With the college football season set to begin this weekend, fully fleshed-out preseason bowl projections are starting to emerge.

The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy has dropped his ahead of Week 0, with picks for all 41 bowl games this fall. He doesn’t see the Pac-12 making it into the College Football Playoff — Georgia, Florida State, Michigan, and Ohio State have that distinction — but he does have a pair of Pac-12 programs in a New Year’s 6 bowl.

Here are his bowl projections, as it relates to the Pac-12:

  • Fiesta Bowl: Washington vs. Alabama
  • Peach Bowl: Oregon vs. Tulane
  • Sun Bowl: Arizona vs. Duke
  • Alamo Bowl: USC vs. Texas
  • Holiday Bowl: Oregon State vs. Pitt
  • Las Vegas Bowl: Utah vs. Nebraska
  • Independence Bowl: Arizona State vs. UCF
  • LA Bowl: UCLA vs. Boise State

The bowl that immediately jumps out is the Alamo Bowl. A matchup against Texas certainly wouldn’t hurt for storylines, but after a Pac-12 title game appearance and a NY6 bowl game in Year 1 under Lincoln Riley, an Alamo Bowl berth would most likely feel like a letdown in Los Angeles.

But the risk exists once again this season that the Pac-12 cannibalizes itself at the top. With so many strong teams atop the conference, the Pac-12 could easily produce a 9-3 conference champion with a handful of 8-4 teams that are better than their records indicate. Perhaps that’s McMurphy’s reasoning for excluding the league from the CFP.

The rubber meats the road soon. USC kicks off the new season in the Pac-12 on Aug. 26 against San Jose State at home.