College Football Bowl Projections 2018: Texas rises into New Year’s Six
December 27
Walk-On’s Independence Bowl: Virginia vs. Southern Miss*
1:30 pm ET, ESPN – Shreveport, Louisiana
New Era Pinstripe Bowl: Boston College vs. Northwestern
5:15 pm ET, ESPN – New York, New York
Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl: Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech
9 pm ET, ESPN – Houston, Texas
December 28
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: Auburn vs. Georgia Tech
1:30 pm ET, ESPN – Nashville, Tennessee
Camping World Bowl: Syracuse vs. Oklahoma State
5:15 pm ET, ESPN – Orlando, Florida
Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl: Fresno State vs. Appalachian State
5:30 pm ET, CBSSN – Tuscon, Arizona
Valero Alamo Bowl: West Virginia vs. Washington
9 pm ET, ESPN – San Antonio, Texas
The skinny
Texas Tech fell on their face in the Little Apple, managing just 6 points in a 21-6 loss to Kansas State. It was Tech’s fourth straight loss, dropping the Red Raiders from 5-2 and on the cusp of being a major player in the Big 12 race, to 5-6 and on the cusp of missing a bowl game altogether. They’ll have to win a neutral site game against Baylor next week to earn a bid as Kliff Kingsbury’s seat slowly begins heating up once more.
Syracuse was lifeless in a 36-3 rout at the hands of Notre Dame in Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon. They lost starting QB Eric Dungey early in the game to a scary back injury, and the Irish feasted on the talented, yet inexperienced freshman Tommy DeVito. A close margin of defeat probably would have kept the door open for the Orange to sneak into the New Year’s Six, but a rout like this will knock them down considerably in the committee’s rankings.
Oklahoma State is likely going to receive a bowl bid above what their record indicates they should get. The Cowboys are going to enter bowl season at 7-5 or 6-6, despite being one of the most talented teams in the Big 12. The ‘Pokes took down West Virginia this week after having already knocked off Texas in Stillwater earlier in the season to go along with a near miss in Norman last week against rival Oklahoma. The Cowboys have been plagued by inconsistency, but they have proven they are able to hang with the best-of-the-best.
On the other side is West Virginia, which not only saw its playoff hopes go up in smoke, but may have played its way out of the Big 12 Championship game entirely unless they can knock off Oklahoma next week, and even then it wouldn’t be for certain. Their loss also knocks them out of the New Year’s Six for the time being as I’m now projecting them to take on Washington in the Alamo Bowl.