	Arkansas State
Miami Beach	Monday Dec. 21, 2:30 p.m.	Rice	Cincinnati	Cincinnati
Famous Idaho Potato	Tuesday Dec. 22, 3:30 p.m.	Central Michigan	Air Force	Air Force
Boca Raton	Tuesday Dec. 22, 7 p.m.	Northern Illinois	East Carolina	Northern Illinois
San Diego County CU Poinsettia	Wednesday Dec. 23, 4:30 p.m.	Nevada	Army	Nevada
GoDaddy	Wednesday Dec. 23, 8 p.m.	Bowling Green	Appalachian State	Bowling Green
Popeyes Bahamas	Thursday Dec. 24, 12 p.m.	Louisiana Tech	Toledo	Toledo
Hawai'i	Thursday Dec. 24, 8 p.m.	Temple	BYU	Temple
St. Petersburg	Saturday Dec. 26, 11 a.m.	Memphis	Southern Mississippi	Memphis
Hyundai Sun	Saturday Dec. 26, 2 p.m.	Miami	California	California
Zaxby's Heart of Dallas	Saturday Dec. 26, 2:20 p.m.	Iowa State	Western Kentucky	Western Kentucky
New Era Pinstripe	Saturday Dec. 26, 3:30 p.m.	NC State	Rutgers	NC State
Camping World Independence	Saturday Dec. 26, 5:45 p.m.	Virginia Tech	Auburn	Auburn
Foster Farms	Saturday Dec. 26, 9:15 p.m.	Illinois	Washington State	Washington State
Military Bowl	Monday Dec. 28, 2:30 p.m.	Pittsburgh	Navy	Navy
Quick Lane	Monday Dec. 28, 5 p.m.	Louisville	Indiana	Louisville
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces	Tuesday Dec. 29, 2 p.m.	San Diego State	Minnesota	San Diego State
Russell Athletic	Tuesday Dec. 29, 5:30 p.m.	Duke	West Virginia	Duke
Nova Home Loans Arizona	Tuesday Dec. 29, 7:30 p.m.	Marshall	Boise State	Marshall
AdvoCare V100 Texas	Tuesday Dec. 29, 9 p.m.	Texas	Arkansas	Arkansas
Birmingham	Wednesday Dec. 30, 12 p.m.	Houston	Missouri	Houston
Belk	Wednesday Dec. 30, 3:30 p.m.	Mississippi State	North Carolina	Mississippi State
Franklin American Music City	Wednesday Dec. 30, 7 p.m.	Texas A&M	Florida State	Texas A&M
National University Holiday	Wednesday Dec. 30, 10:30 p.m.	Northwestern	USC	USC
Chick-fil-A Peach	Thursday Dec. 31, 12 p.m.	Utah	TCU	Utah
Goodyear Cotton	Thursday Dec. 31, 4 or 8 p.m.	Clemson	Notre Dame	Clemson
Capital One Orange	Thursday Dec. 31, 4 or 8 p.m.	Ohio State	Alabama	Ohio State
Outback	Friday Jan. 1, 12 p.m.	Penn State	Ole Miss	Ole Miss
Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus	Friday Jan. 1, 1 p.m.	Michigan	Florida	Florida
Fiesta Bowl	Friday Jan. 1, 1 p.m.	Baylor	Iowa	Baylor
Rose Bowl	Friday Jan. 1, 5 p.m.	Michigan State	Utah	Utah
Allstate Sugar Bowl	Friday Jan. 1, 8:30 p.m.	Oklahoma State	LSU	LSU
TaxSlayer	Saturday Jan. 2, 12 p.m.	Wisconsin	Georgia	Wisconsin
AutoZone Liberty	Saturday Jan. 2, 3:20 p.m.	Oklahoma	Tennessee	Oklahoma
Valero Alamo	Saturday Jan. 2, 6:45 p.m.	Texas Tech	UCLA	UCLA
Cactus	Saturday Jan. 2, 10:15 p.m.	Kansas State	Arizona	Kansas State
National Championship	Monday Jan. 11, 8:30 p.m.	Ohio State	Clemson	Ohio State

When it comes to the final four teams that will be taking part in the College Football Playoff, I have Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama and Notre Dame. 

Clemson will be hosting Florida State on Nov. 7 in what I see as the Tigers' last real challenge of the regular season. If they are able to get past the Seminoles, Syracuse, Wake Forest and South Carolina won't be rooting them out of the final four. 

ESPN College Football takes a look at their probability to win out this season:

Second on that list, Ohio State is going to have a tougher time ending its season unbeaten. Saturday, Nov. 21, will see them play Michigan State, who is currently 8-0 and sits seventh in the CFP rankings. After that, the Buckeyes go into the Big House and meet Michigan in what will be the biggest game in that rivalry in almost a decade. 

If Ohio State is able to win those final two games, I think it'll roll right through to the national championship as it'll be ready for the high-pressure situations that playoff football brings. 

I have Ohio State beating Alabama, who I think beats LSU this week, and Clemson beating Notre Dame in the first round of the playoff. As the first team out currently, Notre Dame has a fairly easy schedule to end the season. With Alabama playing LSU, two teams currently in the top four, one of them is bound to drop out after Week 10, thus leaving an open spot for the Irish. Once in, they won't be leaving.