College Football Bowl Projections After Week 4: Alabama vs. Notre Dame in Blueblood Battle

While it wasn’t quite one of those Separation Saturday–type of weekends in college football, there were plenty of head coaches who seemed to go from a warm seat to the verge of receiving a pink slip, some teams all but taking themselves out of the College Football Playoff picture and a host of other programs who turned a potentially middling season into a good one.

Add all that up and bowl season looks a little different than expected earlier this year and we could be in line for a few potential matchups that certainly seem like they would be appointment viewing come December.

You could start with an intriguing blueblood matchup of Alabama–Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl; Michigan and Texas meeting again after last year’s game in Ann Arbor, Mich.; a clash of highly touted young quarterbacks in the Music City Bowl; an impressive New Orleans Bowl featuring two of the best Group of 5 teams; and tons of offense in games like the New Mexico Bowl or the Liberty Bowl.

Here is how Sports Illustrated sees the 35 bowl game matchups coming together to form the postseason picture and which 70 FBS teams will wind up going bowling in 2025–26 after Week 4.

Note: SI’s College Football Playoff projections are published on Tuesdays throughout the season.