Espn bowl game predictions of winners

Boston College would love Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell to switch sidelines, but it's not going to happen. After falling just short of an AAC title, the Bearcats take out their frustrations. After a close first half, the Bearcats take control in the third quarter and post their second straight win season.

Tennessee looked really good down the stretch, winning its final five games behind an improved defense. Vols top receiver Jauan Jennings is suspended for the first half of the game, which gives Whop Philyor , Stevie Scott and Indiana's offense an opportunity for the early lead. Indiana's struggles against teams with winning records are a concern, though, and Tennessee will rally for a close win.

Ohio wasn't far away from a much better season than its record indicated, going in games decided by 10 points or fewer. Nathan Rourke is a talented dual-threat quarterback who should be able to have success against Nevada's defense. Nevada coach Jay Norvell did a good job getting his team to seven wins, but the Wolf Pack are really banged up and limited on both sides of the ball. Frank Solich wins his third straight bowl game.

Tulane is the better team but also stumbled down the stretch, losing its final three games and five of its last six. Then again, I picked against the Green Wave in last year's bowl and paid the price. The key here is whether Southern Miss' run defense 18th nationally can contain Tulane's strong rushing attack 13th nationally. Although Miami won its conference championship game and Louisiana fell short, the Ragin' Cajuns have geographic and matchup advantages here.

Louisiana is much better on offense, and efficient quarterback Levi Lewis makes enough plays against a strong Miami defense.

The RedHawks get a bit of everything from their freshman quarterback, Brett Gabbert , but Billy Napier's team pulls away in the second half. Dabo Swinney congratulates his team for being the first team since to start the season No. This game has it all: elite quarterbacks, incredible wide receivers, dynamic defenders, charismatic head coaches and a party atmosphere that will be unrivaled during the bowl season.

The Tigers give an improving LSU defense all it can handle, but Joe Burrow rallies the Tigers to complete a dream season where everything lined up perfectly. Burrow throws two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, including the game winner to Justin Jefferson in the final minute. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Predictions for all 41 bowl games. Clemson Tigers. Utah Utes. Big Ten adds cross-divisional games to '22 slate.

Penn State Nittany Lions. LB Campbell makes 'easy choice' to stay at Iowa. Iowa Hawkeyes. RB Cain leaves Penn State, enters transfer portal.

TCU Horned Frogs. Alabama Crimson Tide. Tide have 7 players enter portal; 2 for Dawgs. UGA outduels Bama late for first title in 41 years. The Oscar winner and the college football hot taker. Georgia Bulldogs. Final college football power rankings: Bowl season shakes up top The Way-Too-Early college football top For Georgia fans, a title 41 years in the making and worth every minute. Victory and vindication for Georgia's Stetson Bennett. The biggest questions facing college football's postseason: Playoff format, opt-outs and more.

SVP gives his winners for 1st weekend of bowl season Scott Van Pelt serves up his winners for the first weekend of bowl season, including selections from Week 16 of the NFL season. Key players such as Orlando Brown Jr. Losing Hill allows opposing defenses to squeeze the field, creating more opportunities for the tipped interceptions that plagued Kansas City during the first half of the season.

Few teams in the NFL are better at creating interceptions on a year-to-year basis on those sorts of plays than the Steelers. The problem for the Steelers is that there isn't much doing on the other side of the ball.

It would be one thing if we could count on them to pick up a blocked punt for a score or a short field, as they did in the Week 1 win over the Bills , but the Chiefs have the league's third-best special teams unit. The Steelers don't have the offensive line to protect Ben Roethlisberger , the running game to control the clock or the consistent big-play ability to scare the Chiefs in coverage.

This could be closer than expected, but I would expect Roethlisberger's career to end here. Prediction: Chiefs 24, Steelers These teams have played twice since the start of December, with the Patriots overcoming howling winds to win in Buffalo before the Bills returned the favor with a victory in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Western New York is expected to face subzero conditions Saturday night, but the wind gusts that rendered the passing game irrelevant in Week 13 aren't expected to be in place.

Unfortunately for the Patriots, opening up the passing game reveals the biggest advantage between these two teams. Josh Allen played one of the best games of his career in the win over New England, threading immaculate passes through tight windows against one of the league's best defenses. He has been inconsistent over the past month -- he followed that Patriots game by going of for three picks in a win over the Falcons -- but we know he typically has the sort of ceiling that rookie Mac Jones hasn't really shown so far.

