The bowl schedule is complete, all the way from the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl on Dec. 17 to the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 9.
Already, we're circling some of the matchups that jump out at us, games that feature compelling storylines and the potential to be fourth-quarter thrillers.
But what if there were no bowl tie-ins and we could put together any postseason matchups we wanted this season?
We've taken the liberty of doing just that and have come up with our 10 dream bowl matchups. The only qualifier was that teams had to be bowl-eligible this season. And since I'll be covering all 10, the sites will all be in tropical locations, including the last four on the Hawaiian Islands.
So here goes:
Alabama vs. Michigan: If we're genuinely sticking to the "best four teams" mantra, then Alabama and Michigan both belong in that group -- and what a donnybrook we would have on our hands. In any era, Alabama vs. Michigan is one of those games that just stokes emotions. They're two of the Goliaths in college football and have met only four times, with Alabama rolling 41-14 in the most recent meeting in 2012. Of course, what really makes this such a tasty matchup is the Jim Harbaugh-Nick Saban factor. Harbaugh took Saban to task during the offseason after Saban railed on satellite camps. Harbaugh even suggested that Saban was being "hypocritical." Saban had no interest in engaging in a war of words and said, "I don't really care what he thinks or tweets." Neither is going to suit up, but it sure would be entertaining to see them on opposite sidelines.
Louisville vs. Washington State: Would we even need a clock in this game? The first team to 100 points wins. The Cardinals average 45.3 points per game and the Cougars 40.3 points per game. The quarterback matchup would also be a dandy. Louisville's Lamar Jackson, the Heisman Trophy front-runner, is averaging 410.7 yards of total offense per game and has accounted for 51 touchdowns. Washington State's Luke Falk is fourth nationally with 4,204 passing yards and tied for fifth with 37 touchdown passes. Just be sure to carve out about five hours to watch it, because the two teams average a combined 42.6 pass attempts per game. The other subplot is Mike Leach vs. Bobby Petrino, two of the best and most creative offensive minds in football going at it.
Ohio State vs. Penn State: Let's settle the whole debate and let 'em play again. A novel idea, huh? Two teams lining up and playing each other to see who's best? That allegedly happened on Oct. 22 in Happy Valley with Penn State winning. The Nittany Lions also won the Big Ten championship, but the College Football Playoff selection committee deemed that Ohio State, with one fewer loss, had a more impressive resume and was thus the better team. The Buckeyes are legit and probably should be in the playoff even though they didn't win their own division. But the way the Nittany Lions played down the stretch with their nine straight wins and the way they charged back in the second half against Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game can't be denied. So let's make this rematch happen, and we'll be sure to leave a front-row seat for Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.
Georgia vs. Miami: The Mark Richt Bowl is a natural. The Hurricanes were 8-4 in his first season back at his alma mater and recovered from a four-game losing streak during the middle of the season. The Bulldogs were 7-5 in Kirby Smart's first season as head coach and lost to rivals Florida, Georgia Tech and Tennessee. Georgia fired Richt for a lot less than that. He averaged 10 wins over the course of his 15-year tenure at Georgia (but went 10 years without a championship) and was sent packing at the close of the 2015 season -- yes, a season that ended with 10 wins. The heat's not on Smart -- yet. He needs some time to get his recruits on board. But imagine the drama if these two teams were to meet up this postseason.
Colorado vs. Tennessee: The Buffaloes were champions of the Pac-12 South. The Vols were champions of Life. So, something's got to give, right? Seriously, the two coaches are perhaps forever intertwined. Butch Jones turned down an offer from Colorado following the 2012 season to take the Tennessee job, which cleared the way for the Buffs to hire Mike MacIntyre. Earlier in the week, then-Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, as a favor to John Elway, had sent Jones a text selling him on the Buffs, but Jones would be hired a few days later by Manning's alma mater, Tennessee. Jones, whose Vols ended the regular season with a loss to Vanderbilt, will enter the 2017 season squarely on the hot seat. MacIntyre, named last week as the Walter Camp Coach of the Year, is coming off the Buffs' first 10-win season since 2001. Fate can be a funny thing sometimes.
Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia: The Russell Athletic Bowl had a chance to make this happen and whiffed. A Backyard Brawl reunion would have been great. It's another one of those intense rivalries, two schools separated by 75 miles, that was lost to conference alignment when West Virginia joined the Big 12 in 2012 and Pitt joined the ACC a year later. The two teams faced each other 104 times between 1895 and 2011 and have a four-year renewal of the series set for 2022-25. But why wait that long? There have been some memorable games in this rivalry, one of the most notable being Pitt ruining West Virginia's chances of playing for a national championship in 2007. The Panthers were huge underdogs that day and shocked the No. 2 Mountaineers 13-9 in the regular-season finale.
Oklahoma vs. USC: Sometimes you go to a football game and a tennis match breaks out. Actually, it happens pretty frequently in the Big 12. How cool would it be to see the explosive offenses at Oklahoma and USC trading blows? The two defensive coordinators might not be giddy about it, but any game that features Baker Mayfield, Dede Westbrook, Samaje Perine, Sam Darnold, Adoree' Jackson, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Ronald Jones II is going to be one of those back-and-forth affairs that makes the postseason even more festive. What's more, they're two of the hottest teams in college football right now. Oklahoma has won nine in row and USC eight in a row. Be sure and loosen up the old neck for this one.
Florida State vs. LSU: We've heard so much about Jimbo Fisher and LSU the past two years that we thought we'd pair the two once and for all. No, LSU isn't looking for a head coach again. The Tigers have their man, Ed Orgeron, and are glad to have him. But Fisher was a coach LSU coveted a year ago when it looked like Les Miles might get fired and again this year after the Tigers did fire Miles and were trying to decide which direction they were going. Fisher, who was an assistant at LSU under Nick Saban, is happy at Florida State, and Orgeron has his dream job at LSU. Even though all of the coaching chatter is over, FSU-LSU sounds like an inviting matchup on the field. Plus, who's not up for a duel of LSU's "Hold That Tiger" and FSU's "War Chant" all game from the bands?
San Diego State vs. Vanderbilt: Not all of the best players in college football play at Alabama, Ohio State, USC or any of the blue bloods. So we've set up a matchup that features one of the best offensive players in the country and one of the best defensive players in the country, two guys who probably didn't get the love they deserved. San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey is averaging 155.2 rushing yards per game, which ranks second nationally. He needs 108 yards in the bowl game to break Ron Dayne's NCAA career rushing record of 6,397 yards. Vanderbilt linebacker Zach Cunningham would be one of the reasons Pumphrey didn't break that record. Cunningham leads the SEC with 119 total tackles and is third with 16.5 tackles for loss. He has made one big play after another for the Commodores.
Texas A&M vs. TCU: It's always fun to see a quarterback get a shot at his old team, so we'll call this the Kenny "Trill" Hill Bowl. Hill started his career at Texas A&M, and what a start it was. He threw for 511 yards in his first start against South Carolina in 2014. But it was downhill after that in College Station, and Hill was replaced by freshman Kyle Allen by midseason and wound up transferring. Hill won the job in the preseason this year at TCU and passed for 3,062 yards with 15 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions. He would go up against another transfer quarterback, Trevor Knight, who threw 16 touchdowns and ran for 10 more this season for the Aggies after starting his career at Oklahoma.