Bowl Projections: Alabama Rises, Rose Bowl Showdown with Ohio State Looms

The College Football Playoff picture is starting to sharpen, and the latest bowl projections have Alabama climbing — with a familiar blue-blood collision waiting in Pasadena.

According to PFN's Week 6 bowl projections, the Crimson Tide are now slated to meet Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. That's a quarterfinal matchup dripping with history, star power, and national title implications. But before anyone books flights to Southern California, there's a rather significant hurdle standing in Alabama's way: a Week 6 date with Georgia.

Here's what the projections say, what we actually know, and why the next seven days could rewrite the entire postseason landscape.

The Rose Bowl, as projected, would pit the No. 2 team in the country — Ohio State — against an Alabama squad that looked terrifyingly complete in Week 5. The Buckeyes dismantled a strong Iowa defense on the road, powered by the unstoppable Jeremiah Smith. That performance has vaulted them to the front of the Big Ten race, with a 33.5% chance of wrestling the conference crown from Indiana, according to PFN's College Football Playoff Meter.

Ohio State's rise to the No. 2 spot in the projections sets up that tantalizing Rose Bowl date with Alabama. But the Crimson Tide's path there is anything but guaranteed.