If the Patriots can get an early lead, as they did against the Bills in the first matchup, they won't need to take the training wheels off Jones and the passing attack. Forced into a shootout, he has not often been able to keep up. Even in the overtime loss to the Cowboys, he threw just 21 pass attempts. Jones was 14 of 32 for yards with two picks against the Buffalo defense in Week Since producing his best NFL game -- yards and two touchdowns against the Titans in Week 12 -- he has turned the ball over six times in five games and posted a passer rating of It's difficult to imagine Jones suddenly turning things around against the league's best pass defense by DVOA.

The other advantage the Bills have, as the wonderful Mike Reiss noted on Twitter , is health. The Patriots have a number of defensive starters who either aren't percent or might be out for Saturday's game, notably breakout rookie tackle Christian Barmore , who left the Week 18 loss to the Dolphins with a knee injury.

The Bills are relatively healthy outside of the long-term absence of star corner Tre'Davious White. I'd expect a low-scoring slog and a home win for Buffalo over its hated rival. Prediction: Bills 19, Patriots While the regular-season finale against the Chargers came down to a frantic conclusion, the Raiders got their just deserts when Daniel Carlson hit his winning field goal.

They outplayed the Chargers throughout Sunday's game, only for Justin Herbert to bail out the offense with a series of preposterous plays on fourth downs. The Raiders dominated the line of scrimmage, as the offensive line did an excellent job of protecting Derek Carr , while Maxx Crosby dominated Storm Norton and harassed Herbert throughout the contest.

To get to that point, though, the Raiders rode their luck against a series of compromised quarterbacks. After dropping to , they landed consecutive games against backup quarterbacks Nick Mullens Browns and Drew Lock Broncos. Wentz averaged just 5. The Raiders won those games by a total of just nine points.

Of course, you could make the same case that the Bengals might be overrated by their recent performance. Joe Burrow played like an MVP candidate in consecutive wins over the Ravens and Chiefs , throwing for a combined yards and eight touchdowns. Those games matter, but they're also way out of line with his performances from week to week. The No. Burrow and the Bengals are for real on offense, but expecting them to be the Greatest Show on Turf Rams is probably an exaggeration.

The problem for the Raiders is that I'm not sure another dominant game from Crosby would even be enough. When the Raiders played the Bengals earlier this season, the star end posted a The Raiders were able to muster only 13 first downs, even with Darren Waller in the fold. Unless the knee injury Burrow rested in Week 18 is more significant than publicly reported, I don't think the Raiders have enough to keep their win streak going. Prediction: Bengals 27, Raiders We're looking at four backups, a guy who was benched, two players who were salary dumped this offseason, a struggling top-three pick and Ryan.

When Tom Brady faced this secondary in Week 6 , he went of with yards in a game the Bucs led before two late Philly scores. That game preceded Philadelphia's midseason awakening to run the ball more with Jalen Hurts at quarterback, a shift it was able to pull off in part because its schedule got much easier.

I don't love the Eagles' matchup against one of the league's best run defenses, especially with Hurts possibly slowed by an ankle injury.

New Orleans still won , but it needed to shut out the Bucs to do so. I don't like Philly's chances of repeating that feat. Prediction: Bucs 34, Eagles The 49ers have the sort of roster capable of giving any team fits, and they are one of the few organizations with the sort of star-laden core that can match the Cowboys. We just saw Jimmy Garoppolo produce one of the best drives of his career in marching the 49ers down the field for the winning score against the Rams , which helped push San Francisco back into the postseason.

As was the case for the No. Kyle Shanahan's team struggles to stay afloat when it turns the ball over; the 49ers have gone when they turn the ball over two or more times this year and otherwise. They're facing a Cowboys defense that has forced two or more takeaways 12 different times this season, a feat last accomplished by the Steelers and the Legion of Boom Seahawks.

With the 49ers bereft at cornerback against a team with multiple star receivers, they will need a heroic effort on the ground to stick with Dallas, and while that's possible, I don't trust an injured Garoppolo to protect the football, especially with star left tackle Trent Williams questionable to play. Prediction: Cowboys 27, 49ers I'm not sure there are many teams that have seemed less convincing while winning five of six than these Rams.

Matthew Stafford has alternated white-hot stretches of passing with halves in which he has made inexplicable decisions with the football. In Los Angeles' season-ending loss to the 49ers , he went of for yards with two touchdowns in the first half, then threw two picks after halftime, including a game-ender to rookie Ambry Thomas.

