College Football Playoff, bowl projections after Week 7 - ESPN

The Big Ten took center stage Saturday, with Oregon and Penn State winning key conference matchups to stay undefeated, while Ohio State suffered its first loss -- at the hands of the Ducks.

In the SEC, Texas made a Red River statement, LSU and Tennessee posted overtime wins over Ole Miss and Florida, respectively, and Alabama survived a close call against South Carolina.

Iowa State and BYU remained unbeaten in the Big 12, while Clemson continues to trend in the right direction in the ACC.

What does it all mean for the College Football Playoff and the overall bowl picture?

In the new, expanded 12-team playoff, the five highest-ranked conference champions will make the field along with the next seven highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be awarded first-round byes, with the other eight teams meeting at the campus sites of the Nos. 5-8 seeds.

From there, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in what had been the New Year's Six bowls, with this season's national championship game scheduled for Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

All of that is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Apart from the playoff is the 36-game slate of bowls, from the Cricket Celebration Bowl on Dec. 14 to the Bahamas Bowl on Jan. 4.

We're here for all of it.

ESPN bowl gurus Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach are projecting every postseason matchup, including their breakdowns of how the CFP will play out, every week until the actual matchups are set Dec. 8 on Selection Day.

Jump to a section:Playoff picks | QuarterfinalsSemis, title game | Bowl season

First-round games

Dec. 20-21 -- ABC/ESPN or TNT Sports*Bonagura: No. 12 Notre Dame at No. 5 Ohio StateSchlabach: No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Ohio State

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