College football bowl projections: SEC, Big 12, ACC in; Pac-12 out of '15 playoff – CBSSports.com

>> More projections: Every 2015 college football bowl predicted

The preseason bowl and playoff projections are out for 2015, and you will not be surprised to see that defending national champion Ohio State starts as the projected No. 1 seed in my bracket.

TCU, which was controversially left out of last year’s playoff, is the projected No. 2 seed. Predicted SEC champion Auburn would be the No. 3 seed and the Horned Frogs’ opponent in the Cotton Bowl semifinal.

Clemson, the projected ACC champion, slots into the No. 4 spot against the Buckeyes in the Orange Bowl.

One of the many unfortunate things about this playoff format is that it is designed to leave at least one of the major conferences out. The result of that is that it focuses too much on the conferences instead of the teams. There was a lot of gnashing of teeth in the Big 12 offices all summer as they pondered how to try to “fix” the problem of being left out, when it was as much happenstance as anything.

Who will get left out? This year, the league that could be going through that self-evaluation is the Pac-12. That is even though many people think it is catching up to the SEC in the battle for the title of best league. Yet, the Pac-12 is absent from these projections, in part because of that strength. There are certainly strong teams at the top in Oregon and USC and the South division is especially good. That may make it difficult for its top teams to post a good enough record to compete for a playoff spot. The Ducks and Trojans also have very difficult road non-conference games against Michigan State and Notre Dame, respectively. These are must-wins if either team is going to make a run at the playoff.

While it’s not the projection, something similar could happen in the SEC, especially in the stronger West division. However, none of those teams burden themselves with road games of consequence in non-conference play. Pretty much ever.

The ACC, which is arguably the weakest of the five major leagues, could also be the one to get excluded. There is less of a margin for error for the top teams in that league, as was shown last year when the committee seeded an undefeated Florida State third.

Could more than one conference be on the outside looking in? You can see a scenario where Michigan State goes 11-1, beating Oregon and losing only to 13-0 Ohio State, and both the Buckeyes and Spartans make the playoffs. That would mean two leagues getting left out.

The SEC and Pac-12 are also strong enough at the top to conceivably have two contenders for playoff spots. So, yes, while I am projecting the strength of the Pac-12 could be its downfall for the playoff, it’s also possible that if the right results happen, it could be the reason the league gets two teams in.

Odds and ends for the 2015 bowls:

• There are 39 bowls this year, up one from last year. The Cure Bowl is new this year, and if the halftime show isn’t also The Cure, then something is terribly wrong.

• The bowls that get the most attention are those filled by the selection committee, which this year will be the Rose, Sugar, Peach and Fiesta. The Rose gets the highest rated Big Ten and Pac-12 teams not in the playoff. The same is true for the Sugar with the SEC and Big 12. The three highest-rated teams remaining from any league, plus the highest-rated team from the Group of Five conferences will fill the other two games.

• Even though we need 78 teams for all those bowls, I only had to find one team that wasn’t fully eligible to fill the field. I have 6-6 Boston College in a bowl, even though two of their projected six wins are against FCS teams.

SEC favorite Auburn is projected to earn a spot in the second College Football Playoff. (USATSI)

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