Facing an inconsistent Seattle offense, the Cardinals looked like they were still working out preseason mistakes. Blown coverages led to long touchdowns for Tyler Lockett and Freddie Swain , while the defense left a gap unfilled on the yard Rashaad Penny touchdown. Arizona has the roster to overcome the occasional lapse or mental mistake, but the margins are tighter against the league's best teams.

Perhaps more disconcertingly, the Arizona offense has undergone yet another second-half fade. During their run to finish the season, the Cardinals ranked 17th in offensive EPA per play, below the Texans and Lions. It's hard to believe the Cardinals are suddenly going to turn things around without him. Prediction: Rams 27, Cardinals Then, the Huskies absolutely dominated high-powered Kent State in the MAC title game, storming out to a lead and prevailing Coastal Carolina has been the more complete team for much of the season, but the Chanticleers also suffered close losses to Appalachian State and Georgia State.

I love what coach Thomas Hammock is doing at his alma mater, but quarterback Grayson McCall , wide receiver Jaivon Heiligh and tight end Isaiah Likely will be too much as a senior-laden Chants team pulls away. If you haven't seen Western Kentucky quarterback Bailey Zappe , wide receiver Jerreth Sterns and the Hilltoppers, don't miss this chance.

Appalachian State can score in bunches, too, as Duke transfer Chase Brice has 3, pass yards and 23 touchdowns. The Mountaineers are a much more balanced team, too, and a defense ranked No.

Coordinator Frank Ponce's offense surges and Appalachian State keeps its all-time bowl record perfect. There's simply no way I'm picking against Coach Prime in Atlanta. Deion Sanders will lead a surging Jackson State team, which won its final nine games -- six by double digits -- after a start. Not surprisingly, Sanders has Jackson State's defense playing at an extremely high level.

Linebacker James Houston IV is a playmaking machine -- South Carolina State Fresno State is the far superior team, but the Bulldogs have lost their head coach Kalen DeBoer to Washington and their star quarterback Jake Haener to the transfer portal. How they respond for a bowl game will shape how things play out in Albuquerque, as UTEP certainly will be more excited to show up. The Miners appear in their first bowl since Ultimately, Fresno State will lean on a defense that allowed just 16 points in the final two games and shut out Wyoming last month.

The big question for the Cougars will be motivation, as they can still post their second consecutive win season. BYU is a more mature team than most, and will find a way to grind out a victory behind bruising sophomore running back Tyler Allgeier , who has been excellent down the stretch. Allgeier rumbles for two second-half touchdowns and the Cougars finish Both teams come in at but are feeling different about their seasons. Eastern Michigan won three of its final five games to reach its third bowl in six seasons under Chris Creighton, among the nation's most underrated coaches.

Liberty ended the season with three double-digit losses, although coach Hugh Freeze still got a sweet new contract. If Flames standout quarterback Malik Willis plays, he'll be a handful for an EMU defense that had some struggles against the pass this season. I like the Eagles' motivation level more, though, and Creighton's teams have shown they can win in different ways. EMU with the upset. The Beavers are bowling for the first time under coach Jonathan Smith, and the first time overall since the season.

Oregon State has a signature win over Pac champion Utah but didn't finish the season nearly as well as Utah State, which thumped San Diego State to win its first Mountain West title since Other than a no-show against Wyoming, coach Blake Anderson's Aggies team played very complete football down the stretch. Oregon State's defense isn't reliable enough to get my pick here, as I like Logan Bonner 3, pass yards, 36 touchdowns and Deven Thompkins 96 receptions for 1, yards to have big days in L.

Louisiana will be without Billy Napier, as he has moved on to his new duties at Florida. But new Ragin' Cajuns coach Michael Desormeaux should provide a smooth transition, especially given his deep roots with the program. Desormeaux will make his head-coaching debut before a likely partisan crowd in nearby New Orleans, as a senior-laden Louisiana team aims for its 12th win.

Marshall had a solid first season under coach Charles Huff, especially on defense, but too many factors favor the Ragin' Cajuns in this one. Both defenses show out, but Louisiana pass-rusher Chauncey Manac Both of these teams looked done by midseason, especially Old Dominion, which then rallied to win its final five games.

