Maybe the weirdest championship week ever, with 19 games played even as one championship game was called off due to COVID-19 concerns, has come to an end with a final Playoff Ranking that left many college football fans feeling like their team got robbed. To view last week’s rankings, with mostly incorrect conference championship game predictions, click here. Here’s how things look heading into Bowl Season, which starts on Monday, just two days after conference championships ended.

#1. Cincinnati Bearcats (last week: 1)

Cincy barely held off Tulsa amid driving rain in the AAC title game to earn the New Year’s Six automatic bid for the top-ranked Group of 5 Champion. At #8, behind a 3-loss Florida team, there was something left to be desired after an undefeated season in such a weird year, but the Bearcats nonetheless find themselves headed to Atlanta for a matchup with Georgia in the Peach Bowl. We will get to see a great matchup of Georgia’s running game, which trended upward throughout the year and capped it with back-to-back 300+yard games on the ground, against Cincy’s stout defense. The Bulldogs did a tremendous job of stopping the run themselves this year, averaging just 69.3 yards allowed on the ground, which means both teams will be going strength vs strength as the Bearcats ran for more than 200 yards per game this season. Georgia has more size, but Cincinnati has done a better job throwing the ball this year behind a veteran quarterback in Desmond Ridder, allowing them to still have good reason to believe they can beat an SEC team that likely has more NFL talent up and down its roster.

#2. Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (2)

Coastal Carolina heads to the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl to take on Liberty in what is essentially a makeup of a regular-season contest the two schools were supposed to have on December 5. This comes after COVID-19 issues within the Chanticleers program forced the Sun Belt to call off the conference championship game and declare Coastal and Louisiana co-champions in spite of Coastal’s victory over the Ragin’ Cajuns in the regular season. The Coastal-Liberty matchup will feature two coaches who will hear their names come up in a lot of Power 5 conference jobs in Liberty’s Hugh Freeze and CCU’s Jamey Chadwell, though Chadwell’s extension signed earlier this month should keep him in Conway for a while. It also features two great quarterbacks who should be ready to lead their program to continued success in 2021 in Malik Willis, who threw for more than 2,000 yards, had a 20-4 TD-INT ratio, and was the Flames’ leading rusher with 807 yards and 10 touchdowns, and Grayson McCall for the Chants as he also got over 2,000 yards through the air, had an even better touchdown-pick ratio than Willis at 23-2, and ran for 473 yards and six touchdowns. One way or another, this game should work out to be close, but both teams have been in both defensive battles and shootouts this year and it’s hard to tell whether this first-ever postseason matchup between the two former Big South Conference foes will be full of points or defensive highlights.

#3. BYU Cougars (3)

BYU is heading to the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl to play UCF in a matchup of two teams with high-powered offenses led by a great quarterback. Both the Cougars’ Zach Wilson and UCF’s Dillon Gabriel threw for over 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns, with Wilson having just three interceptions while Gabriel threw four picks. The main difference should be the level of defense, as BYU held opponents to an average of 309.5 yards and 14.6 points while the Knights surrendered 473.7 and 31.4 points per game. ESPN’s Football Power Index is strangely high on UCF, giving the Knights a 57.3% chance to win even though Vegas opened the betting line at BYU -7. I think UCF has a good enough offense to put up some points on the Cougars, but I would expect BYU to score 40+ and win by two scores over a Knights team that isn’t near the level it was two and three years ago when UCF excelled on both sides of the ball and was making an argument that it belonged in the College Football Playoff. Look for Zach Wilson to make one last statement in 2020 before deciding whether he wants to head to the NFL or see if he can build up his draft stock with another excellent year in 2021.

#4. Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (5)

Louisiana is headed to the Servpro First Responders Bowl to play UTSA after the cancelation of the Sun Belt title game and being named co-champions along with Coastal Carolina as a result. It will be the Ragin’ Cajuns’ third bowl in as many years under Billy Napier, and eighth in school history. For the Roadrunners, this will be just the second bowl appearance in school history, and the school is still searching for its first bowl win. Levi Lewis will look to lead this team to its 10th win of the year and make it back-to-back double-digit win seasons after Louisiana’s 11-3 record, a school record for wins, last year. Lewis hasn’t been quite as efficient in 2020 as he was last year, with a lower completion percentage, fewer yards per attempt, more interceptions (in fewer attempts) and a lower QB rating, but he has still thrown for over 2,000 yards and 17 touchdowns and has improved as a runner, with 310 yards and five touchdowns on the ground. Louisiana will go into the game as heavy favorites to pick up its sixth bowl win in school history.

#5. San Jose State Spartans (8)

The team that could not hold practices in its home county at the end of the season managed to go undefeated and win its first Mountain West championship, and first conference title since the Big West in 1990 (the Spartans also shared the Big West title with Fresno State in 1991). Through the mess that the Spartans had to deal with, SJSU managed to have its best season since at least 2012, when Mike MacIntyre led the team to a 10-2 record and used that success to land the head coaching job at Colorado while interim head coach Kent Baer led the team to a Military Bowl win. That year, SJSU finished #21 in the AP Poll, its only time being ranked in a postseason poll to date. Brent Brennan is looking to change that in 2020 as his name is rumored to be involved in head coaching searches including the school hosting the Spartans’ bowl game, Arizona. San Jose State is looking to keep Ball State searching for its first-ever bowl win (in the Cardinals’ eighth try) in the Arizona Bowl to finish off its first undefeated season since 1939, when Dudley DeGroot led SJSU to a 13-0 record in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Nick Starkel, who struggled to find opportunity and success at Texas A&M and Arkansas before transferring a second time to SJSU, has thrown for 1906 yards and 16 touchdowns to lead a high-powered passing attack that will match up with one of the best passing teams in the MAC in Ball State. It should be a high-scoring affair in the desert.

#6. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (4)

Bowl game: Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl vs Mississippi State (3-7)

#7. Liberty Flames (9)

Bowl game: FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl vs Coastal Carolina (11-0)

#8. Ball State Cardinals (11)

Bowl game: Arizona Bowl vs San Jose State (7-0)

#9. Buffalo Bulls (6)

Bowl game: Camellia Bowl vs Marshall (7-2)

#10. Boise State Broncos (7)

Bowl game: None

#11. UCF Knights (12)

Bowl game: RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl vs BYU (10-1)

#12. UAB Blazers (On the Bubble)

Bowl game: Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl vs South Carolina (2-8)

#13. Army Black Knights (13)

Bowl game: None

#14. Marshall Thundering Herd (10)

Bowl game: Camellia Bowl vs Buffalo (5-1)

#15. Appalachian State Mountaineers (14)

Bowl game: Myrtle Beach Bowl vs North Texas (4-5)

Dropped Out:

Memphis (15)

On the Bubble:

Memphis, Nevada, SMU

Conference Championship Game Results

American Athletic Conference

Murphy’s Field prediction: Cincinnati 38, Tulsa 21

Final score: Cincinnati 27, Tulsa 24

Conference-USA

Murphy’s Field prediction: Marshall 24, UAB 17

Final score: UAB 22, Marshall 13

Mid-American Conference

Murphy’s Field prediction: Buffalo 45, Ball State 35

Final score: Ball State 38, Buffalo 28

Mountain West Conference

Murphy’s Field prediction: Boise State 31, San Jose State 28

Final score: San Jose State 34, Boise State 20

Sun Belt Conference

Murphy’s Field prediction: Coastal Carolina 33, Louisiana 31

Game was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns

Stats and info from ESPN and College Football at Sports-Reference.com.