First, the results of NBA regular season: Warriors-Cavaliers. Prediction: 5.0; final rating: 4.9. NBA regular season: Bulls-Spurs. Prediction: 3.0; final rating: 2.8. NBA regular season: Celtics-Knicks. Prediction: 2.5; final rating: 2.0. NFL "Sunday Night Football": Broncos-Chiefs. Prediction: 11.5; final rating: 10.6. NFL regular season: Ravens-Steelers. Prediction: 4.2; final rating: 6.5. NFL doubleheader: Mostly Packers-Vikings and Buccaneers-Saints. Predictions: 8.6 and 9.9; final ratings: 10.0 and 8.1. NFL regular season: Bengals-Texans. Prediction: 2.3; final rating: 3.2. Liga MX Apertura final: Club America-Tigres second leg Keith Hernandez Jersey . Prediction: 1.4; final rating: 1.3.This week's predictions (all times Eastern):College Football Playoff: Alabama-Washington and Ohio State-Clemson (3 and 7 p.m. Saturday, ESPN). The first year of the College Football Playoff was inflated by the novelty of the playoff, the high profile of the four participating teams, and the New Years Day date. The ratings of 14.8 and 15.2 will be hard to replicate any time soon. ESPN certainly hopes that last years , depre sed by a pair of blowouts and the New Years Eve holiday, will also be hard to repeat. This years semifinals are again on New Years Eve, but this time with two important changes. Dec. 31 falls on a weekend rather than a workday this year, especially important for the early afternoon game. In addition, the start times have been moved up an hour, which will help the late game avoid running into New Years Eve specials on the major networks. Those factors alone should produce a modest rebound from last year. Expect a bigger bump for the late game, which is projected to be a closer affair. Predictions: 9.5 and 10.6.Rose Bowl: Penn State-USC (5 p.m. Monday, ESPN). Penn State and USC carry much higher profiles into their Rose Bowl matchup than Iowa and Stanford did last year. Their presence should result in an improvement over though there are some reasons to be conservative on the rating. For one, the game is taking place on Jan. 2 rather than Jan. 1. More importantly, the non-playoff New Years Six bowls have been historically weak under the current format. The second-lowest Rose Bowl rating all time is a 9.4 for the 2013 matchup. Prediction: 8.4.Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma-Auburn (8:30 p.m. Monday, ESPN). After last years game had a 5.1 rating Yoenis Cespedes Jersey , ,there is nowhere to go but up for this seasons matchup even with a four-lo s team involved. Even with a ratings bump, the numbers should still be well below par. Prediction: 5.9.Cotton Bowl: Wisconsin-Western Michigan (1 p.m. Monday, ESPN). Hard to imagine folks waking up early on a Monday to watch Wisconsin play Western Michigan. Ratings should plunge from Michigan State-Baylor two seasons ago, the last non-playoff Cotton Bowl (5.2). The competing Outback Bowl on ABC might threaten this matchup in the ratings. Prediction: 3.8.Citrus Bowl: Louisville-LSU (11 a.m. Saturday, ABC). Taking place in December for the first time in 31 years, the Citrus Bowl pits Heisman winner Lamar Jackson against an LSU squad mi sing its star player, Leonard Fournette. Ratings were never going to match last years 5.1 for Michigan-Florida on New Years Day, so the real question is whether Jackson alone can keep the numbers above the 16-year low of 2.9 for South Carolina-Nebraska on ESPN in 2012 and in an 11 a.m. ET time slot, no le s. Prediction: 2.8.Orange Bowl: Michigan-Florida State (8 p.m. Friday, ESPN). The Orange Bowl has likely averted ratings disaster by moving from its original daytime slot on New Years Eve to prime time on Friday night. With two of the best-known programs in college football squaring off, ratings should cruise past the mere 5.0 for Georgia Tech-Mi si sippi State in 2014 (last Neil Walker Jersey years game was a playoff semifinal). Given how low Orange Bowl ratings have been over the past decade outside of last year, no edition has exceeded a 7.0 rating since 2008 it would not take much for this years game to rank on the higher end of the scale. Prediction: 6.2.NFL Sunday Night Football: Packers-Lions (8:30 p.m. Sunday, NBC). After slow starts to their respective seasons, both the Packers and NBC have been on a hot streak lately. The Packers have surged back from a 4-6 start to make Aaron Rodgers suggestion of running the table Pedro Martinez Jersey appear more and more like reality. Meanwhile, ratings have increased for 10 of the last 13 NFL windows on NBC after the network posted declines for each of its first 10. Sunday's NFC North title game will be hard-pre sed to keep the good times going, at least for NBC. Last years Vikings-Packers matchup, also for the NFC North title, scored a 13.8 rating higher than all but two telecasts on the network this season. Prediction: 13.0.NFL doubleheader: Mostly Cowboys-Eagles and Giants-Washington (1 and 4:25 p.m. Sunday, Fox). The NFLs practice of scheduling duel doubleheaders in Week 17 of the season is a recipe for ratings cannibalization. Last year, Foxhad an unusually low 12.0 rating for its Week 17 edition of Americas Game of the Week opposite a regional window on CBS that had a 10.3. While a strong enough matchup can overcome the competition a Lions-Packers NFC North title game in 2014 crushed CBS 15.6 to 6.3 this weeks Giants-Washington game does not seem to fit the bill. Expect similar numbers. As for the early window, with the Cowboys expected to rest their key players in a matchup against the eliminated Eagles, do not expect big numbers. Predictions: 8.0 and 12.4.NFL doubleheader: Mostly Patriots-Dolphins and Raiders-Broncos (1 and 4:25 p.m. Sunday, CBS). The only thing at stake in the AFC this weekend is seeding, which does not make for a particularly dramatic set of games. Last years games set a modestly high bar with an 11.2 early and a 10.3 late. Predictions: 10.5 and 10.0.NHL regular season: Red Wings-Maple Leafs and Blackhawks-Blues (3 p.m. Sunday and 1 p.m. Monday, NBC). NBC opens the New Year with not one, but two, outdoor NHL games, the one-off Centennial Cla sic on New Years Day and then the traditional Winter Cla sic on Jan.2. The former will be hard-pre sed to carve out much of a rating opposite the NFL, especially with a Canadian team Tim Tebow Jersey involved (Canadian viewership does not count toward U.S. television ratings). Even so, it should exceed the typical indoor NHL rating on NBC. As for the Winter Cla sic, ratings should exceed last year's record-low 1.6 for Canadiens-Bruins but still rank as the second-lowest ever for the event. Predictions: 1.2 and 1.8.Paulsen is the founder of Sports Media Watch and a contributor for Sporting News. Follow him on