Monarchs quarterback Hayden Wolff played much better down the stretch but will face a tricky Tulsa defense, coordinated by Joseph Gillespie, which played well in the second half of the season. The game likely comes down to which Davis Brin shows up for Tulsa, as the quarterback has six games with multiple interceptions. Old Dominion doesn't force many takeaways, though, and Tulsa comes off its best win of the season over SMU. Philip Montgomery's team wins a close one.

Wyoming's defense has shown up more often than not this season, but the offense has been much less consistent other than in a win over Utah State. I like the location for Wyoming, but Crum and the Golden Flashes will be motivated to record their second consecutive bowl victory. Kent State finds enough offense to win this one. San Diego State, meanwhile, must travel to Texas after a disheartening performance against Utah State in the Mountain West championship game. The Aztecs are excellent on defense and boast a solid run game led by Greg Bell.

Meep meep! Army Black Knights Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, Texas. If this matchup had happened midseason, Missouri seemingly wouldn't have had much of a chance. The Tigers' run defense was beyond dreadful, leading to a change on the defensive staff.

But Missouri improved significantly against the run later on, holding both South Carolina and Florida to less than yards on the ground. Army will provide a big test, though, as the Knights rank second nationally in rushing Other than the Wake Forest loss, Army's defense has been solid, although Missouri is capable of attacking in multiple ways. Coach Jeff Monken is in Dallas-area bowl games, and gets another win.

A new bowl! How exciting. North Texas will be thrilled to participate after saving its season -- and most likely coach Seth Littrell's job -- with five consecutive wins to close the season, capped by a triumph against previously unbeaten UTSA. Expect a competitive matchup won in the final minute by a North Texas field goal. In July, the teams finally got a series on the books beginning in , but the bowl gods can't wait that long. Knights coach Gus Malzahn and his players will be amped up to face the Gators, who likely won't share the same motivation level after struggling to finish UCF won five of its final six games and played very well on defense, but the stretch came against the bottom of the AAC.

Week 1 starter Lucas Niang lost his job and went down in December with a torn patella. Swing tackle Mike Remmers is on injured reserve with a back issue. Andrew Wylie , who started at right tackle in the Super Bowl loss to the Buccaneers, will be the starter against the likely Defensive Player of the Year.

Key players such as Orlando Brown Jr. Losing Hill allows opposing defenses to squeeze the field, creating more opportunities for the tipped interceptions that plagued Kansas City during the first half of the season. Few teams in the NFL are better at creating interceptions on a year-to-year basis on those sorts of plays than the Steelers. The problem for the Steelers is that there isn't much doing on the other side of the ball. It would be one thing if we could count on them to pick up a blocked punt for a score or a short field, as they did in the Week 1 win over the Bills , but the Chiefs have the league's third-best special teams unit.

The Steelers don't have the offensive line to protect Ben Roethlisberger , the running game to control the clock or the consistent big-play ability to scare the Chiefs in coverage. This could be closer than expected, but I would expect Roethlisberger's career to end here.

Prediction: Chiefs 24, Steelers These teams have played twice since the start of December, with the Patriots overcoming howling winds to win in Buffalo before the Bills returned the favor with a victory in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Western New York is expected to face subzero conditions Saturday night, but the wind gusts that rendered the passing game irrelevant in Week 13 aren't expected to be in place. Unfortunately for the Patriots, opening up the passing game reveals the biggest advantage between these two teams.

Josh Allen played one of the best games of his career in the win over New England, threading immaculate passes through tight windows against one of the league's best defenses. He has been inconsistent over the past month -- he followed that Patriots game by going of for three picks in a win over the Falcons -- but we know he typically has the sort of ceiling that rookie Mac Jones hasn't really shown so far.

If the Patriots can get an early lead, as they did against the Bills in the first matchup, they won't need to take the training wheels off Jones and the passing attack. Forced into a shootout, he has not often been able to keep up.

Even in the overtime loss to the Cowboys, he threw just 21 pass attempts. Jones was 14 of 32 for yards with two picks against the Buffalo defense in Week Since producing his best NFL game -- yards and two touchdowns against the Titans in Week 12 -- he has turned the ball over six times in five games and posted a passer rating of It's difficult to imagine Jones suddenly turning things around against the league's best pass defense by DVOA.

The other advantage the Bills have, as the wonderful Mike Reiss noted on Twitter , is health. The Patriots have a number of defensive starters who either aren't percent or might be out for Saturday's game, notably breakout rookie tackle Christian Barmore , who left the Week 18 loss to the Dolphins with a knee injury.

