Bowl Projections: Louisville and LSU are Potential Candidates for Orlando Following Regular Season
After thirteen weeks of play and the regular season in the books for all our partner conferences, here are updated projections for the 71st Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl from around the college football media.
Mark Schlabach (ESPN): Louisville vs. LSU
Brett McMurphy (ESPN): Florida State vs. LSU
Jerry Palm (CBSSports.com): Louisville vs. Florida
Stewart Mandel (FOX Sports): Florida State vs. LSU
Bill Bender (Sporting News): Louisville vs. Florida
College Football News: Virginia Tech vs. Florida
Jason Kirk (SB Nation): Virginia Tech vs. LSU
Brant Parsons (Orlando Sentinel): Louisville vs. Tennessee
Louisville-Florida and Florida State-LSU are popular projections heading into the final week of play before bowl season begins. Each matchup was projected by two different writers this week while LSU Louisville each received four total projections to lead all teams.
Florida State leads LSU 7-2 all-time but the two programs haven’t met since 1991. LSU and Louisville would be meeting for the first time ever if Jerry Palm (CBSSports.com) and Bill Bender’s (Sporting News) assumptions ring true.
Only Mark Schlabach (ESPN) projected LSU and Louisville to match up despite their overall popularity this week. The game would be a first-time matchup and feature Heisman candidates, Lamar Jackson and Leonard Fournette.
Virginia Tech also came up in the projections this week with SB Nation’s Jason Kirk and College Football News picking them to face LSU and Florida, respectively. The Hokies and Tigers are 1-1 all-time and haven’t met since 2007 while the Gators have won both of their games with Virginia Tech but the two have not faced off since 1985.
Brant Parsons of the Orlando Sentinel has Tennessee in his projections this week squaring up with Louisville. The Volunteers fell to Vanderbilt over the weekend but still sit in the top half of the SEC trailing only Alabama and Florida in overall record this season. The Vols are 5-0 all-time against the Cardinals but the two haven’t played each other since 1993.