Mountain West Bowl Projections

There will be one more bowl projection coming Sunday night, once the regular season officially ends. The Mountain West teams most likely will not change, but their opponents most likely will.

Also, do not buy the hype of Boise State playing in the Poinsettia Bowl against BYU or TCU, because last year Boise spurned its own bowl in Boise to go to Hawaii and certainly will not let that happen again.

Utah vs. Texas

This could go either way with Utah in the Fiesta or Sugar. If Oklahoma or Texas plays in the title game, the Fiesta gets first pick and will most likely keep it in the Big XII, then Fiesta gets the third pick which could come down to Utah or Ohio State. My gut is Utah because the last time the Utes went to the Fiesta, they brought 55,000 to the stadium, and I was one of them. Ohio State is equally as attractive because its fans will travel.

The other possibility is Utah in the Sugar Bowl against Florida or Alabama, which is very likely. I think the Fiesta Bowl wants more of a sure thing since Ohio State has traveled well in its last two BCS bowl games

TCU vs. Rice

If you read what most "experts" say, they put Air Force in this bowl, but do not buy that. TCU has never traveled well in bowl games, and the stadium is going to most likely be a sell out with the home team playing. Also, Rice is only a few hours away from Fort Worth, and this is an old Southwest Conference matchup.

BYU vs. Arizona

Same thing can be said about BYU, the Vegas bowl will have an automatic sell out by picking BYU, which has won the last couple of these, while packing the sponsors' hotels. TCU should go here, but why would the bowl want to risk having a half-full stadium?

Colorado State vs. Nevada

The Rams are all but locked up since the New Mexico bowl has the last pick in the Mountain West pecking order. The Rams will bring the fans since Albuquerque is not too far, plus this is the Rams' first bowl game since 2005.

Air Force vs. Louisiana Tech

Air Force goes bowling a second straight year, and while the Pac-10 is slotted here, they do not have enough teams. Louisiana Tech is 7-5 and is guaranteed a bowl spot. Other possibilities are Fresno State out of the WAC or Houston from C-USA.