Oregon's Bowl Projections

The Associated Press recently released their projections for the upcoming College Football Playoffs for the 2015-2016 season, and last years national title runner-up didn't make the cut. The two playoff semifinal games were announced to be played at the Cotton Bowl and at the Orange Bowl. They also put in their projections for some of the other notable bowl games as well.

So who do they have in the two semifinal playoff spots?

Good question.

For the Cotton Bowl, they have the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame going against the Auburn Tigers. For the Orange Bowl, they have the Ohio State Buckeyes (no surprise) in (what will probably be a shoot out) a game against the Baylor Bears.

Some of the other bowl match-ups that caught my eye:

Texas A&M vs Texas in the Texas Bowl (Can't get more Texas than that).

Alabama vs Clemson in the Peach Bowl.

Georgia vs TCU in the Sugar Bowl.

So where do the Ducks go in these way-too-early-projections?

The AP has them in the Fiesta Bowl squaring off against Boise State (You think Blount would be able to come back as an honorary captain and come out for the coin toss?).

The Fiesta Bowl isn't a bad bowl to go to, if they do indeed make it there. It may seem like a slight that Oregon doesn't make it in the next CFP, but with some notable Ducks going in the draft, a yet-to-prove-himself quarterback, and the fact that the PAC-12 could argue that it's the toughest Power 5 conference, a Fiesta Bowl doesn't seem too bad at all.

But, as always, the games have to be played, and weirder things have happened.