Week 13 Bowl Projections

Each week members of the Mountain West Connection team will be completing bowl projections. With the lack of bowl tie-ins for the Mountain West, some of these bowl projections required quite a bit of research. We will start with the obvious Mountain West tie-ins and then things get interesting.

Zach: I was really tempted to put Boise State or Fresno State in the Fiesta this week after the injury to Milton. I’m just not that confident in Memphis’ defense. It looks like there will be more bowl eligible teams than slots available, the Cowboys need to hope that UCF losses or they are staying home.

Las Vegas Bowl: Boise State vs. Cal

Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. Marshall

New Mexico Bowl: Utah State vs. North Texas

Arizona Bowl: Nevada vs. Arkansas State

Potato Bowl: San Diego State vs. Buffalo

Cheez-It Bowl: Fresno State vs. Baylor

Matt: Now with Hawaii locked in, things will start to shake out a bit more.

Las Vegas Bowl: Fresno State v. Stanford

Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii v. USF

New Mexico Bowl: Nevada v. North Texas

Arizona Bowl: SDSU v. Arkansas State

Potato Bowl: Utah State v. NIU

Cheez-It Bowl: Boise State v. Iowa State

FatDuckUW: Well, Wyoming is bowl eligible at 6-6. Unfortunately, a bowl spot might not be available. The MWC will get in 6 bowl teams - despite only having 5 bowl bids guaranteed. I hope the MWC gets a 7th bowl bid (Wyoming), but I can’t project that as of today. Also, I think BYU steals the Cheez-It Bowl bid from a MWC team. That’s why I think the Armed Forces Bowl is the 6th MWC bowl game - not the Cheez-It Bowl.

Las Vegas Bowl: Boise State vs Arizona State

Armed Forces Bowl: Utah State vs Houston

Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs Louisiana Tech

Potato Bowl: Nevada vs Eastern Michigan

New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State vs North Texas

Arizona Bowl: San Diego State vs Louisiana

Mike: First off, congrats to Hawaii for becoming bowl eligible! They fought hard to get there. Even though it’s the last week, things are still murky. Fresno State/Boise State is a toss up and although tempted to put one of them in the Fiesta Bowl, UCF is still in the driver’s seat. I’ll go Bulldogs in Vegas as Broncos history makes them a bit more attractive as an at-large, which makes this more fun. But swap the two if you want.

Las Vegas Bowl: Fresno State vs. Arizona State

Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. Marshall (Hawaii clinched Hawaii Bowl)

New Mexico Bowl: Utah State vs. North Texas

Arizona Bowl: San Diego State vs. Louisiana-Monroe

Potato Bowl: Nevada vs. Buffalo

Cheez-It: Boise State vs. Stanford

Wyoming: Shut out unless a MWC team jumps into the NY6

Lastly, most of us know that Wyoming is bowl-eligible but not guaranteed to get into a bowl game. But why are they “on the bubble”?. The short answer, and the one I’ve been going off of, is that their are more eligible teams than open spots. And that’s true. But the question of why would Wyoming be left out still remains. To answer that, refer to this article that goes more in-depth about why they are the 7th MWC bowl team, what the MWC bowl guidelines are, and why non-football matters come into play.