The Bills are relatively healthy outside of the long-term absence of star corner Tre'Davious White. I'd expect a low-scoring slog and a home win for Buffalo over its hated rival. Prediction: Bills 19, Patriots While the regular-season finale against the Chargers came down to a frantic conclusion, the Raiders got their just deserts when Daniel Carlson hit his winning field goal. They outplayed the Chargers throughout Sunday's game, only for Justin Herbert to bail out the offense with a series of preposterous plays on fourth downs.

The Raiders dominated the line of scrimmage, as the offensive line did an excellent job of protecting Derek Carr , while Maxx Crosby dominated Storm Norton and harassed Herbert throughout the contest.

To get to that point, though, the Raiders rode their luck against a series of compromised quarterbacks. After dropping to , they landed consecutive games against backup quarterbacks Nick Mullens Browns and Drew Lock Broncos. Wentz averaged just 5. The Raiders won those games by a total of just nine points. Of course, you could make the same case that the Bengals might be overrated by their recent performance. Joe Burrow played like an MVP candidate in consecutive wins over the Ravens and Chiefs , throwing for a combined yards and eight touchdowns.

Those games matter, but they're also way out of line with his performances from week to week. The No. Burrow and the Bengals are for real on offense, but expecting them to be the Greatest Show on Turf Rams is probably an exaggeration. The problem for the Raiders is that I'm not sure another dominant game from Crosby would even be enough. When the Raiders played the Bengals earlier this season, the star end posted a The Raiders were able to muster only 13 first downs, even with Darren Waller in the fold.

Unless the knee injury Burrow rested in Week 18 is more significant than publicly reported, I don't think the Raiders have enough to keep their win streak going.

Prediction: Bengals 27, Raiders We're looking at four backups, a guy who was benched, two players who were salary dumped this offseason, a struggling top-three pick and Ryan. When Tom Brady faced this secondary in Week 6 , he went of with yards in a game the Bucs led before two late Philly scores. That game preceded Philadelphia's midseason awakening to run the ball more with Jalen Hurts at quarterback, a shift it was able to pull off in part because its schedule got much easier.

I don't love the Eagles' matchup against one of the league's best run defenses, especially with Hurts possibly slowed by an ankle injury.

New Orleans still won , but it needed to shut out the Bucs to do so. I don't like Philly's chances of repeating that feat. Prediction: Bucs 34, Eagles The 49ers have the sort of roster capable of giving any team fits, and they are one of the few organizations with the sort of star-laden core that can match the Cowboys.

We just saw Jimmy Garoppolo produce one of the best drives of his career in marching the 49ers down the field for the winning score against the Rams , which helped push San Francisco back into the postseason. As was the case for the No.

Kyle Shanahan's team struggles to stay afloat when it turns the ball over; the 49ers have gone when they turn the ball over two or more times this year and otherwise.

They're facing a Cowboys defense that has forced two or more takeaways 12 different times this season, a feat last accomplished by the Steelers and the Legion of Boom Seahawks.

With the 49ers bereft at cornerback against a team with multiple star receivers, they will need a heroic effort on the ground to stick with Dallas, and while that's possible, I don't trust an injured Garoppolo to protect the football, especially with star left tackle Trent Williams questionable to play.

Prediction: Cowboys 27, 49ers I'm not sure there are many teams that have seemed less convincing while winning five of six than these Rams. Matthew Stafford has alternated white-hot stretches of passing with halves in which he has made inexplicable decisions with the football. In Los Angeles' season-ending loss to the 49ers , he went of for yards with two touchdowns in the first half, then threw two picks after halftime, including a game-ender to rookie Ambry Thomas.

Facing an inconsistent Seattle offense, the Cardinals looked like they were still working out preseason mistakes. Blown coverages led to long touchdowns for Tyler Lockett and Freddie Swain , while the defense left a gap unfilled on the yard Rashaad Penny touchdown. Arizona has the roster to overcome the occasional lapse or mental mistake, but the margins are tighter against the league's best teams.

Perhaps more disconcertingly, the Arizona offense has undergone yet another second-half fade. During their run to finish the season, the Cardinals ranked 17th in offensive EPA per play, below the Texans and Lions. It's hard to believe the Cardinals are suddenly going to turn things around without him.