Welcome to our third annual Bowl Picking guide! Hierank’s power insights in all 40 College Football bowl games can be found here.
Important points & reminders:
All rankings are on a #1-256 range, within all of Division I college football, crossing the 130 FBS & 126 FCS teams.
Decimal values shown are each team’s Hierank Power, the total summation of their performance to-date on a 0-100 scale.
Range values (Normal Power) point to likely performance values for that team, with Hierank Power falling in the middle, and a range correlating in size with said team’s Volatility (unpredictability) factor.
More on how Hierank Rates & Ranks teams.
Playoff Schedule
College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
#2 No. 1 LSU (13-0) vs #7 No. 4 Oklahoma (12-1)
93.4, 72-115 Power vs 86.3, 72-101 Power
Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019
Football Playoff Semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl
#1 No. 2 Ohio State (13-0) vs #3 No. 3 Clemson (13-0)
93.5, 78-109 Power vs 90.5, 78-103 Power
Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019
College Football Playoff National Championship
Peach Bowl Winner vs Fiesta Bowl Winner
[#2 No. 1 LSU (14-0) vs #1 No. 2 Ohio State (14-0)]
Monday, Jan. 13, 2020
Bowl schedule
Dec. 20
Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl
#76 Buffalo (7-5) vs #124 Charlotte (7-5)
58.2, 39-77 Power vs 50.6, 39-63 Power
Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl
#70 Utah State (7-5) vs #122 Kent State (6-6)
59.7, 44-75 Power vs 50.7, 36-65 Power
Dec. 21
Celebration Bowl
#100 Alcorn State (9-3) vs #91 North Carolina A&T (8-3)
55.3, 40-71 Power vs 56.2, 34-79 Power
New Mexico Bowl
#104 Central Michigan (8-5) vs #56 San Diego State (9-3)
54.3, 34-74 Power vs 61.6, 45-78 Power
FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl
#144 Liberty (7-5) vs #81 Georgia Southern (7-5)
47.9, 28-68 Power vs 57.6, 40-75 Power
Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl
#36 SMU (10-2) vs #31 Florida Atlantic (10-3)
66.7, 58-76 Power vs 67.7, 53-82 Power
Camellia Bowl
#131 Florida International (6-6) vs #103 Arkansas State (7-5)
50.1, 30-70 Power vs 54.3, 40-69 Power
Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl
#22 Boise State (12-1) vs #20 Washington (7-5)
72.9, 61-85 Power vs 73.8, 52-95 Power
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
#25 Appalachian State (12-1) vs #133 UAB (9-4)
72.2, 62-83 Power vs 49.8, 32-67 Power
Dec. 23
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl
#29 UCF (9-3) vs #87 Marshall (8-4)
69.6, 50-89 Power vs 56.5, 40-73 Power
Dec. 24
SoFi Hawai’i Bowl
#63 Hawai’i (9-5) vs #60 BYU (7-5)
60.8, 45-77 Power vs 61.2, 41-82 Power
Dec. 26
Walk-On’s Independence Bowl
#96 Louisiana Tech (9-3) vs #44 Miami (6-6)
55.8, 42-70 Power vs 64.9, 43-87 Power
Quick Lane Bowl
#75 Pittsburgh (7-5) vs #130 Eastern Michigan (6-6)
58.4, 43-74 Power vs 50.1, 33-68 Power
Dec. 27
Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman
#43 North Carolina (6-6) vs #71 Temple (8-4)
65.5, 53-78 Power vs 59.6, 44-75 Power
New Era Pinstripe Bowl
#72 Michigan State (6-6) vs #50 Wake Forest (8-4)
59.3, 43-75 Power vs 62.7, 48-78 Power
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl
#26 Oklahoma State (8-4) vs #35 Texas A&M (7-5)
72.1, 55-89 Power vs 67.5, 57-78 Power
San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl
#16 USC (8-4) vs #28 Iowa (9-3)
74.7, 57-92 Power vs 70.2, 60-81 Power
Cheez-It Bowl
#30 Air Force (10-2) vs #51 Washington State (6-6)
68.4, 58-79 Power vs 62.6, 47-78 Power
Dec. 28
Camping World Bowl
#9 Notre Dame (10-2) vs #24 Iowa State (7-5)
82.0, 67-97 Power vs 72.5, 60-85 Power
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
#15 Penn State (10-2) vs #19 Memphis (12-1)
75.7, 63-88 Power vs 74.0, 62-86 Power
Dec. 30
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl
#77 Western Kentucky (8-4) vs #88 Western Michigan (7-5)
58.2, 46-71 Power vs 56.4, 32-80 Power
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl
#58 Mississippi State (6-6) vs #45 Louisville (7-5)
61.4, 46-77 Power vs 64.8, 45-84 Power
Redbox Bowl
#49 California (7-5) vs #111 Illinois (6-6)
62.7, 49-77 Power vs 52.6, 35-71 Power
Capital One Orange Bowl
#6 Florida (10-2) vs #42 Virginia (8-5)
86.8, 77-96 Power vs 65.9, 49-83 Power
Dec. 31
Belk Bowl
#38 Virginia Tech (8-4) vs #46 Kentucky (7-5)
66.6, 44-89 Power vs 63.7, 43-85 Power
Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl
#47 Florida State (6-6) vs #37 Arizona State (7-5)
63.5, 50-77 Power vs 66.6, 45-88 Power
AutoZone Liberty Bowl
#27 Navy (9-2) vs #23 Kansas State (8-4)
71.6, 61-82 Power vs 72.8, 51-95 Power
NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl
#74 Wyoming (7-5) vs #108 Georgia State (7-5)
58.4, 46-71 Power vs 52.9, 32-74 Power
Valero Alamo Bowl
#8 Utah (11-2) vs. #21 Texas (7-5)
85.0, 70-100 Power vs 73.5, 57-90 Power
Jan. 1, 2020
Vrbo Citrus Bowl
#14 Michigan (9-3) vs #12 Alabama (10-2)
75.8, 56-96 Power vs 80.3, 70-90 Power
Outback Bowl
#33 Minnesota (10-2) vs #10 Auburn (9-3)
67.7, 55-80 Power vs 81.4, 66-97 Power
Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual
#4 Oregon (11-2) vs #11 Wisconsin (10-3)
89.6, 69-110 Power vs 80.5, 62-99 Power
Allstate Sugar Bowl
#5 Georgia (11-2) vs #13 Baylor (11-2)
86.8, 67-107 Power vs 79.3, 62-96 Power
Jan. 2
TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl
#73 Boston College (6-6) vs #34 Cincinnati (10-3)
59.1, 39-79 Power vs 67.5, 57-78 Power
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
#65 Indiana (8-4) vs #40 Tennessee (7-5)
60.3, 49-72 Power vs 66.0, 51-81 Power
Jan. 3
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
#107 Ohio (6-6) vs #149 Nevada (7-5)
53.5, 42-65 Power vs 47.5, 28-67 Power
Jan. 4
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
#97 Southern Mississippi (7-5) vs #67 Tulane (6-6)
55.7, 36-76 Power vs 60.2, 50-71 Power
Jan. 6
LendingTree Bowl
#41 Louisiana (10-3) vs #106 Miami (Ohio)
65.9, 50-81 Power vs 53.7, 37-71 Power
1 comment